An eventful 2021…

Despite the impact of the Covid pandemic on so many aspects of our lives, 2021 saw my biography of Henry Coombe-Tennant get into print and it has been well received, as shown in these links:

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Soldier%2C+spy%2C+monk…+messiah%3F+world.+War+II+hero+Henry…-a0680639886

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/solider-spy-monk-remarkable-life-21842374

The following BBC News website article received over 1,000,000 hits!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59010672

Henry did lead a remarkable life and the pinned post on this blog tells you how you can obtain a copy of the book.

Have a great 2022!

The Final, Final, Final Read-through…

On Friday I had a very productive telephone conversation with my editor at publishers, Y Lolfa about my biography of Henry Coombe-Tennant of Cadoxton, Neath.

Things are coming nicely together and we are on target for publication in early August 2021. Hopefully, the Covid situation will be a little better by then!

On my part, I am now doing a final (yes, its really a final) read-through of the work. It has been checked, amended and polished so many times by myself over the last few months that I am now almost literally only dotting the odd “i” and crossing the occasional “t”. Its in pretty good nick, as they say, though I am sure my esteemed editor at Y Lolfa will apply a gloss finish where required – that’s what editors are good at!

For the read-through, I’ve printed it out in double-line spacing and it runs to 350 pages… 111,000 words… And the footnotes, index and bibliography will add another 9,000 words or so making it 120,000 words in total.

And to think when I started the research a few years ago I thought I might get an article out of it! But Henry Coombe-Tennant met some remarkable people and did some remarkable things. And to lay out the ups and downs of his life took a lot of words. I think I’ve done him justice.

Into the Nitty-Gritty…

I am now in the final stages of editing my 100,000+ word biography of Henry Coombe-Tennant, of Cadoxton, Neath. It will be published by Y Lolfa in August 2021.

Even now, several years after I started researching Henry’s life, new information is still arriving. I recently found out that he’d helped out as an Assistant Scout Master while at Trinity College, Cambridge. A school pupil who knew him at Downside Abbey came forward with several interesting (and amusing) stories regarding Henry when he was a Benedictine monk. And members of a Belgian family who assisted Henry on his escape from Nazi-occupied Europe in 1942 got in touch with information.

Beyond that, I am now checking the manuscript for consistency. Not a quick task when it runs to over 100,000 words. Basic things like is it “prisoner of war” or “Prisoner-of-War”? Is it “Headquarters” or Head Quarters” or Head-Quarters”? What about “front line”? Or “Front-Line”? Or “front-line”?

Simple things, really, but I need to dig out a good book that contains such phrases so that I can decide what is the best option. Although my professional editor will put the work through a literary-mangle, squeezing out my errors, you still want to give that person a well edited work that is consistent in its usage of terms. So – while its the last lap – there is still a bit to do. But its well within the submission-date target and I am very happy with it!

Publication Date Confirmed!

My biography of Henry Coombe-Tennant of Neath will be published by Y Lolfa of Talybont in August 2021! I’m currently selecting images that help tell the story and – once again – polishing the manuscript. I think it’s in a pretty good state but, on yet another read through, there is always a word to change or a comma to insert or remove!

Into the last lap…

Edit, eidt, edit…

Today I completed the FIRST read through of my 100,000-word biography of Henry Coombe-Tennant of Neath. It has taken me a couple of weeks at a leisurely pace and it is surprising how many typos you pick up and just how often you see a word that you immediately want to change for a different one!

I’ve noted all the changes in a printed copy of the text and I next have to make the changes in the Word document. That won’t take me too long…

After that, it’s a matter of checking that my quotes are accurate, plus a bit of fact and date checking. Beyond that, I have to complete the footnotes, sort out the index and decide which illustration goes where!

So, it’s a lot of work but I am well within my target. At the end of it all, my editor at Y Lolfa will give the work a professional edit and we’ll be ready to go to publication. That will be in 2021, Covid-19 virus permitting. The end of a long but very enjoyable road for me. But a true-life story of a remarkable man and his equally remarkable family that really needs to be out there. I can’t wait…

Dusty Corners…

One of the joys (for me, anyway) of researching and then writing on local history topics (for publication, hopefully) is treading a path that has not been heavily used. There are numerous books on well-mined subjects – think The Zulu War, The Somme and Dunkirk for starters.

Nothing wrong with that, of course; I own many books by different authors that cover the same topic. There is usually something new or a little different to say but, after a while, you do get a bit blase when the umpteenth book on e.g. The Somme, hits the shelves.

My joy is in looking into the dusty corners of local history and turning up interesting facts that are, nevertheless, a little off-centre. The chap I am researching now is an excellent example. He was an academic who spurned academia and joined the Welsh Guards. He helped bring the Dutch Queen to safety in the UK in 1940. He then embarked for France but ended up at Boulogne rather than Dunkirk. Captured by the Germans he escaped from Warburg rather than Colditz. And got home safely. He was later parachuted behind German lines in the Ardennes to help the French Resistance. He joined the intelligence service and knew Kim Philby and others from the world of espionage. And then he became a monk.

Remarkable facts, a great story, a very accomplished and interesting man. I’m still digging…

Wow! Deep stuff…

Henry Coombe-Tennant gained a double first degree at Cambridge University in moral sciences. My research into his life is ongoing but he seems to have been greatly impressed by the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, probably the leading philosopher of the 20th century.

I’ve not yet established whether Henry actually met Wittgenstein at Cambridge (I suspect he did) but I thought I’d have a look at what ‘all the fuss was about’…I downloaded Mr W’s ‘Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus’, his most important work.

After a few pages, my head was hurting…it is DEEP stuff. But Henry was a very bright chap and probably lapped it up (unlike me!)

More to come as my research on Henry continues.

A Slight Pause…

… in my research into the life of Henry Coombe-Tennant

Henry Coombe-Tennant

My researches into Major Coombe-Tennant (Welsh Guards and SOE in World War Two) are ongoing. A VERY interesting chap and a largely forgotten Neath hero. I hope to get him into the spotlight (with a publication) in due course. Trust me: he deserves it…a remarkable man.

Works in Progress…

My 7,000-word write-up on Christopher Tennant is more or less complete and, all being well, will appear in the 2018 edition of the Neath Antiquarian. I now need to write up an account of Christopher’s brother Henry’s efforts in WWII and beyond.

After that, I have some work to do on crime in mid-Victorian Swansea…