The end of the road for FO John

Posted on October 22, 2026 • No Comments

New Bike Day 20 April 2018. A story sitting at the edge of The Écrivélo Book - and not one you will read in those pages. The Last Ride of FO John Christie. On 26 August 2026 I left Orléans for Gien. Thirty seven kilometres in, the bike began to[...]

Birling Gap

Posted on August 22, 2026 • No Comments

The South Coast of England. Birling Gap, near to Beachy Head One of a series of stories and place-based sketches exploring locations that sit at the edges of the narrative told in The Écrivélo Book. The RAF Bomber Command Memorial on Beachy Head. The RAF Bomber Command Memorial, located on[...]

Bombing of Lyon by the Allied air forces, 26 May 1944: damaged sites recorded by the City Property Service — Nouveau cimetière de la Guillotière: graves bombed / photograph by Sylvestre Municipal Archives of Lyon; 3PH/126 Date 26/05/1944

Buried under the Bombs

Posted on January 2, 2026 • No Comments

One of a series of stories and place-based sketches exploring locations that sit at the edges of the narrative told in The Écrivélo Book. Bombing of Lyon by the Allied air forces, 26 May 1944: damaged sites recorded by the City Property Service — Nouveau cimetière de la Guillotière: graves[...]

Wilford L. Bollinger – The Absent Man

Posted on November 13, 2025 • No Comments

One of a series of stories and biographical sketches exploring the lives of those who stand at the edges of the narrative told in The Écrivélo Book. The Ambrose crew, photographed at Harrington by Sgt. James J. Heddleston. Those present include Left to right back row: Lt. George W. Ambrose,[...]

Defeat and Division.

Posted on January 12, 2023 • No Comments

‘A clear-eyed, ambitious and myth-busting account that places the Fall of France in 1940 and De Gaulle’s Free French in a wider scenario that sees Vichy France and its colonial empire as a serious military player down to 1942. A tour de force by a historian who is a master[...]

Air Force Records: A Guide for Family Historians

Posted on August 30, 2017 • No Comments

If you are new to searching old records like me, then this is an excellent book . One of the first things I did when researching the Mosquito in the Forest was to buy the service records of the crew. Without this book I think it is fair to say[...]

New website opening

Posted on January 23, 2017 • No Comments

Today is a great day: Welcome to the newly designed website. In this new and fresh repository you will soon find all of our stories. Those that where on our previous site, plus a whole lot more. We also thought, what a great opportunity for a whole new look. So, as[...]

Six weeks of Blenheim Summer

Posted on January 1, 2017 • No Comments

Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer Whilst researching the "Brechin War Hero" story I stumbled across an absolute gold mine. A book written by Alastair Dyson Panton and bought to life by his granddaughter Victoria Panton Bacon. Alastair Panton, was the pilot of the Bristol Blenheim on reconnaissance duties when it was[...]

Lancaster – Reaping the Whirlwind

Posted on April 21, 2016 • No Comments

Lancaster: Reaping the Whirlwind Written in English by Martin A. Bowman. This book details the Lancaster s history from 1942 through to 1945, this study brings everything together to tell a concise history of one of the world's most famous aircraft. A superlative and unique colour section of over fifty contemporary[...]

Witness Report of Maquis Azergues

Posted on February 21, 2016 • No Comments

Histoire vécue des maquis de l'Azergues This book is written by Roger CHAVANET a member of the Resistance under the code name Guerin.He was born in TROYES on April 30, 1915 and at the age of 16 he came to live with his uncle in LYON and work in the city.[...]