Douglas Reeman
Douglas Edward Reeman (15 October 1924 – 23 January 2017), who also used the pseudonym Alexander Kent, was a British author who wrote many historical novels about the Royal Navy, mainly set during either World War II or the Napoleonic Wars. He wrote a total of 68 novels, selling 34 million copies in twenty languages. Biography Reeman was born in Thames Ditton, Surrey, son of Charles "Percy" and Ada Reeman. At the beginning of the Second World War he joined the Royal Navy's boys' training establishment HMS ''Ganges''. In 1940 Reeman was appointed Midshipman, at the age of 16. His initial service was in destroyers on convoy duty in the North Atlantic. During this time his ship was sunk and Reeman was injured by exploding depth charges. Later he transferred to Motor Torpedo Boats and was present subsequently at D-Day in a landing craft. It was then that he was injured badly when his landing craft was hit by shellfire. He finished the war in Kiel repairing damage to make the por ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's own. Many pseudonym holders use them because they wish to remain anonymous and maintain privacy, though this may be difficult to achieve as a result of legal issues. Scope Pseudonyms include stage names, user names, ring names, pen names, aliases, superhero or villain identities and code names, gamertags, and regnal names of emperors, popes, and other monarchs. In some cases, it may also include nicknames. Historically, they have sometimes taken the form of anagrams, Graecisms, and Latinisations. Pseudonyms should not be confused with new names that replace old ones and become the individual's full-time name. Pseudonyms are "part-time" names, used only in certain contexts: to provide a more clear-cut separation between one's privat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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London County Council
The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council. The LCC was the largest, most significant and most ambitious English municipal authority of its day. History By the 19th century, the City of London Corporation covered only a small fraction of the metropolis. From 1855, the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) had certain powers across what is now Inner London, but it was appointed rather than elected. Many powers remained in the hands of traditional bodies such as parishes and the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent. The Local Government Act 1888 created a new County of London, with effect from 1889, and the English County council#England, county councils, of which LCC was one. This followed a succession of scandal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1924 Births
Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in China holds its 1st National Congress of the Kuomintang, first National Congress, initiating a policy of alliance with the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party. * January 21 – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, The Earl of Athlone is appointed Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, and High Commissioner for Southern Africa.Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Governors-General: 1910-1961 (Accessed on 14 April 2017) * January 22 – R ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Midshipman Bolitho And The 'Avenger'
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where he worked on the ship, or where he was berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an apprentice officer who had at least nominally served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to tak ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Bolitho, Midshipman
''Richard Bolitho, Midshipman'' is a novel in the Bolitho series of nautical fiction set in the late-18th-century Royal Navy, written by Douglas Reeman under the pseudonym Alexander Kent. The book was published in 1975. It was the eighth novel in the series, though it is set earlier than the others, at the start of the career of Richard Bolitho. Plot The book opens with Richard Bolitho arriving at a Portsmouth inn frequented by midshipmen. There he meets another midshipman, Martyn Dancer. A lieutenant recalls them to their ship, HMS ''Gorgon'', a 74-gun ship of the line. Sailing towards West Africa, they encounter an empty merchantman, ''City of Athens''. Dancer and Bolitho are sent aboard the ship and discover that it has been pillaged and the crew killed. The officers soon deduce that the ship was raided by pirates and Captain Conway announces that the Admiralty had dispatched them to investigate the disappearance of ships in the region. In company with the captured ''City of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Bolitho Novels
The ''Bolitho'' novels are a series of nautical war novels by Alexander Kent, the pseudonym of British author Douglas Reeman. They focus on the military careers of the fictional Richard Bolitho and Adam Bolitho in the Royal Navy, from the time of the American Revolution past the Napoleonic Era. Richard Bolitho Richard Bolitho is a fictional Royal Navy officer who is the main character in Reeman's novels. Bolitho was born in 1756 in Falmouth, Cornwall, in Great Britain, the second son of a prestigious naval family. He joined the navy in 1768 and served in the wars against France and the United States. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1774, captain in 1782, and admiral in 1812. He died in action against the French in 1815. He played a significant role in driving the Americans back to Brooklyn Heights in 1776, helping to secure a decisive British victory in the largest battle of the entire American Revolution. The name Bolitho is a common Cornish surname, but Reeman says that he ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Badge Of Glory
