Jonathan was asked by Clifton College to deliver the address for the Remembrance Day service on 11 November. In a moving service conducted by the school chaplain, Rev. Simon Chapman, the large congregation listened to the anthem, Libera me and…
Jonathan has just compiled a booklet on 'SALCOMBE REGIS 1914-1918: THE MEN WHO NEVER RETURNED'. Like all villages and towns in Britain, Salcombe Regis lost some of her local sons, who are commemorated in Jonathan's parish church in Devon. Together…
Nazi atrocities assumed a terrifying level in 1944. The massacre of French civilians at Oradour-sur Glane is well documented. However, there was an even more brutal and indiscriminate SS operation carried out against Italian civilians in the Apennine mountains between…
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War, Jonathan, together with co-trustee Diane Walker, recently gave a special guided tour of the various memorial bronzes and tablets commemorating people and events from The Great War. They covered several local…
In June Jonathan was invited by the BBC to attend the first of the 2018 Reith Lectures at Broadcasting House, London. The eminent historian Margaret MacMillan delivered her opening talk on 'War and Humanity' to an audience of journalists, historians…
Jonathan's article on the controversies surrounding the Haig statues was published in the latest issue of Records, the journal of The Douglas Haig Fellowship. It is reproduced below by kind permission of the DHF: The Real Monuments Men By Jonathan…
A visit to Heidelberg unearthed a fascinating story of the German Student Corps just before the Great War. Staying at the historic inn, Die Hirschgasse, just across the river from the old town, Jonathan learned about the bloody duelling contests…
Emilie Grigsby was one of the three Edwardian mistresses whose lives were explored by Jonathan in his book The Blue Beast. This was the first full biography of the American socialite and adventuress, who eventually became 'the mascot of British…
In the week of Holocaust Memorial Day 2018, Jonathan delivered his illustrated talk Holocaust: What the Allies Knew at the Polish Hearth Club in London. Over 120 guests, including Holocaust survivors, heard the tragic story of how the genocide unfolded and…
November 2017 marked 50 years since the British withdrawal from Aden. In early December, a conference was arranged by Dr Noel Brehony and hosted by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) at their headquarters in Whitehall. The packed programme was…