I cover many topics and areas of post-1945 European military history, speaking as someone with extensive first-hand experience of events in the former East Germany and the Soviet Union, as well as of the former Yugoslavia and Russia in the post-Cold War era. 

I regularly give presentations on the four topics below, but I am also happy to create bespoke talks for audiences, such as those on cruises who are visiting far-flung destinations, such as the Black Sea and northern waters, including the Arctic Ocean.  

This topic examines the three Allied Military Liaison Missions that operated as intelligence collection agencies in East Germany from 1946-90.  It is based on my long involvement in the 1980s with the British mission ('BRIXMIS'), the largest of these extraordinary Cold War organisations. as one of its 'licensed spies'.

Since 2014 I have been invited to give a 10-talk course on 'Spying in Cold War Berlin' at the Marlborough College Summers School.  This allows for all aspects of the Western allies' extraordinary activities in East Berlin and wider afield in and over East German territory to be exposed to an audience.

I can tailor talks on this subject to meet the particular wishes of potential audiences.

This talk covers the strange saga of the career of Hitler's Deputy, his flight to Scotland in May 1941 and his 40-year incarceration in Spandau Prison in West Berlin.  It is based, in part, on my experiences both as a guard commander and as the British Governor's interpreter in the mid-1970s and early 1980s.

2016 will see the 75th anniversary of Rudolf Hess' arrival in the United Kingdom.

Russia and the Russians

After a career working first with the Soviets and later with the Russians and stretching over four decades and making use of numerous personal anecdotes and reflections, 'Russia and the Russians' seeks to explain why it is that Russia and its people, not least its ruling elite, are so unlike us.

Bosnia: Looking Back at a Tragedy

This talk reflects on the challenges posed by United Nations 'Peacekeeping' operations in Bosnia in the mid-1990s and on the role played thereafter by NATO.  The complexity and savagery of this conflict have been largely forgotten as the focus of world attention has switched to the wider Middle East.

Having completed three 6-month tours of duty, both during and after the Bosnian civil war, my knowledge of the conflict and of its aftermath is a unique mix of fact and personal anecdotes.