Great excitement! My book on Great-Uncle Harry now has a UK publication date: Thursday, September 28th 2023.

At last, patient readers will be able to see what I’ve been banging on about these past three years. I’ve been fascinated by Great-Uncle Harry ever since photos of him and the diaries he kept before his death in the Battle of The Somme were passed down to me. He died young. His life snuffed out at the same age I was when we filmed Monty Python and The Holy Grail. It was a short life but one that encompassed an amazing period of history. From the peak of Victorian achievement to its disastrous collapse into the mud and slaughter of World War One.

Writing a family story is something new for me. It took a lot of research and ended with a visit to France to see the spot where Harry was killed. But the story began much earlier when Harry’s father, my great-grandfather, married an Irish orphan. She was born in the Great Famine. her son died in the Great War. In the book I try to piece together what happened to them in between, to try and find how my family dealt with golden opportunities and desperate disappointments.

It’s been a great learning experience. I hope it’ll be a great reading experience.

Watch this space!

Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale Of War And Empire will be available in the UK on Thursday, September 28th 2023.

Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale Of War And Empire will be available in Canada and the US on Tuesday, October 10 2023.