John Sadler - Military Historian

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.

My current opus, jointly authored with Rosie Serdiville, our third published collaboration 'Flodden 1513' has just been published by History Press.

I've finished my current co-publication, 'Tommy at War 1914 - 1918'. This will be my fourth collaboration with Rosie Serdiville, a great partnership if ever there was. We're now starting on 'Tommy Rot' - two volumes of soldier's doggerel and verse from each of the world wars. We'd be very pleased to hear from anyone who has a family archive or collection of letters, diaries, verse and doggerel from the Second World War - full accreditation will, of course, be given.

Time Bandits is recruiting. We're looking for like minded individuals regardless of age, sex, colour etc who have a passion for history and like getting paid to indulge themselves. We cover all periods from Bronze Age to Cold War, across a wide range of locations. We thrive on fresh challenges. Training and kit are provided. If you are interested in historic combat, gunplay, clothing, textiles, medicine, food technology, equestrian, vehicles or craft based skills, then we'd love to meet you.

My spring course at CLL will be on the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, I'll post times and dates up in due course. I'm offering the usual two public lectures at the Arts Centre, both morning - Rorke's Drift on 25th April and counter-factual history around a German invasion in 1940 on 16th May; more details on the CLL website.

I do offer a whole range of local and family history courses which I've delivered in libraries, to WI & focus groups, usually and hour to an hour and a half, daytime and evening, rates are £75.00 per session.

Our historic murder mysteries always go down well and we've performed these at the Keep, at DLI Museum and Segedunum. We're always looking to hear both from people who might want a booking and from those who'd like to take part!

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've formed a link with thisisnorthumberland.com - a new website intended to promote travel, tourism and leisure in the region, check it out.

Our current opus 'Flodden 1513' went to the publishers on time at the end of last year and I'm now working on 'Tommy at War 1914 - 1918' which is a prequel to 'Dunkirk to Belsen'. This will keep me going for most of 2012!

I've a full feature in this week's 'Hexham Courant' in the guise of a border reiver!

I have been a visiting lecturer at the University of Sunderland Centre For Lifelong Learning since 1998 and have delivered a range of courses, primarily on military history.

These have included:

• 'The Vikings'
  
• 'The Crusades'
  
• 'The Hundred Years War'
  
• 'The Wars of the Roses'
  
• 'The Border Reivers'
  
• 'The Jacobites'
  
• 'The American Civil War'
  
• 'World War One - the Western Front'
  
• 'World War One - The Eastern Front
  
• 'The Road to Dunkirk'
  
• 'Barbarossa'
  
• 'D-Day to Berlin'
  
• 'Swordplay - the Sword in History'
  
• 'Terrorism post 1945'
  
• 'Arab Israeli Wars 1948 - 2006'
  
• 'The English Civil Wars
  
• 'The War in Afghanistan'
  
• 'The Second Gulf War'
  
  I also supervise mature students at degree level.
  
  My primary occupation is writing with some two dozen non fiction titles in print. I tend to undertake commissioned work only and, at the end of last year, I was engaged by the Army Benevolent Fund to write a history of the Field Gun Race for the revived Royal Tournament.
  
  For a considerable number of years I have given public lectures to local history groups, community associations, at the Durham Light Infantry Museum, The National Army Museum, The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, and to Rotary and Round Table clubs. I am available for public and after dinner speaking, the cost ranges from £100 - £500 depending on circumstances. Any talks to charitable or voluntary sector groups are delivered free of charge.
  
  I am an experienced battlefield tour guide and have taken a range of school, adult, services and veterans groups on tours of the main Western Front Battlefields. I have also taken student groups around most of the major UK battle sites. I have full CRB clearance. I have worked, in this capacity extensively for Tyne and Wear Museums and English Heritage.
  
  For some years, starting back in the 1970's, I have been engaged as a project manager/curator and fundraiser for heritage based projects, most recently the Heritage Centre, Bellingham, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Association and the Durham Light Infantry Museum.
  
  From time to time I have been involved in film work, True North Productions filming of 'The Tale of the Long Pack' near Wark in North Tynedale, together with the 'Clans' series for Mentorn & BBC Scotland (series two and three), 'Buildings that Shaped England' for Channel 4, local BBC & ITV and recently as historical consultant for Arpeggio Films 'Siege & Storm'.
  
  I hope, in the course of this year, to be able to start working toward the award of a PhD under the aegis of the University of Sunderland, my topic 'Dunkirk to Belsen - the DLI at War 1939 - 1945'.
  
  My approach to military history, in terms of writing, is based firstly, upon acquiring a thorough knowledge of the primary sources, supplemented by the insight gained from walking the ground. I am of the opinion that there can be no full understanding of events unless there we have knowledge of the ground. We are fortunate in Britain that, the pace of development notwithstanding, many of our battle sites, if not untouched, are still recognisable and this obtains particularly in the northern region and the borders. Equally and with only a few exceptions we do very little to commemorate many of our historic battles.