NEWS

My next history book is nearly ready to go. It has been a lot of work, but a real labour of love. Watch this space for developments.

My next public gig will be at Stevenage Museum, on Friday February 13th, at 1.00. I shall be talking about my book First Class, a History of Britain through 36 Postage Stamps.

In May, I shall be doing another talk there, about my Eurovision book.

The Museum is under the splendid 1960s church, a much underrated piece of architecture from that era. If you can visit that as well, do so (It's locked some times!) The Museum itself is full of interesting material about the creation of Stevenage, the first of the New Towns designated in the 1946 New Towns Act - a core policy of the Big Idea that was the 1945 Labour government. It also looks back to the town's ancient past, its association with EM Forster (the model for Howard's End is down the road from it) and forward to its future. Local museums are great fun, staffed by enthusiastic people and with plenty of interesting stories to tell. You get cups of tea in proper mugs, time to browse and a general reminder that everywhere has a story and is interesting to the thoughtful and curious person.