I have been to.. Eastney Battery West

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..   more fort archeology...  😏

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As I mentioned in the last post I've been doing a bit of volunteer work with the Palmerston Forts Society clearing brambles/weeds and vegetation from the western end of the Hilsea Lines..  but for one reason or another this was not possible this week as the field was being used, so access wasn't possible - but faced with a band of old men armed with secateurs "desperate" for work it would take a brave organiser  to turn down the opportunity to get some other work done instead, and so it was that I finally got to visit one of the two "fort'lets", or batteries, built at the front of the old Royal Marine Barracks on Southsea seafront...

By way of giving you some perspective though, this is the general topology..

North is top..  Solent is the water you see..  Gunners Row/Clocktower Drive is the old marine barracks building, now repurposed as very lovely apartments (the views are stunning)..  note too, the two batteries East and West, originally there would have been a rampart with parapet and covered way running between the two of them roughly along the line of the road (long gone, mostly removed in WW2 the remaining bit can be seen just north of the car park by The Yomper))..  my work spot for the day though was the west battery..

As this is private ground (it's purpose now is an enclosed garden for the apartments) I've limited the number of photo's to those I can find on the web, as quite rightly, I have no interest in encouraging any incursions/trespass as a result of showing in detail what a quite fantastic place it is..  if I had one of those apartments, I'd have a chair in there every day with tea and book at hand..😁  ...it's a glorious spot..  which funnily enough is one of the reasons why the battery is so well preserved to this day, as it became the private garden of the Major-General of Royal Marine Artillery after the forts were disarmed around 1907 - he lived in what are now the apartments at the west end of Clocktower Drive

"Crinoline Gardens"...   snigger... 😁Yellow lines are Carnot Walls and Caponiers - see later for a definition of what each is - still there but under 10 feet of soil

Anyway - a little history..

• the two battery's were built between 1861 & 1863 for the sum of £17,435 (roughly £2.8M in todays money according to Google) and are identical, but mirror imaged
• Each had a dry moat to the front and sides, with small Caponiers [clicky]  and Carnot walls [clicky] to cover the side ditches - fort-speak .. it's like a fascinating different language 😏. The rear (known in fortification terms as the Gorge) was covered by a loopholed wall three feet thick, and it has a central gate. The front face had embrasures for larger guns, with the main magazine under the south west position (the one with the ramp)..
• They were commissioned as a result of the Royal Commission in 1859 that also lead to the development of the other forts surrounding Portsmouth, so were considered an integral part of the overall defence plan. They were designed to protect the approach to Langstone Harbour and the sea to the east of Horse Sand Fort (in the Solent)
• The earliest record of the armaments at the forts dates from 1869 when it was stated that each had five 7-inch rifled breech loading guns and seven 8-inch smooth bore guns.
• By the 1890s, the fort had been upgraded to four 64 pounder 58cwt rifled muzzle loading guns with ranges up to 3,500 yards
• The 64 pounders were removed around 1900 and replaced by a single 6-inch Mark IV breech loading gun on hydro-pneumatic carriages which had a range of 8,800 yards - these were a variation of the Moncrief mounting I mentioned previously, but in this case the guns also had an armoured roof to protect the gunners from shrapnel (presumably) and the guns would rise up through a slot in the roof which would have been flush with the top of the concrete surround - two of the 64 pounder positions were converted to Maxim machine gun emplacements. 
• The fort was decommissioned in 1907 before the plans to install a second 6-inch Mark IV breech loading gun on hydro-pneumatic carriage was completed. 

West facing rampart of the West Battery (photo Charles Taylor) - as it happens this was where I was working for the day - happy to advise that that big bush is no more.. 😎

...and with the help of Google Earth - here's some detail - following is the view from the rear... note..

• yellow circle is the disappearing gun position
• the magazine is under the position with the ramp
• the red circle is the Maxim gun positions
• blue line marks far side of ditch
• green line is the Carnot wall which would also have had a ditch behind it to allow soldiers to deploy and fire through loopholes in the Carnot wall and into the ditch

"Crinoline Row" ...snigger...

following is the view from the front/south west... note..

