Month: April 2019

On Friday 3 May, I am returning to the Imperial War Museum to sign books and speak to visitors in the bookshop from 11 a.m.

The IWM has an excellent archive of photographs and documents from the British military campaign in Russia during World War One. I have used some of their material in Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners, including the Jack Papers, which cover the work of Brigadier Archie Jack CB, CMG, CBE.  He commanded the British Railway Mission in Siberia and wrote a key letter to Major General Sir Alfred Knox, which led to the soldiers being abandoned in Omsk.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/meet-the-author-rupert-wieloch-0

 

 

 

Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners is the book of the month in the May issue of Britain At War; the UK’s best selling military history magazine.

I am grateful for the full page, glowing review written by Melody Foreman.

 

We had a very engaging audience in Hungerford for the first book talk.  My thanks go to Emma and Alex for hosting the event and to Tessa for her introduction and perceptive question about Teddy the three legged mascot in prison.

In the first two weeks of May, I will be giving talks and signing books at the Imperial War Museum and Royal United Services Institute in London, Hart’s Bookshop in Saffron Walden and the Sherborne Literary Society (tickets available through Winstone’s Bookshop).

 

I will be giving the first talk about the colourful characters and extraordinary events revealed in Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners: The British Soldiers Deceived in the Russian Civil War on Wednesday 24 April at the Hungerford Hub.

Anyone interested in why Winston Churchill sent out hundreds of men to Siberia one hundred years ago and how some of them were captured by the Red Army and placed on starvation rations in lice-infested cells should join us at 7.30 pm.

Tickets are available through the Hungerford Bookshop at: http://www.hungerfordbookshop.co.uk/category/events

 

 

 

The Daily Express two-page feature on my book can be found at the link below.  Although the title of the article is Winston Churchill: Secret Shame in the Russian Revolution, there is clear evidence in the book that Churchill worked harder than anyone to secure the release of Captain Horrocks and the last prisoners of war in World War One.

When the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, planned to meet Lenin’s envoys in May 1920 and reopen trade with Russia, the Secretary for War declared in a secret Cabinet Office memorandum that the return of “all British prisoners of war captured in Siberia…should be the sine qua non of further negotiations.”  See Chapter 14 and Appendix 4 for the details.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1110787/winston-churchill-russian-revolution-brothers-galicia

 

In discussion with Kimberley Leonard on Sky News this morning about the latest developments in Libya.

After the launch of Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners, Resident Magazine published an article which you can read below.

 

 

 

Signed copies of Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners are available in the following London bookshops: Foyles in Charing Cross Road; Waterstones in Trafalgar Square; Blackwells in Holborn; London Review Bookshop by the British Museum; and Barnes Bookshop.  I will be adding to this list on Thursday 11 April.

On Saturday 20 April, I will be signing at One Tree Bookshop in Petersfield at 10.30 and on Wednesday 24 April, I will be talking about the colourful characters and their extraordinary ordeal in Hungerford with tickets available at:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/churchills-abandoned-prisoners-tickets-59003111896

 

 

I was invited to discuss the situation in Libya with Samantha Washington on the afternoon news programme, but we were diverted by the breaking story about Army Culture.

There appears to be huge political pressure on the Chief of the General Staff to sort out the discipline problem in the Field Army, which is the biggest reputational threat since the Iraq War abuse.  As he is relatively new in the job and his background is Special Forces and the Household Division, this will be challenging for him as you can see from the hasty Army posting on Youtube.

 

The art of a great interviewer is to ask questions which the interviewee would like to talk about and extract information the listeners would like to hear.

It was a pleasure to be interviewed by the skillful Julian Clegg, who covered so many bases in our seven minute discussion before the launch at Waterstones on Feel Good Friday.

The interview can be listened to on the BBC website at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p075m6mb