Douglas John Sadler
BA(Hons), M.Phil., FRHistS FSA (Scotl.)
My main specialism is in
military history, I am an accomplished,
author, lecturer, battlefield tour guide, heritage professional and historical interpreter.
Rosie my co-author and I have finished our fifth Casemate Short History and this one is a biography of Alexander the Great and we're working on an account of the fate of Cromwell's Scottish prisoners after the battle of Dunbar in 1650, England's 'Trail of Tears'.
My current fiction is now out. This is 'Blitzing Rommel', the first of a trilogy following local hero Joe Robson through North Africa, France and Germany, published by Endeavor Press. This is a review on Amazon:
'This is a stunning, amazing and altogether bone chilling account ..... based on fact ... of a rather ragtag special force of British secret military during WWII in North Africa.
This book has had a most sobering effect on my
perspective of war, the military, and governments both prior to and during wartime when we decide to send our young men and women to fight.
The story here of Joe Milburn, basically a farm boy from a country town in England, and his comrades throughout the early years of the war is no-holds-barred in its description of war on the ground where life is a veritable dice roll as an order by your commander is an order regardless of how lame or idiotic it may be.
It is powerful and hard to put down as the story of Joe, the teen, begins his military service as a private and ultimately ends up in a specialized force based in North Africa assigned to some of the most insane and brave missions I have ever seen, heard of read about and yet it happened.
This damn book should be a movie! It's a thrilling read. I'm even more astounded by the young ages of these heroes. Their courage and skill, most of the time with no official acknowledgement of their company by their own high command or government, while being asked to go on suicide missions is more than commendable.
The idea that a sweet romance could spark up in a military hospital is so well written it truly adds a realistic and very human touch to this story.
I received an advanced of this amazing book and I highly recommend it to readers of historical fiction'.
For over 25 years I was a visiting lecturer at the Centre for Lifelong Learning which is now the Explore Programme where I continue to teach- check out http://www.weareexplore.org.uk/ironclad-dawn. I do offer a whole range of local and family history courses which I've delivered in libraries, to WI & focus groups, usually an hour to an hour and a half, daytime and evening, rates are £100.00 per session.
We can provide fully costumed re-enactors for corporate hire, weddings and social events, choose your period - Spartans, Romans, Vikings, Knights, Reivers, Roundheads, Redcoats & Tommies, gunfighters, saloon girls and suffragettes!
We're extending our current schools offer to include prehistory. We can now offer workshop sessions of Neolithic and Bronze Ages, together with Iron/Celts. We cover warfare of course but also domestic life, pottery and ceramics, legends and myths, religion and burial practices.