Lola Montez and the King of Bavaria

Lola Montez and the King of Bavaria

Lola Montez was one of the most famous dancers in Europe in the 1840s. Her love affair with the King of Bavaria brought him crashing down before she embarked upon a new life running a literary and social salon in California. This tale follows the rise and fall of this...
The Premiere of Handel’s Messiah – Dublin, 1742

The Premiere of Handel’s Messiah – Dublin, 1742

In 1742, over 700 people crowded into the Great Musick Hall in Dublin to hear Handel lead the performance of his choral masterpiece. In view of the numbers, ladies were requested to come "without hoops," and gentlemen without swords. Critics were unanimous - this was...
Bill Harrington, 11th Earl of Harrington (1922-2009)

Bill Harrington, 11th Earl of Harrington (1922-2009)

This story followed my meeting with Bill in 2005 in which he told me he had personally arrested Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Hitler's successor as President of the German Reich. Sadly the facts don't add up but Bill, who was one of my grandfather's greatest friends,...
The Butcher of Culloden

The Butcher of Culloden

Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-65), the son of George II, was in disgrace after he led his army to inglorious defeat at the battle of Fontenoy. And then, like a football manager whose luck changes, he destroyed the Scots at Culloden. His brutal...