Author name: Michael Williams

  A SMASHING FEATURE about how I came to write Steaming to Victory from the Western Daily Press: It may not have been the front line – but it was certainly the line behind the lines. With the country at war, the fibrous network of Britain’s railways became, irrefutably, the lifeline of the nation. During […]

The Indy asked me this weekend for my memories of  the great days of trainspotting – not the Irvine Welsh kind!. I tried to explain the difference between a trainspotter and a railway enthusiast. But then I thought no point in being pompous – just go for it. After all, Julia Bradbury was including her

  In a couple of weeks, it’s the 70th anniversary of Operation Overlord – the heroic Normandy landings that brought World War 2 to an end. It couldn’t have been done without the ‘Tarpaulin Armada’ operated by Britain’s railways, as I write in my new book ‘Steaming to Victory: how Britain’s railways won the war’.

I’m talking about my books, and especially Steaming to Victory, at the Swindon Festival of Literature tomorrow. Do come and hear me if you can. The talk, with illustrations is at Steam museum at 7pm http://www.swindonfestivalofliterature.co.uk/

    Just got a copy of Railway Ribaldry, newly re-published by Old House Books. This is surely the funniest railway book ever. I loved it when I was a child, when I found it on the bookshelf of my aunt – and couldn’t stop reading it. I love it even more now! Railway Ribaldry

Hear the story of how the men and Great Western Railway helped to win the Second World War in my talk at the Swindon Literary Festival on May 14. Here’s an extract from my interview with the amazing Kathleen Halls – the Great Western’s first woman porter as she recalled her life for my book

  Ashley Jackson enjoys an exploration of the key role that Britain’s railway network played in the Second World War:    Steaming to Victory is the story of how Britain’s rail network, its engines and rolling stock, and the thousands of railway workers who operated it, contributed to the war effort from 1939 to 1945. With

They certainly like the new paperback edition of Steaming to Victory in Spalding in Lincolnshire. Here’s the review from Spalding Today, via the local independent bookshop. (I must say how fond I am of local bookshops. They are a treasure to be cherished): http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/what-s-on/lifestyle-and-leisure/book-review-steaming-to-victory-how-britain-s-railways-won-the-war-1-6014214    

A lovely review of the new edition of ‘Steaming to Victory’ in Choice magazine – which selects it as  ‘Pick of the Paperbacks’. The reviewer says: ‘A story of quiet but vital heroism…’

Delighted to be talking to the Royal National Institute for the Blind nationally tomorrow about the business of  book writing, and my own books. Hurrah for this community who really love books! 

With publication of Steaming to Victory in paperback, it’s nice to see it’s now Five Stars with reviewers on amazon\1

Here’s a link my article from today’s Independent newspaper about how I bonded with my 12-year-old boy through our twin faiths as he prepares for manhood http://ind.pn/1eQiE8o

  Chatting with my friend Chris Milner, Deputy Editor of the Railway Magazine, he points out that in 1954, it took a steam train, on average, 1hr 15min to travel the 33 miles from Nottingham Midland to Lincoln St Marks, calling at all stations. All but one of the stations are still open today, and

Phew! Just passed 42,500-word halfway mark for my new book for Random House out next year – ‘The Trains We Have Lost’. With thanks to the British Library for a tranquil research berth and historically minded train companies, including East Coast, FGW, Virgin, Eurostar, for all sorts of backing to dig in dusty archives…

I’m giving two talks at Nottingham University this Saturday on the national press and investigative journalism. The debate about both is coming nicely to a head this week in the row about Culture Secretary Maria Miller’s expenses…

Coincidence or what? With the new updated edition of Steaming to Victory out in a few days, my local paper, the CNJ, rang me last night to ask advice about the origin of an unexploded bomb found not far from my home in Camden yesterday, closing busy Hatton Garden to traffic. I’ve written lots about

  Here’s an item from Sixth Sense – the newspaper of the British Forces in Germany – about the special Steaming to Victory train on June 6. I’m giving a talk on the day in Gloucester Cathedral: A special steam train commemorating the crucial role played by the British home and military railways supporting Operation

I went today to the 71st anniversary memorial service for the victims of the Bethnal Green Tube shelter disaster, which I wrote about in my new book ‘Steaming to Victory: How Britain’s railways won the war’. It was the worst single disaster in Britain during WW2. (The picture here shows the Pearly Kings and Queens

  Just read a brilliant book called The Invention of News by the historian Andrew Pettegree. Heartened to see another book saying that quality news can survive – a point we made in our own book The Future of Quality News Journalism, published by Routledge last autumn. Here’s an extract from my chapter about the

    Very pleased that the new  edition of my book  ‘Steaming to Victory: How Britain’s railways won the war’ is to be published on March 27  by Arrow Books. It’s specially updated for the D-Day anniversary this June. The Sunday Express called it: ‘Gripping as a fictional thriller’. The BBC said: ‘An elegant evocation

Delighted with the cover of the new revised edition of my book ‘Steaming to Victory: How Britain’s railways won the war’. It’s out from Arrow Books in March in time for the anniversary of D-Day, when the Queen will be travelling to the Normandy beaches to mark the 70th anniversary of this most historic day

Social media work as a great means of communication  for all generations  and all kinds of people- as this little film shows. It was made by my journalism students at the University of Central Lancashire.

With the World War 1 commemoration under way, let’s not forget World War 2, with two major anniversaries in 2014. In June, the Queen goes to Normandy to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day, and September is 75 years since the start of the worst war the world has ever known. The new edition of

My talk today to the boys of Hereward House school about my life in journalism and what the future holds for the media was great fun! What an intelligent lot!

Astonishing how the production of newspapers moved from a world virtually unchanged since Caxton to today’s apps for smartphones and tablets in just 50 years. The film in this link is about the Buffalo Evening News in the United States in the 1960s when even the old “hot lead” type seemed “modern”. What a contrast