Mr Vandervelde’s Lectures by Julia Jones
‘Is it any good?’ Francis asked, when he noticed what I’d been reading with such total absorption since the early hours. ‘Bally brilliant!!’ I replied, without thinking. Then I had to laugh because the book was The Lion of Sole Bay and I was the person who had written it…allegedly. But please, before you throw this blatant puffery aside, let me explain a little more. The section I was reading, when I gave myself away, was the first of 'The Sole Bay Lectures' by MW Vandervelde. These come as an appendix to the adventure story and are not fiction, though I had, for a moment, forgotten that MW Vandervelde was a made-up character. The history he writes, however, is true – or as as true as diligent research could make it. I had simply forgotten, at that moment, who had actually undertaken the research. Checking the acknowledgements I was relieved to discover that MW Vandervelde (or me) had been reading the primary source accounts by Sir John Narborough who was a key combatant, at ...