On Monday 3rd October 7.30pm at The Lord Leycester’s Hospital Allan Mallinson will be talking about his book ‘The Making of The British Army’
How did Marlborough’s momentous victory at Blenheim
inspire Wellington’s at Waterloo?
Did the desperate fight at Rorke’s Drift in 1879 underpin the heroism of the
airborne forces in Arnhem in 1944?
Why does Montgomery’s momentous victory at El Alamein still matter over
fifty years after the Second World War?
Former-serving cavalry officer Allan Mallinson shows us the people and events that have shaped the army we know today. From the English Civil War to today’s War on Terror, this sweeping account of nearly 400 years of military history looks at how the Army’s dramatic past has made it one of the most effective fighting forces in the world today. Avidly researched and beautifully compiled, The Making of the British Army reveals the relevance of historic wars and battlefields in the planning and execution of modern conflicts.
Edgehill, 1642: on a Warwickshire hillside, four thousand men lie dead and wounded. Oliver Cromwell, commanding a troop of cavalry, rides onto the field in the aftermath of the first battle of the English Civil War. Surveying the disastrous scene, he realizes that war can no longer be made in the old, feudal way: there has to be system and discipline, and therefore – eventually – a standing professional army. 
This is the story of hard-won military experience: of campaigns with lines of communication that snaked through Europe, Africa, Asia; and of pitched battles in alien lands in which the odds were overwhelming, and where victory was snatched often by the narrowest of margins.
From the Army’s birth at the battle of Edgehill in 1642 to our current conflict in Afghanistan, this is history at its most relevant – and most dramatic
Allan Mallinson is the author of Light Dragoons, a history of four regiments of British Cavalry, one of which he commanded, a defence commentator for the Daily Telegraph and a regular reviewer for The Times and the Spectator. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling series of Matthew Hervey novels, the latest of which is On Her Majesty’s Service.
Tickets will be available from Warwick Books, Kenilworth Books and The Bridge House Theatre (01926 776438). This talk is arranged by Warwick Books for Warwick Words Xtra. 
We are delighted that Allan’s publisher Transworld have supported us in putting on this event.
Two of the recession’s success stories have been loose leaf tea and poetry – put the two together and you have ‘poetea’. Here professional writer, portrait miniature painter and Tea Poet, Elizabeth Darcy Jones, serves up a fragrant brew in this charming volume, celebrating different teas and ‘tea people’. Alongside descriptions of different tea types and hints about using loose leaf tea – 37 different teas are described as characters, revealing their unique personalities in an accessible and entertaining way.
