Other Books

Before putting "Adelina Patti, Queen of Song" on Kindle, I published my first full length book "Battle in Iraq, Letters and Diaries of the First world War", available from Amazon in hard back. It tells the story of my grandfather as a pioneer of the fledgling oil industry and his exploits in the war against the background of the history of Iraq and its conflicts - the history that the politicians chose to ignore. It is a story of hardship, fear, endurance and survival.

Opera Star

The big day has dawned - my book "Adelina Patti, Queen of Song" has now gone out through Amazon and is available as a download version at the very reasonable price of £6.65.
Adelina was the highest paid singer ever, a celebrity before the word was coined, she had such fabulous jewellery that every performance was attended by bodyguards either side of the stage. She was a friend of many of the crowned heads of Europe and lived out her life against a backdrop of civil war, revolution and assassinations. She was a close friend of the greatest composers of her day and sang at the funeral of Rossini. Verdi, when asked who his three favourite soparanos were replied "La  première Patti, la deuxième Patti, la troisième Patti." A favourite with Queen Victoria, she shocked society and was ostracised by Her Majesty when she left her husband, the Marquis de Caux, for the tenor who sang opposite her in Romeo and Juliette. Later she toured America in her own private train and when her second husband died married a man nearly thirty years her junior.
I believe I have written this new biography of a very colourful character in a lively and creative way. All the facts, events, places and history are true, based on memoirs of those who knew and worked with her, newspaper articles, biographies and her own correspondence. I have invented conversations to illustrate these.www.swanseacityopera.com