Author of Sunday Times top ten bestsellers The Kamikaze Hunters and The Pathfinders, and now Churchill's Pirates. Former Sunday Times staff news reporter.
England
Joined February 2009
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It's publication day!A massive thank you to @James1940, Dan Snow, @sauldavid66, @guywalters, @kejamieson_ and @navalhistorian for their reviews and support, and to @penguinrandom.Most of all to the men and women who were Churchill's Pirates and who helped me tell a cracking story
Will Iredale retweeted
agreed. But you don't have to go back that far to see truly astonishing numbers. This is the 1989 RAF orbat - just a few decades ago when I was a young (slim!) chap.
Look at some of the numbers:
435 Tornados
100+ Jags
170+ Harrier
FORTY Canberra!
32 Tankers
160+ Hawks!!
ALT table showing the full RAF aircraft numbers
Will Iredale retweeted
A proud moment: 20 newly qualified aircraft handlers pass into their branch on completion of training at the Royal Naval School of Flight Deck Operations here at Culdrose. Now they join the fleet. Well done all #BZ Thanks too to CO @HMS_Raleigh as our guest of honour @RoyalNavy
Will Iredale retweeted
Michael Gambon: The Authorised Biography is published today by @centurybooksuk. 'Tremendous' (Spectator). 'Definitive' (Guardian). Bookshops this way 👉 penguin.co.uk/books/473937/m…
Will Iredale retweeted
Wow - just listening to Jonathan Haskel, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility on Radio 4
He says UK GDP spent on welfare is rising to 11% of GDP from 10.5% of GDP following the budget. "That's a big increase."
Yet Chancellor John Healey can't even say how he's going to inch up defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030 even as his government says the military needs to be ready for war by then.
Will Iredale retweeted
The single best joke in any Carry On film.
“I tried it once and didn’t like it.”
Will Iredale retweeted
As the British Government sensibly encourages the public to stockpile emergency supplies, lets take a trip back to 1989 to learn about what the MOD thought the Soviet military threat to the UK was and how this country would be attacked by land, sea and air in WW3.
Giles Brandreth's Rosebud interview with Hayley and Juliet Mills is a thing of utter joy. If you've not listened to it, do...it makes life seem just that little bit more colouful. @GylesB1
Will Iredale retweeted
It is now 37 years ago that the last episode of #Blackadder Goes Forth was screened. This TV gold concluded 3 hrs of unmatched of comedy to many of us. But there was a deeper message throughout encapsulated in this moving final scene.
Vid: BlackadderQtes
Will Iredale retweeted
Exclusive: General Lord Sanders has intervened on John Healey’s maiden budget, telling @telegraph it’s “incredible” that the Chancellor - who resigned as Defence Secretary over a lack of money for defence - would not use next week’s Budget to explain how the UK will get to 3% by 2030.
Lord Sanders told me that you can’t expect industry to prepare the nation for war when it has no idea how the gov intends to get to its NATO target of 3.5% by 2035 when it can’t even set out the initial steps of getting there.
Lord Sanders was speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on rearmament, which is running an inquiry into the state of the military and whether it needs to rearm (short answer: Yes.)
He stressed the Army has some of the best people in the world serving, but they don’t have the money or capabilities to back this moral component up. So while the UK could fight day 1 of a war, without adequate stockpiles etc being able to hold the fight on day 30/day 90 is not a sure thing.
Mike Martin, @ThreshedThought
who chairs the APPG told telegraph: “We heard today in our inquiry that the UK is effectively unable to deter our enemies on land and we are taking grave risks as a nation.
“For the Government not to set out a credible path to 3 per cent of GDP next week in the budget beggars belief.”
V interesting conversation where Lord Sanders also told those gathered in Houses of Parliament that he was deeply concerned about lawfare, the Troubles Bill in its current shape and how soldiers HAVE to feel that the country “has their back”. How can they be expected to fight for king and country if they fear they will be hung out to dry by the very institution they dedicate their lives to?
telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…
Will Iredale retweeted
🚨Wes Streeting only talked about how the UK needs to prepare for food shortages and cyber attacks, because I asked him when the government was going to start its national conversation on defence during a question and answer session at the opening of a gun hall.
