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Marcellus & Harry Widener, both died before they could achieve the full potential later ascribed to them & were commemorated by their mothers building libraries named after them.

Naval architect Thomas Andrews, draftsman Roderick Chisholm & members of the Harland & Wolff Guarantee Group were present at the birth as well as the death of the ill-fated Titanic. Their experience is recounted in “Titanic: Ship of Lost Illusions” pen-and-sword.co.uk/Titanic-Ship-o…

All set for a gig next year aboard Oceania Nautica Oceania Cruises from Piraeus to Doha, 23 September to 14 October 2026, featuring 7/8 different talks on Titanic, Manly Men and Heroic Women. Lectures at sea exploring behind the book pen-and-sword.co.uk/Titanic-Ship-o… Pen & Sword Books

Manly men on Titanic were forged from the progressive employer, brash broker, dependable naval architect, sporty country gentleman, urbane public figure, retiring book collector, hedonistic dandy & lowly labourer as I discuss in lectures & book pen-and-sword.co.uk/Titanic-Ship-o…

A young visitor from Seoul thought the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum “feels like a Time Machine”

Flattering to be asked if there was an audiobook of “Penicillin Man” by a sound recordist during an interview for a podcast & that if not I should narrate it rather than an actor as I had a flair for storytelling. An audiobook would be good but not sure about me as the reader!

Manliness was memorialised in classical imagery but on Titanic it was performative in modern dress as some men tried to conform to the code expected of a gentleman, acting out the role of hero in tuxedo, lounge suit & even pyjamas. More at a talk or read pen-and-sword.co.uk/Titanic-Ship-o…

Christopher Head, barrister & insurance broker, was a Municipal Reform Party councillor for Chelsea 1906-12 (Mayor 1909-11), his death on Titanic eerily reflecting his party’s election poster of 1906 pen-and-sword.co.uk/Titanic-Ship-o…

The Speaker’s House evokes splendour worthy of the Palace of Westminster, & a reminder that the Houses of Parliament are part of a royal palace owned by the King despite housing the legislature of a seat of democratic government that should be more democratic than it is

Regal Puginesque splendour on the half-landing of the grand staircase of Speaker’s House- conspicuous grandeur rather than homely keeping the home fires burning

History is not so easily understood nor questions so quickly resolved from cursory study of limited secondary sources from a hospital bed as in Josephine Tey’s detective story “The Daughter of Time” now a play, entertaining fiction & no more from start to finish

“The man behind the book about the man behind the mould” Read the book, book the author as your speaker, discover more about Alexander Fleming and the birth of penicillin. “Exudes a quiet authority” amazon.co.uk/Penicillin-Man…

The ideal guest speaker not only shares knowledge & expertise but also engages with, enthuses & inspires an audience with new insights & passion for a subject in a uniquely individual style

The pressures of modern life! I have seen a young man on a train in full view of everyone stripping off his scruffy shorts & T-shirt to change into a smart business suit. Not very professional & no concern for other passengers. And he was probably still late for work.

There is a poignancy about Titanic victim Victor Peñasco’s smoking suit not worn by him but displayed on a mannequin, evoking elegance, wealth & taste yet revealing a more intensely private, vulnerable & intimate side of the young man than his formal suits pen-and-sword.co.uk/Titanic-Ship-o…

A series of enrichment lectures aboard Nautica in Autumn 2026 on “Titanic: Manly Men & Heroic Women” sailing through “Kingdoms of Sea & Sand” offering history at sea & delving behind the book “Titanic: Ship of Lost Illusions”pen-and-sword.co.uk/Titanic-Ship-o…

I am lecturing in upmarket luxury at sea about Titanic: Ship of Lost Illusions through 2025/26 but not following the trail from Belfast, Southampton, Cherbourg, Cobh to New York via Halifax, Nova Scotia,which would for me be the ultimate itinerary for my talks as a focused tour.