Badge of Glory is a nautical historical novel by Douglas Reeman. It forms the initial part of the multi-volume Blackwood saga. which follows the adventures of several generations of Royal Marine officers over 150 years. Plot The year is 1850 and a young Queen Victoria is on the throne. Philip Blackwood, a captain in the Royal Marines, and son and grandson of marine officers, rejoins his ship, ''HMS Audacious'', which is to sail to West Africa to help stamp out the remains of the slave trade. The ship is part of a squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir James Ashley-Chute. Blackwood’s younger step-brother Harry, a marine second lieutenant, is also aboard, as is Sir Geoffrey Slade, a senior government official. At Gibraltar, disquieting news reaches Slade by despatch-boat concerning a possible native uprising north of Freetown. Slade needs to proceed as quickly as possible to investigate. He and a detachment of marines transfer to ''HMS Satyr'', a new and faster steam ship, of th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yacht
A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities. The Commercial Yacht Code classifies yachts and over as . Such yachts typically require a hired crew and have higher construction standards. Further classifications for large yachts are : carrying no more than 12 passengers; : solely for the pleasure of the owner and guests, or by Flag#At sea, flag, the country under which it is registered. A superyacht (sometimes ) generally refers to any yacht (sail or power) longer than . Racing yachts are designed to emphasize performance over comfort. Charter yachts are run as a business for profit. As of 2020, there were more than 15,000 yachts of sufficient size ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, marine navigation, air navigation, aeronautic navigation, and space navigation. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks. All navigational techniques involve locating the navigator's Position (geometry), position compared to known locations or patterns. Navigation, in a broader sense, can refer to any skill or study that involves the determination of position and Relative direction, direction. In this sense, navigation includes orienteering and pedestrian navigation. For marine navigation, this involves the safe movement of ships, boats and other nautical craft either on or underneath the water using positions from navigation equipment with appropriate nautical char ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Royal Marines
The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company strength sub-unit to the Special Forces Support Group, Special Forces Support Group (SFSG), landing craft crews, and the Naval Service's military bands. The Royal Marines trace their origins back to the formation of the "Duke of York and Albany's maritime regiment of Foot" on 28 October 1664, and the first Royal Marines Commando unit was formed at Deal, Kent, Deal in Kent on 14 February 1942 and designated "The Royal Marine Commando". The Royal Marines have seen action across many conflicts but do not have battle honours as such, but rather the "Great Globe itself" was chosen in 1827 by King George IV in their place to recognise the Marines' service and successes in multiple engagements in every quarter of the world. The Corps has close ties ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Bolitho
The ''Bolitho'' novels are a series of nautical war novels by Alexander Kent, the pseudonym of British author Douglas Reeman. They focus on the military careers of the fictional Richard Bolitho and Adam Bolitho in the Royal Navy, from the time of the American Revolution past the Napoleonic Era. Richard Bolitho Richard Bolitho is a fictional Royal Navy officer who is the main character in Reeman's novels. Bolitho was born in 1756 in Falmouth, Cornwall, in Great Britain, the second son of a prestigious naval family. He joined the navy in 1768 and served in the wars against France and the United States. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1774, captain in 1782, and admiral in 1812. He died in action against the French in 1815. He played a significant role in driving the Americans back to Brooklyn Heights in 1776, helping to secure a decisive British victory in the largest battle of the entire American Revolution. The name Bolitho is a common Cornish surname, but Reeman says that he ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Napoleonic
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He led the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. He was King of Italy from 1805 to 1814 and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1813. Born on the island of Corsica to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the French Royal Army in 1785. He supported the French Revolution in 1789 and promoted its cause in Corsica. He rose rapidly through the ranks after winning the siege of Toulon in 1793 and defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on 13 V ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |