They say that in the Navy the girls are very fine Some like Betty Grable and some like Frankenstein No! I don’t want no more a Navy life Gee but I wanna go, but they won’t let me go, HOME. (A rowdy song with a multitude of verses I first heard aboard TS Foudroyant. Betty Grable was a famous Hollywood film star in the 1940s/50s.) This is a piece of my own history. Sometime in 1953/4, Mum, (Florence Pillinger) noticed a small...
On 16 June 2026, out of the blue, I received this email from the Girl Guides Association of St Lucia, an archipelago in the Caribbean. Good day, I do not wish to be a...
Hello, I just wanted to let my readership know that I am alive and well and writing copiously. It’s been ages since my last blog but rest assured I am still working on new...
In the Beginning was the Word. I have always soaked up random knowledge like a sponge, which explains a slavish devotion to University Challenge, (pride in my infinitesimal contribution of right answers), and perhaps...
It may seem strange to start with an obituary, but this is the way I first came across Helen, when I was filling in the background to our Irish holiday, April 2025. For Helen’s...
This is one of those blogs which starts off with one subject and lands up with another, connected, but completely unexpected. Whilst I was drawn to the desolate beauty of the island, surrounded by...
During research to complete my series “Wanton Wenches & Incorrigible Rogues”, I came across this amazing and valuable piece of work. As several of my current protagonists – ones in whom I have a...
In our house, Valentia Island is iconic. If you knew the hair-raising, but much mocked, story of George’s first visit there, more than 70 years ago, with his Mum to buy a pig’s head...
The picture above is me with my man George at Big Pit National Coal Museum, Wales for my birthday treat 13 June 1986. I wish we were young again, but I think I’m still...
The railroad comes through the middle of the house. The railroad comes through the middle of the house. The trains all come through the middle of the house Since the company bought the land....
I have been researching the social history of the West Country for 50+ years. During this time I have collated information on a wide range of people living and working in the West Country including miners, ethnic minorities, petty criminals, sailors, tommies, benefactors, brassmakers and many more. The thing that I find amazing is that ordinary people always lived extraordinary lives. I hope you like my blog that brings together my lifetime of research.
My life on the Ocean Wave: “Some like Betty Grable….”
02 September 2026
Miracles take a little longer: Dorothy Vinter and me.
29 August 2026
I’m still here and writing – more to come soon!
11 April 2026
