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I was educated at Eton College and has an M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of St Andrews. I moved to Poland (Kielce, Swietokrzyskie Voivodship] in 2002 as an English teacher and now I currently work as a freelance POL>ENG proofreader/translator and private English tutor.
E-mail: [email protected]
To date I have made contributions to:
Literature
All the main articles for the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin 21-book series, including the plot summaries, the characters and the ships in these historical novels. In particular,
- 5. Desolation Island (novel) (1978)
- 6. The Fortune of War (1979)
- 7. The Surgeon's Mate (1980)
- 8. The Ionian Mission (1981)
- 9. Treason's Harbour (1983)
- 10. The Far Side of the World (1984)
- 11. The Reverse of the Medal (1986)
- 12. The Letter of Marque (1988)
- 13. The Thirteen Gun Salute (1989)
- 14. The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991)
- 15. Clarissa Oakes (1992) - (The Truelove in the USA)
- 16. The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
- 17. The Commodore (novel) (1995)
- 18. The Yellow Admiral (1996)
- 19. The Hundred Days (novel) (1998)
- 20. Blue at the Mizzen (1999)
- 21. The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004) - (21 in the USA)
The biography of Jonathan Raban and synopses for:
- Soft City,
- Arabia Through the Looking Glass,
- Old Glory: An American Voyage,
- Coasting (book),
- Foreign Land (novel)
- For Love & Money: A Writing Life, 1968-1987,
- Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America,
- Bad Land: An American Romance (contributions)
- Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings,
- Waxwings (novel)
- Surveillance (novel).
Work on the main William Boyd (writer) article and plot summaries, and sources external links for his short stories and novels:
- Brazzaville Beach,
- A Good Man in Africa,
- An Ice-Cream War,
- The New Confessions,
- The Blue Afternoon,
- Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960,
- Armadillo (novel),
- Any Human Heart,
- Restless (novel)
- Ordinary Thunderstorms
- Waiting for Sunrise.
The biography of Sebastian Faulks, literary themes, bibliography, plot summary and background of:
The plot summaries of the following historical novels of Robert Harris (novelist):
- Imperium (novel) - part I of his Cicero trilogy
Others:
- The entire plot summary and literary analysis section of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. I have done this because I found there were too many different versions on the net, many of which were incorrect. I have also included a stub on The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great.
- The main article on Helen Dunmore and her eighth novel Mourning Ruby (2003)
- David Liss's The Coffee Trader, a novel about the Portuguese Jewish community in seventeen century Amsterdam.
- a plot summary for Tess of the d'Urbervilles and the literary themes section for Thomas Hardy.
- the George Orwell main article (additions dated 21st April, 2007 in history), with a particular focus on his personal life and his love letters written whilst working as a teacher. Also, contributions to the plot of Keep the Aspidistra Flying.
- the biography of Laurie Lee and the plot history and summary of Cider With Rosie and As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, in my opinion one of the greatest travel books ever written.
- the biography of Eric Newby, one of my favourite travel writers and the articles for The Last Grain Race, Love and War in the Apennines and A Small Place in Italy.
- Aldous Huxley's main literary themes in his novels
- the plot summary and literary themes section for Robert Graves' classic Good-bye to All That.
- the work and literary influences section of the Jane Austen article (and some minor additions to the film versions of her novels).
- the main article for the writer, Andrew Sinclair and his wife, Sonia Sinclair (formerly Sonia Melchett).
- contribution to Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. This brillian best seller describes the US' obsession with junk food, the global growth of fast food enterprises like McDonald's and KFC, and the transformation of the US food industry into a vast industrial concern run by massive agribusinesses, which treat their hourly-paid workers more like animals, and the animals more like numbers instead of living creatures. I have also contributed to the stub on ConAgra and IBP, Inc., two of the US' largest meatpacking (i.e. slaughterhouse) companies.
- contribution to the J. R. R. Tolkien article regarding his rather complex friendship with C. S. Lewis.
- Dewey Lambdin, the American author of the Alan Lewrie naval adventures.