• yellow shading is the ditch
• purple line is the caponier position - the other side would have been protected by the rampart between the two battery's I think..
• orange shading are the two mini bastions - which were loopholed to allow firing into the ditch - they were accessed through gates into the space behind the Carnot wall allowing men to deploy where they were most needed
• red lines are the Carnot walls which would also have had an open space behind (shaded blue) to allow soldiers to deploy and fire through loopholes in the Carnot wall and into the ditch - the Carnot along the front face is far clearer

Following is a picture from the East Battery which overall is in a far worse condition than the West one as a result of first, not being a Major Generals garden, and second, having been handed over to the Royal Navy to use and abuse as they wished for a large number of years -😏- but despite that, it shows some features that have now disappeared under soil on the West Battery..  specifically following - the Carnot Wall and Caponier (at the end of the ditch) can be seen far more clearly, but look at that curved brickwork.. it's stunning workmanship.

Caponier and Carnot wall... this is the East Battery but the West would have been the same before they filled in on both sides of  the Carnot

More stuff:

• EASTNEY BATTERIES
• Eastney Battery East - Portsmouth - TracesOfWar.com

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...

"Firing into the Brown" #88 - Blues and Royals, expenses and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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Day in the smoke last week (London Dungeons and Shreks World, since you ask..  neither with a single wargaming or historical significance, but both fantastic fun.. err.. since you ask.. 😁) but also no visit to London is complete without some pomp and pageantry..

The Blues and Royals were on duty this time on Whitehall.. second-most senior regiment in the British Army, and along with the Life Guards they form the Household Cavalry Division.

..these guys can date one of their antecedent regiments back to 1650, with a regiment raised by Haselrig (yes, he of Lobster fame) by a commission from Cromwell..

Their Colour Party was spotted outside Buckingham Palace making their way back to Horse Guards..

..nice view of the cartridge boxes..

It's not all horses, big boots and breastplates by the way - the regiment is fully mechanised and has seen service in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.. either way a magnificent sight.. "big men on big horses" indeed..

Further reading here [clicky] on their history...

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I'm a member of the Palmerston Forts Society [clicky] mostly as a result of how much I enjoyed that little project on the Hilsea Lines 

Anyway - as I mentioned in some of the posts on the Lines, the western end is on private ground (it's the school playing fields for one of the local independent schools) so is not accessible - unless, however, you volunteer for a work party for the Society there!

Have had a couple of hugely enjoyable days so far clearing ivy/brambles/vegetation (and being ripped to shreds by same 😁) from the various buildings and emplacements, and I'm getting some more bramble time next week but at a different site...

Expense magazine for storing ready use ammunition - the door/arch design dates this to the 1850's apparently, as later in the Palmerston fortification period the door arches became squared off...

There is also a fantastic example of a surviving Moncrieff gun position - because it's protected behind fencing it really is in immaculate condition

They really were an amazing thing, and so typically Victorian/War of the Worlds..

Fantastic - very much recommend the society b.t.w, as they have a huge quantity of study documents on various aspects/forts dating from the period...

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...

Rebel gold - Game ♥◆♣♠

Time for another update and some gaming has been going on.. 😏

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As promised in the previous post, Corp*, Zeke and Robbie have made their attempt to rescue the Confederate gold.. 😁

As a reminder - the table at start was as follows:

Jones Gang (bottom left) - l to r - Dave then Frank then Eddie;  Jolly Boys (top) l to r - Zeke, Corp then Robbie - Zeb is next to the horse outside the shack

Corp and Robbie, fully aware on the story of the the abandoned gold, meet at Zeke's place as agreed - it's time to go and get the goods. First though they drag out their old uniforms, "we're not thieves or outlaws, this is government business so it's right we wear the uniform" grunts Corp..

Mounting their horses they make off for their destination..

Move 1:

All pictures following are at start of move unless otherwise stated..  the cards are for initiation - high goes first, Aces low, and then standard Bridge rules to sort out ties..

Both sides advance to recce the shack - they spot each other, and also Zeb out front, as he does them. 

Spotting the old uniforms the Jones gang immediately realise these guys are there to deprive them of the gold.. it doesn't take much for Zeb, Robbie and Corp to also realise the same.

Move 2:

...and then the bullets start to fly... 😁

Zeke (J♥) pulls his revolver and takes a shot at Dave (2◆) but only grazes him, Corp (10♥) reaches round for his Sharps and also takes a shot at him but misses anything vital. 

