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The King's Smuggler: Jane Whorwood, Secret Agent to Charles I by John Fox
ISBN 978-0-7524-5001-8, hardback, £20

The launch of John Fox's The King's Smuggler took place on Saturday 20th February 2010 at Wheatley Park School, Holton, near Oxford and was marked by a series of events throughout the afternoon.

The King's Smuggler is the first full biography of Jane Whorwood - secret agent for the King during the English Civil War - and the grounds of Wheatley Park School incorporate the site of Jane Whorwood's home (Holton House) that was demolished in 1805.

The afternoon started with a guided tour by John Fox around the ground surrounding Jane Whorwood's house and then a visit to the actual site of the house that was built on an island encircled by an impressive moat.

This was followed by an introduction given by Kevin Heritage (Business Manager of the School), and a talk about Jane Whorwood and her home by John Fox, a musical interlude featuring the 'Jane Whorwood Suite' performed for the first time by members of the Wheatley School and Pembroke College and finally a book signing.
 
Click here to read a feature in History Today, March 2010 issue http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=33850&amid=30304683

 
Faustus: the Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician, by Leo Ruickbie

   "Dr Ruickbie has re-evaluated and contextualised the sources of the Faust tradition
    from a position of authority. The result is a work of meticulous scholarship that 
    can be read as a gripping page-turner." - Professor Osman Durrani

REVIEWED by Watkins Review (2009)
There have been other books about Faustus, but in the five hundred years since he lived no one else has written his biography. There have been technical discussions of the sources, literary appraisals of the legends and analyses of the literature he inspired, but no biography as such.
 
With so many legends and conflicting interpretations it is not surprising. It took me years to go through all of the material in order to reconstruct his life and set it against the rich backdrop of the exciting and complex times in which he lived. In his lifetime he witnessed the Renaissance transform culture and the Reformation transform religion, and his own part in these dramatic changes continues to have repercussions. When Professor Osman Durrani rightly identified Faustus as an ‘icon of modern culture’, he reminded us that the story of Faustus is still as relevant and revealing to us today as it ever was. Tear up the legend and prepare yourself for the truth, as always it is stranger than fiction.
 
This is an excerpt from a longer review in Watkins Review
 
 
 

 
Glamour in the Skies: the Golden Age of the Air Stewardess by Libbie Escolme-Schmidt
 
Ex-hostess Libbie Escolme-Schmidt has lovingly compiled many hundreds of memories to present the ultimate history of the British Airways air hostess. Collating a multitude of stories from the forties and fifties through to what is often agreed to be the end of the golden age in 1980, this is an important record of the contribution made by women to airline history.
 
Click on the link below to read her article in the Daily Telegraph where she tells of her escapades as an air stewardess, her opinions on the BA strike and of the fact that the golden years of flying are over.  
 
 


 

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