- the main article on the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard
- Kingsley Amis's visit to Rudyard Kipling's house, Bateman's in Burwash, Sussex and his poem 'Kipling at Bateman's'
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize (contribution).
- expansion of the plot summary and writing of the critical appreciation for Charles Dickens' Dombey and Son
- expansion of the plot summary of William Burroughs' Cities of the Red Night
- the main article on the living British playwright, Alan Bennett (contributions)
- the plot summary of The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope, considered by many his finest novel.
Poland
- A short bio of Jennifer Croft, the translator of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights, winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2018 Shortlist (2018)
- The entire plot descriptions for:
- the first novel in Henryk Sienkiewicz's great masterpiece The Trilogy (Trylogia), With Fire and Sword (Polish: Ogniem i mieczem).
- the second novel in Henryk Sienkiewicz's great masterpiece The Trilogy (Trylogia), The Deluge (novel) (Polish: Potop).
- the third novel in Henryk Sienkiewicz's great masterpiece The Trilogy (Trylogia), Fire in the Steppe (Polish: Pan Wołodyjowski).
- the historical novel, The Knights of the Cross (Polish: Krzyżacy) by Henryk Sienkiewicz. In my opinion this is his best book in terms of dramatic action.
- the historical novel, On the Field of Glory (Polish: Na Polu Chwały) by Henryk Sienkiewicz. My wife tells me this is not so popular with Polish readers but I enjoyed it.
For anyone interested in Polish authors, I cannot recommend Ryszard Kapuściński more highly. So far, I have read his books Imperium, Shah of Shahs and The Emperor and will move onto Travels with Herodotus and The Soccer War (book). He is a brilliant journalist-author who writes in a mode similar to George Orwell and I rank his writing to be just as good.
- Van den Budenmayer in Krzysztof Kieślowski's classic film Three Colours: Blue and entries regarding his marriage.
- the main article for Sweet Rush (film) - Tatarak in Polish - Andrzej Wajda's latest film.
- Michał Sołowow, Poland's 4th richest billionaire, who was born and lives in Kielce.
- Krzysztof Klicki, the billionaire owner of Kolporter S.A., who was born and lives in Kielce.
- Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA), Blackjack affair and Mariusz Kaminski
- Janusz Palikot, a controversial but highly effective PO MP in the Sejm, who is out to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in Poland. (contribution)
- Henry Sienkiewicz's house at Oblęgorek
Discussion Pages(indicating novels/writers I am currently reading)
Television
- The Tudors - plot summary
- Michael Caton-Jones - director of Scandal, Rob Roy, This Boy's Life and the TV mini-series, World Without End
Non-literature
- The main article for Ian McEwan's screenplay of the film The Ploughman's Lunch
- The main article on Ira Rennert, the American multimillionaire, President and CEO of Renco Group Inc.
- The main article on Marcus Evans, the publicity shy billionaire owner of marcus evans Group, THG etc.
- The personal life section in the article on Gordon Brown.
- contribution to Anthony Blunt article
- Bruschetta - tradition and recipe.
- Tina Brown - Talk Magazine, The Diana Chronicles and newspaper columnist.
- Goldman Sachs' role in the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis.
- Insert of Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker into Salomon Brothers article.
- Contribution to the Fanny Craddock article.
- Contribution to Jeremy Wolfenden article, the British spy who died at the age of 31
- The 2008 campaign of violence against white commercial farmers and black farmers supporting the MDC in Zimbabwe by Robert Mugabe's war veterans and other assorted thugs. See Land reform in Zimbabwe. Also, several comments on the Robert Mugabe discussion page.
- The main article page on John Sauven, Executive Director of Greenpeace
- Thabo Mbeki's role as chief negotiator in the Zimbabwe political crisis (c.f. article: International reaction to the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election)
- Grace Mugabe, Gushungo Dairy Estate and Nestlé scandal (discussion page).
- Sergei Magnitsky, a tax partner at Moscow law firm Firestone Duncan.
- Rachel Johnson, the section on her appointment as the new editor of The Lady (magazine)
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