Robbie (6♣) is confused at the sight of Zeb (5♠) outside the shack, and shouts to him that they "mean no harm but he needs to get under cover", before then sprinting to the front corner of the shack - looking indeed confused, Zeb none the less stumbles into the shack looking for his shotgun. 

Frank (5◆), can just see Zeke out in the open, pulls his revolver, and shoots but misses. 

The sudden fusillade of shots has clearly taken Dave by surprise - he finally reaches for his revolver and returns fire at Zeke but misses - Eddie (A◆) meanwhile runs to the side window of the shack, pulling both his revolvers as he goes.

Move 3:

No picture..  apologies.. but

Corp reloads the Sharps and fires again hitting Dave in the leg (who passes his toughness test). Robbie runs across the front of the shack, stops, and beats Eddie to the draw hitting him twice (he also passes his toughness test)! 

Eddie aims, fires back, but perhaps not surprisingly still misses before dodging backwards round the edge of the shack. 

Zeke covers ground and runs up to the corner of the shack closest to him for some cover and snaps off another shot off at Dave but misses. Dave returns fire and also misses.

Frank fires twice hitting once but for little effect. 

In the shack Zeb fumbles to load his shotgun.

Move 4:

Zeke (10♠) gets the draw and fires twice at Dave (10◆) hitting him in the leg (again) and in the chest - Dave is looking a bit shell shocked, but he's one tough hombre and passes his toughness test to return fire. He snaps off a shot, but misses, and then turns and runs for cover on the hill - enough's enough... 

On the hill, Frank (9♥) fires twice at Robbie(8♣), as he's the better target, but misses - he's almost out of ammo! Eddie (9♣) meanwhile is between a rock and a hard place, or rather a Robbie and a Zeke - with no windows or door on the back of the shack to escape through, whichever way he runs he's going to be a target - he steps out and takes aim at Robbie who gets the drop on him (Robbie wins the dice off), shoots, hits, and sees Eddie drop to the floor unconscious! 

Between a rock and a hard place...

Across the way Corp (8♥) reloads the trusty Sharps and takes another shot at Dave, hits him, and kills him outright..

In the cabin Zeb decides these guys must be after his still (😁) and decides that he needs to defend it - he runs across to the door steps on to the walkway outside, and literally comes face to face with Robbie -  who's just fired, so can't get the drop - and hits him under the jaw with the butt of the shotgun  knocking Robbie off his feet unconscious...!

[Fantastic passage of play - all Zeb's actions were diced for - I gave him only a 30% chance of attacking as I figured with all that lead floating round he'd be more inclined to keep his head down, but he passed that and went rogue, then I gave him three options to move to/fire from (either side windows or the front) and he diced for the front - after that with one action left and a decision he was already going to attack, the target was almost immaterial in his sozzled state! I further assumed Robbie was too close to get the barrel of the gun up, so it was easier for him just to swing the butt up under Robbie's chin..  bang..]

Move 5:

None of the Jolly Boys have an option to help Robbie (no cards were dealt which would allow recovery from unconsciousness and he failed his die roll recovery attempt) so he remains lying in the dirt - out to the world.. 

Zeb (Q♣) meanwhile looks on in shocked horror at what he's done, comes to his senses [this time he failed the 30% throw] and runs back into the shack. 

With his boss dead, and his comrade out for the count, or dead for all he can tell, Frank (J♣) decides valour is the better part etc., fires off a shot at Zeke (7◆), misses, and then runs for his horse..

Corp (3♠) and Zeke move to the cabin and persuade Zeb they really don't mean him any harm - and besides if they did, there's two of them and then he'd be a dead man already... 

Zeb may be drunk but he isn't stupid and drops his weapon and comes out with his hands up. 

Pausing only to tie Eddie up, and to throw a bucket over Robbie who has now recovered but with a very sore jaw, Corp and Zeke search the shack and right at the back, behind a huge pile of rubbish that Zeb has never bothered to clear in the years he's lived there, they find a bag that clinks when it's lifted... 💰

Post match analysis:

• First the butcher's bill..

• Robbie was very lucky.. if there'd been a bit more distance then it would have been a short range shotgun blast..  nasty..
• The Jones Boys were very unlucky in their dice throws - Dave particularly - and even when they did get hits they seemed to get more grazes/no effects on their targets than the Jolly Boys..
• Love the mental narrative these rules give - that passage of play when a slightly drunk Zeb came out of the door face to face with Robbie had me sniggering like a school boy..  😁
• * The more eagle eyed of you (that's you Jim) may have noticed that Corp has changed sides from those long gone days of Bute Farm - yeah, I know he was/is the leader of the Union trio but I like the name better! 😁 

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Back at Zeke's place, the three of them collapse into chairs round his table, exhausted..  Zeke reaches behind him and pulls out a bottle of whisky and some glasses from the cupboard and without a word pours them all a slug..

