Thrilled to be a finalist in the Geelong Short Play Festival for the second year running!
Now comes the hard(er) part - bringing the play to life.
#geelongwriters

#napoleonic #britisharmy #dukeofwellington

Not Just Waterloo: Britain’s Forgotten Campaigns YouTube video by Redcoat History

My new podcast on Redcoat History is out.
I hope to be doing a few more of these soon:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj6y...

2/ And here are some more.
Check out the 52nd attacking the Middle Guard.
And Wellington meeting Blucher!
#napoleonic

I recently remembered that I had in my collection the movie book to the film Waterloo that my Dad bought me on seeing the film in 1970.
The images in it are great. Mostly of scenes that never made the final cut.
More to follow.
#napoleonic

Having only one Scots cavalry regiment - and not being ideal cavalry country - skews things I think.
But 2.5 times more North American infantry field officers than Welsh? That's the bit I did not foresee.

2/ FtGds + Line Infantry:
1266 (41.7%) English
677 (22.3%) Irish
901 (29.7%) Scots
34 (1.9%) Welsh
71 (2.3%) Foreign (Dutch/French/Hanov/W Indies)
88 (2.9%) North American
Scots were 10.1% of the population of the UK at that time.
Nth American mostly US Loyalists.
WInd from families resident there.

Thanks Rory.
Cavalry:
418 (61.7%) English
145 (21.4%) Irish
89 (13.1%) Scots
12 (1.8%) Welsh
11 (1.6%) Foreign (Dutch/Royalist French/Hanoverian)
2 (0.3%) Nth American
Sources: Birth records, or self-identification on Insp Reports.
For field officers serving 1793 to 1815.
I'll do the Infantry next.

2/ And the most common first names:
1 John 420+
2 William 390+
3 George 290+
4 James 260+
5 Charles 230+
6 Thomas 210+
7 Henry 190+
8 Robert 170+
9 Alexander 160+
10 Edward 150+

#booksky #napoleonic

It's been Indexing time - for all five volumes! 3000+ field officers.

The most common surnames were:
1 Campbell 55+
2 Stewart 50+
3 Gordon 45+
4 Hamilton 40+
5 Fraser 35+
6 Murray 35+
7 MacDonald / McDonald (combined) 30+
8 Brown / Browne (combined) 30+
9 Smith 25+
10 Ross 25+

I do love local secondhand book fairs.
Most of these cost me $2 each.
There's my winter reading sorted.
#BookSky #Napoleonic

One thing that history has taught me is that it always repeats.
Always.
I was working on a section of a new work, and before I knew it, I was faced with working out the details of an expeditionary force in the Straits on Hormuz.
In January 1810...

#Napoleonic #History

2/ ... how you want the data sorted, and what paginations, and then sit back. Seems to work!
A bit of trial and error involved first, but worth it.
Also - do it in Excel. Word is crapola for data manipulation.
Once sorted, then export it back into Word.
Reducing the manual effort by quite a bit.

I'm not fan of AI. The very idea that it could 'write something for me' has me reaching for an air sickness bag.
However, I have discovered that it can be useful for writing support tasks.
Like indexing, for example. Give AI some simple, non-ambiguous instructions on what to look for...

OK. Port Fairy is very cute.

Are you down our way?

4/
Meanwhile, a bunch of jolly Prussians watching in the pub offer to join in against the French…
Gabby ‘The Moocher’ Blücher
Gus ‘Gneisup Mother Brown’ Gneisenau
Ernie ‘The Tippler’ Tippleskirch
George ‘Pidgeon’ Pirch
Hansy "Bitin’ " Zeiten
Freddy ‘Look out!’ Bülow
Jonno ‘Saxy’ Thielemann

3/ Finally the French darts squad appears at the pub, late as usual;
Leon ‘The Napster’ Bonaparte
Mikey ‘Ginge’ Ney
Jonno ‘Three Piece’ Soult
Drew ‘Duh’ D’Erlon
Honno ‘Third’ Reille
Dom ‘Jean Claude’ Vandamme
Georgie ‘Legga’ Mouton
Frank ‘Sally’ Kellerman
Manny ‘Hoochie Coochie’ Grouchy

2/
Then some of their continental mates rocked up to lend moral support…
Dave ‘Sassy’ Chasse
Gus ‘P&O’ Kruse
Karl ‘Towers’ Alten
Willy ‘The Duke’ Brunswick
Bill ‘Skinny‘ Orange

I, for one, would not like to encounter Tommy 'The Topper' Picton in a dark alley.

I wonder what the commanders at Waterloo would have been like if they were a bunch of blokes at the pub...
Arfur ‘Wello’ Wellesley
Roly ‘Poly’ Hill
Harry ‘Bill’ Clinton
Tommy ‘The Topper’ Picton
Denny ‘Six’ Pack
Henry ‘Hopalong’ Uxbridge
Perhaps they're a darts team, waiting for the French to show?

I strongly suspect he is bald to the crown of his head, as his old man was. His hair is a massive combover held in place by about 2 kilograms of product each morning. The hat is insurance to make sure his hair doesn’t self-salute in the wind before his hand can get up there.

Simple response? Don’t offer assistance again, EVER. Just smile and wave.

Hell, he even gigged with FZ.

Troooly rooly

You especially cannot bomb a proud ancient civilisation of 92 mills with a 600K strong army, now internally united with a common enemy. The US may just as well have bombed, let’s say, France. Plus we know that ‘regime change’ is the usual Septic window dressing, their secret code for ‘oil’.

I know. Just pointing out consequences the northern hemisphere may not have considered yet. No more Pacific bases for US ships, for one.

Dear USA: if push comes to shove and UK and Canada somehow become involved (unlikely I know, but…) you can assume Australia 🇦🇺 and New Zealand 🇳🇿 are not on your side either.

This is absolutely what is forming up, metaphorically.

So if you win the Oscar for best actor, and then go and give it to someone who was not even close to being nominated, the recipient suddenly becomes the best actor in the world? Is that how it works?