As you can see, I have some beautiful Christmas cards by the artist Jason O’Brien and you can buy them on this website on the How to Buy Page. Just click here and the page will open in a new window. You need to scroll to the bottom…
Author: gbadmin
Frederick Higginson OBE DFC DFM
A bit delayed I know but these are busy days… My article about Welsh gravestones in the latest edition of Welsh Country Magazine (November 2016) is a strangely-overlooked story from Gorseinon, Swansea. It is about Frederick Higginson a WW2 fighter pilot.. He fought in the Battle of Britain and was awarded the DFM but was…
The Pontardawe Ripper Update
Some clarification is needed I think following the publication of my article in The South Wales Evening Post about The Pontardawe Ripper earlier this week. The newspaper suggested that the story was taken from a new publication and in so doing created some confusion. I can confirm that there is no book about the Pontardawe Ripper…
Half Term October 2016 News from Bethan
I am on holiday with two of our grandchildren Bethan and Sam who live in Sutton in London. Today we went to Beckenham where we had a very good walk in Kelsey Park. Here is what Bethan has to say. In the park , we saw a Heron and after a few moments it flew…
Fifty Gems
I have signed contracts with Amberley Publishing to deliver two titles by the end of 2017. These are – 50 Gems of South West Wales (Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Gower) 50 Gems of Mid Wales (Ceredigion and Powys) The books will be an attractive mixture ( I hope) of words and pictures. We are looking forward…
Laurel and Hardy
22 September 1952 Laurel and Hardy appeared at the Empire Theatre on Oxford Street in Swansea. They stayed in the Mackworth Hotel on High Street and often sat on their balcony waving at their fans. They should have played Swansea again in May 1954 but the booking was cancelled due to Oliver Hardy’s illness. …
The Maid of Cefn Ydfa
This is the story of Ann Maddocks, the Maid of Cefn Ydfa, her forlorn love for the bard Wil Hopcyn remembered forever in a folk song we all know so well. You can read the full story in my new book Grave Tales from Wales. There are details below about how to buy a copy …
Swansea Library 17 September 2016
My next talk is approaching fast! In the Discovery Room of the Central Library at 2.00 pm on Saturday 17 September 2016. Swansea in the 1950sOf course, there will be copies of all my books on sale!
How others see us
I came across an interesting piece in The Cambrian published on 17 August 1894. It is called How Others See Us and reports the impressions formed by a visitor to Swansea. Here is an extract from it. In Swansea you are mixed up with a none-too cleanly lot. Of course now I refer to the…
New Blog Posted
I have posted a new blog today, called La Supreme Sagesse and the Brotherhood of Strangers. It is a story we found whilst we were on holiday in Gruissan in the south of France, on the Mediterranean near Narbonne. We visited The Allée des Naufragés – the Path of the Shipwrecked – which winds up…