Each of them downs it in one, and after a pause Corp reaches down for the bag..

"'spose we'd better be looking and see what the hell we risked our lives for"

He picks up the bag and pours the contents on the table.. a glittering stream.. turns out most of it is captured Union $2.50 coins, there's a few $1's, but a good number of them..  in fact when they count it there's over $2000 worth...

The three of them sit their stunned..  that's more money than any of them have seen in a lifetime.. Zeke fills the glasses again...

Corp clears his throat.. "Gawd...", and after a pause.. "boys I think we need to be doing something proper with this money, it's government money, and I still ain't no outlaw"

Both Zeke and Robbie grunt agreement, but continue to look stunned...

"The war left a lot of widders and fatherless children..  going to suggest we may want to start distributing some of this coinage where it can do some good - there ain't much, God knows, but it may help a few better than it will us in our pockets.."

Zeke pours another round, and the three raise their glasses to each other in agreement..  they got a plan.. 

..."errr... just one last thing.... what're we going to do with Eddie??" (😁)

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Back at the shack, Zeb is sat in his old rocking chair out on to the verandah...  the sun is going down, and the crickets are making a racket... his favourite time of the day... he's usually tired from feeding fuel and ingredients into the still all day, but this time he's feeling tired and old for a totally different reason...  them Reb soldiers had turned out to be alright..  though the one he cracked on the jaw had eyed him a bit ugly...  they'd even bought some of his moonshine...  reaching down he picks up his jar and takes a big slug...  yeah..  definitely the best time of the day...  

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...the Jolly Boys will ride again..

"Firing into the Brown" #87 - "call that 6 inches?", Rebel gold, and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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A mate and I went down to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard for a look around the other day and I was delighted that I could finally get that closer look at the forward gun on M33, the WW1 era Monitor [clicky] that I'd wanted - the weather has always meant that the covers have been closed on previous trips....  😏

During the years (and years) that M33 had luckily been surviving by constantly changing function and purpose, the original guns had long been removed (certainly pre-WW2 I think), but during conservation they had managed to find two suitable replacements - and the forward gun (following) is by far and away the more accurate of the two*.

Note the date and the brass bit over the breech..

It's a Mk. XIIB gun and came from the gunnery training school, HMS Excellent, on Whale Island. Per the markings W.B. & Co were William Beardmore and Company ( a Clyde based engineering conglomerate) and it was made in 1917 - this was Britain's most modern 6-inch naval gun when World War I began and was usually the main armament of the light cruisers so the Monitors had teeth! The original guns on M33 had originally been intended for the Queen Elizabeth class of battleship (where they were secondary guns) but they were surplus to requirements following design changes in the battleship..

I was talking to one of the volunteers and he said that they had used this particular one to test different charges, in most cases way over the manufacturers specifications - if you look in the picture at the brass item above the breech, I believe this was to allow (very) remote firing, to protect crew against the effects of perhaps blowing the block, or the gun exploding..

Breech block..

It's on a MkIX mounting - following - no idea who would have made this but I guess Vickers, or maybe even Beardmore's again.. 

Gun layers position (following)..

...and that canvas bag on the side - following - is an example of what the powder charge would have been delivered in - so in order, shell first, then canvas/charge bag, and then detonator/initiator in a cup in the breech block..

Fascinating and my thanks to the volunteer on duty that day - really approachable and informative guy..  ex-matelot of course! 😊

* The rear gun, while the right type, came off a Chilean battleship - but that's a rabbit hole for another post.. 😁

Further reading:

• BL 6-inch Mk XII naval gun - Wikipedia
• M29-class monitor - Wikipedia
• HMS M33 - Wikipedia
• Britain 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XII and Mark XX - NavWeaps

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Following the recovery of their old friends nest egg [clicky], Robbie and Zeke decided that life had been more than exciting enough just lately, and decided it was time to keep their heads down.. 

