So... what are you reading?

[JonathanB]

Scotland Michael Lynch only just begun as a break from:

Murder Must Adertise Dorothy L Sayer.

When I was in Edinburgh in last winter, the qualified guide I met (from https://stga.co.uk/ ) told me Lynch was the work they were recommended for their exam.

I've reached 1688 so the Union, Glencoe and Culloden still to come.

I deliberately wanted an popular academic history rather than the TV spinoff as that should give me a wider view.

However it is a bit uphill work at times, as rather than give a narrative, he is commenting on how movements, persons and events in history have been assessed, without explaining who or what they were. Fortunately I've heard of Bannockburn, Flodden, John Knox and Oliver Cromwell already.

The clearest example of this failure to explain is the pages of economic history about feuing, without saying what feuing is. I gather it was a sort of long lease, which gave the landlord an immediate large return but lost him (or her) the possibility of future income. But Lynch doesn't say that clearly.

[The Q]

War Dog by Damien LewisDamien Lewis was also the ghost writer behind the book on Treo another war dog I mentioned earlier.
This book is about a very brave man Robert Vaclav Bozdech and his dog Antis
RVB fought against the German invasion of Czechoslovakia after that fell, he ended up flying for the French air force as a gunner. Shot down in the area of the German advance into France he and his pilot took cover in a damaged farm house and found an abandoned Alsatian puppy which he named Ant. They escaped back behind fighting line and The book follows his time follows his time flying there with Ant, their escape to Gibraltar and finally the UK.
He joined the RAF and effectively so did Ant, he and the dog survived a full flying tour In Wellington bombers with Ant and himself being wounded in action more than once Ant eventually was grounded due to his injuries. Throughout the war Ant was renown for being a better and earlier warning of air raids than the sirens!
The squadron (311) had 100% losses during that period , as many men were lost as flew in the Squadron.
The book then follows RVB and Ant as he first took up instructor duties and then later as radar/radio officer in submarine hunting liberators flying from RAF Tain.


The final chapter is a short note that after WW2 he returned to Czechoslovakia and had a wife and child but with the communists hunting anyone who had served the allies he had to escape again leaving the family behind but taking Ant. He Rejoined the RAF and eventually had a British family.
This book is the first one to tell the true story of his and Antis life as earlier versions covered up his name and many facts to protect his Czech family.
Ant won the Dickin medal ( Animal Victoria cross) After the fall of communism RVB was posthumously awarded the rank of Colonel by the Czechoslovakian Government.
Ant died peacefully in 1953. RVB in 1980.
This book was a very good read I've missed out large sections of their incredible life together I can recommend getting the book and reading up on them on the net.