If the defence secretary hadn’t given such a meaningful reply (thank you @wesstreeting), then no government minister would have spoken out publicly about this topic on the day that the Cabinet Office finally published its new advice on being ready for emergencies.
This long-awaited “Be Ready” moment was meant to be a really important signal - launching a three year campaign to shift the whole of our society to a footing that is more resilient to any kind of shock.
Instead, no government minister had been scheduled to speak publicly today specifically to launch this vital piece of work.
It was just going to be a website update and a written statement to Parliament.
This does not send the signal that getting the UK ready for any potential disaster - up to and including war - is a top priority for our new prime minister…
skynews-defence.noosphere.ap…
Will Iredale retweeted
Collecting this morning at Turnham Green tube station for
Chiswick Poppy Appeal
@ChiswickW4 @TheChiswickCal
@PoppyLegion
Will Iredale retweeted
With the late, great Oliver Reed currently wowing 2026 audiences all over again with his incredible performance in the restored version of Ken Russell’s ‘The Devils’, I wanted to share this amazing clip of him from 1985.
The rather low-res clip comes from ‘In at the Deep End’, a BBC series in which presenter Paul Heiney tries his hands at a profession he had zero experience in. For this episode, Heiney was preparing for an acting role opposite Michael Caine in ‘Water’ and went to Oliver Reed for some pointers on how to play a villain.
Please enjoy what happens next.
Churchill's Pilates?
This week at the Bunker 🚨
Monday 🧘♀️ Twilight Yoga -
Saturday 🌊 RAF Air Sea Rescue at 85: The Sea Shall Not Have Them
Saturday 🗣️ Speaker Series: Churchill’s Pirates - Will Iredale
Daily 🔎 Bunker Guided Tours
Info and tickets 👉️ buff.ly/DrXaRRL
Will Iredale retweeted
⏰The head of the @BritishArmy has just delivered a massive wake-up call to his troops - and the whole of the UK - about the gathering storm.
Please read or watch ⬇️
General Sir Roly Walker tells his soldiers: "You didn’t know this but our nation is going to need you.
"Very soon the political leaders of this country will start to have a frank conversation with the citizens of this country about just what is going on and where the risk lies.
"They are going to try and explain to our citizens that our citizens have got to consent to sacrifices to prioritise defence and security.
"And then they are going to ask those citizens, to whom we are not necessarily at the front of their mind, that they too need to play a part in the defence and security of this country.
"They need to understand what we do for them.
"They need to consent to allow us to do that, which means sacrifices by them.
"And ultimately we are going to need them to back us, to back you to do the one thing that you do that noody else gets to do and that is to take the fight to the enemy."
🇬🇧 Are Britons ready for the sacrifices needed to strengthen national security?
Speaking to soldiers in Catterick Garrison the head of the British Army warns Britons must face a “frank conversation” about the sacrifices needed for defence and security🔗forcesnews.com/services/army…
Will Iredale retweeted
Oooh this is a new ( to me) painting by a favourite artist of mine
Rob Rowland
Powerful work with such detail. I could give him a hug at the minute as I’ve never seen this before.
Terrific light
@helen_warlow
Looking forward to this! Do come along if you're in the area on Saturday.
This week at the Bunker 🚨
Monday 🧘♀️ Twilight Yoga -
Saturday 🌊 RAF Air Sea Rescue at 85: The Sea Shall Not Have Them
Saturday 🗣️ Speaker Series: Churchill’s Pirates - Will Iredale
Daily 🔎 Bunker Guided Tours
Info and tickets 👉️ buff.ly/DrXaRRL
Will Iredale retweeted
Culdrose is bidding farewell (almost) to a helicopter pilot with a extraordinary career (more than 8,800 flying hours & 400+ search and rescue operations) of 40 years in the @RoyalNavy. Lt Cdr Andrew ‘Tank’ Murray is however staying here and joining the Civil Service next month.