There was no reason they couldn't to be honest, they'd heard through the grapevine that the rest of boys in the Biggs Gang had been handled pretty roughly while trying to rob a stage coach up north (only they could have picked the one stage coach full of - heavily armed - Pinkerton men) so either way, they weren't going to bother them or Tex any time soon... even if they'd wanted to...

Three or four weeks later though, back home and bored, Zeke was having a beer with one of their old comrades from back in the day - his friend was having a rough time, and was heading south with trouble hard on his heels, but then he told him about the gold...

"Gold!?" Zeke exclaimed

Turns out that just before the war had come to a close one final small gold shipment had been made by the Confederacy - back pay for some of the few remaining soldiers still in the field. Zeke's friend had been one of the small guard party, but they'd been ambushed and killed to a man except for himself, and he had only just managed to escape though badly wounded.

His friend been aware enough to see that his small guard party had done themselves proud, and all the ambushers were also dead or badly wounded.. as far as he knew the gold was where they'd left it all those years ago, but what with one thing and another, and now with all that trouble on his heels he'd never managed to get back and he wanted to know if Zeke could help him out.. he'd give him the location in return for a share of the proceeds...

Zeke pondered (for almost ten seconds 😏) before agreeing, but only if he could also cut Corp and Robbie in on the deal - after all, he might need some backup... his friend agreed, told him where to send his share of the loot, and gave him the location...

Little did his friend know though, that one of the ambush party had actually survived...

Additional Complications 😁:

• the other survivor was one Dave Jones - a Jayhawker at the time, but now the leader of a moderately successful outlaw gang 
• for one reason or another - that, trust me, are now unimportant - it had taken Dave until now to be able to get the time to go back and investigate what those damn Rebs had fought so hard for, but now he's got time on his hands and is also in need of a little success to bolster his position in the gang
• the ambush had been sprung near the end of a now disused branch line - when the shots had rung out all those years ago the Confederates had taken refuge in an old hut, if the gold is still there, it's where they hid it in the hut
• no one knows that the hut is now occupied by an old timer - Zebediah - who moved in a couple of years before. Zeb runs a still, the proceeds of what he sells to the local Saloon make him enough to live on, but also ensure he is almost always mildly and happily drunk...  Zeb is armed, but his actions will entirely depend on how he feels when one or the other side starts shooting (I'm going to run his reactions by dice 😏)

Game mechanics/setup:

• I'm using Ruthless [clicky] again - Ruthless-Fastest-Rules-in-the-West-3.pdf (fireballforward.com) ..they're free gratis, but more importantly they drive a fantastic narrative (and for me - with most of my wargaming being solo - the narrative is becoming more and more important, if the rules don't make a good narrative then I lose interest 
• Ground is considered good - bushes, logs and railway don't block line of sight but provide cover, the dunes, the cabin and the horse do block line of sight and also provide cover.
• Neither/all parties knows that the others are there
• Zeb's shotgun is in the shack - he needs to go there first - who he then shots at no one currently knows! He won't react until he spots one of either of the two main parties
• Finding the gold requires two actions in the shack - not being shot at, and not doing anything else..

Table as follows - Jones Gang bottom left - the Jolly Boys top - Zeb next to his horse and completely unaware:

Dramatis Personae:

Stay tuned for the game... 😀

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Laters, as the young people are want to say...

"Firing into the Brown" #86 - Top 10's, quotes and decluttering and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..  long over time in fact..  apologies - far too busy elsewhere, but also far too warm to be gaming in the loft...   

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I've also been busy starting that declutter that all of us elderly wargamers will inevitably have to do if we are not to leave all the stuff to our children and loved ones to sort out.. yeah not cheerful, but a lifetime in the hobby has resulted in me having bookshelves and boxes full of stuff that is potentially of value, but which I haven't looked at in most cases since the time I bought it on a whim..  unless I do it now, it will probably end up in a skip or the recycling so a plethora of rules/magazines and games will be hitting eBay

It's a long term activity that will probably pick up pace in the autumn/winter - but the first steps have been made, and amazingly I've already shifted more than £350's worth of stuff and I haven't even made a dent in the pile!

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So here is version 2 of the Top 10..  still a work in progress...  no rankings yet, as I'd like to get the list of entries first.. and having said that I'm not sure I even will rank them - the beauty of a book is that it's effect on you can change with the times and moods, and so it's ranking can also change... maybe a list will do... it's also hugely difficult to even stick to just 10, never mind having to rank them! 😏

• 'Pied Piper' - Nevil Shute - so many Nevil Shute books could go in the list but if I had to chose just one this would be it (next would be 'Trustee from the Toolroom')
• 'Winter in Madrid' - CJ Sansom - another author with so many good books - he is the author who wrote the Shardlake series - but I am choosing one, and this one is set in Madrid at the end of the Civil War and when we were all holding our breath to find out whether Franco would come in to the war.. if not this, then 'Dominion'
• 'Day of the Jackal' - Forsyth - for all the reasons previously mentioned but mostly because this was a genre defining book
• 'Captain Correlli's Mandolin' - Louis de Bernières - an absolute tour de force that I kick myself repeatedly for not having read sooner, and will read again soon (in fact as of writing I've just finished it 😀)..
• 'Lord of the Rings' - Tolkien of course - not fair you shout, as there are three books, so if I had to choose one it would be for the first one 'The Fellowship of the Ring'
• Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian.. 21 books in all but if I had to pick one it would be 'The Reverse Of The Medal'.. the "off hats!" passage causes the eyes to go blurry every bloody time... utter genius.. 

NB. To set the scene Aubrey has been arrested and sentenced to the pillory on politically motivated   charges of financial exploitation of the Stock Market (he's too trusting by half when on land! 😏)

“Jack was led out of the dark room into the strong light, and as they guided him up the steps he could see nothing for the glare. 'Your head here sir, if you please,' said the sheriff's man in a low, nervous, conciliating voice, 'and your hands just here.'

   The man was slowly fumbling with the bolt, hinge and staple, and as Jack stood there with his hands in the lower half-rounds, his sight cleared: he saw that the broad street was filled with silent, attentive men, some in long togs, some in shore-going rig, some in plain frocks, but all perfectly recognizable as seamen. And officers, by the dozen, by the score: midshipmen and officers. Babbington was there, immediately in front of the pillory, facing him with his hat off, and Pullings, Stephen of course, Mowett, Dundas . . . 

He nodded to them, with almost no change in his iron expression, and his eye moved on: Parker, Rowan, Williamson, Hervey . . . and men from long, long ago, men he could scarcely name, lieutenants and commanders putting their promotion at risk, midshipmen and master's mates their commissions, warrant-officers their advancement. 

   'The head a trifle forward, if you please, sir,' murmured the sheriff's man, and the upper half of the wooden frame came down, imprisoning his defenceless face. He heard the click of the bolt and then in the dead silence a strong voice cry 'Off hats'. With one movement hundreds of broad-brimmed tarpaulin-covered hats flew off and the cheering began, the fierce full-throated cheering he had so often heard in battle.”

• 'Secret Water' - Arthur Ransome - part of his 'Swallows and Amazons' series (from which I could probably have chosen any book), but I think on balance this is the one I liked the most, and from a series which for me kick-started a life long love of sailing..
• 'Wolf Hall' - Hilary Mantel - part of the fictional trilogy on Thomas Cromwell - what a stunning imagination she had... a close run thing with 'The Mirror and the Light' which I may still nominate instead..
• 'An Officer and a Spy' - Robert Harris - another master storyteller - a host of good books to his name but this one (and perhaps the latest one about Asquith) is his tour de force.. in my opinion anyway 😏
• 'Mohawk Valley' - Ronald Welch - as a young teen with an insatiable interest in all things military history and wargaming, Welch was my go-to writer  - I could have nominated any one of a half dozen of his other books ('Knight Crusader' and 'Sun of York' in particular) but this one I waited over 40 years to get a copy of, and that says it all!
• 'Dark Materials'/'Book of Dust' series by Phillip Pullman - my goodness WHAT an imagination.. five books so far, waiting on the third in the 'Book of Dust' series as we speak but if I have to choose one though, for me it would either by the 'Amber Spyglass' or 'The Secret Commonwealth' - the skill and ability to conjure up an entirely believable, and entirely separate, reality, and then weave in a story with many characters is a rare, rare skill...

....that'll do for now - still need to whittle the 12 down to 10 never mind the others I'd like to add...!

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“Those whom the gods love, die young.” (Menander)

“Man is a dream of a shadow.” (Pindar)

“Even the gods cannot change the past.” (Agathon - possibly Homer) 

“Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.” (Homer, The Iliad)

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...