Selected articles
With Don McCullin to the Frontier
it was like winning the prize in a travel competition, the chance to work alongside Britain’s most celebrated war-journalist and photographer, who had himself travelled with many of my literary heroes – such as Norman Lewis and Bruce Chatwin.
“South From Barbary: Along the Slave Routes of the Libyan Sahara” by Justin Marozzi
... it was the five camels of the expedition who emerge as the dominant characters with a good walk-on part for Tuna, an oasis dog that adopts the party.
“Libya Archaeological Guides; Tripolitania”, by Philip Kenrick
My final test drive of this exemplary guidebook was to check up on half a dozen specific items that I have long puzzled over. I began with the gorgeous marble statue in the main entrance hall of Tripoli’s museum
Private tours of Ancient Libya
Amongst the lovers of antique, the words ‘Leptis Magna’ are a whispered charm that needs no further elaboration.
Follow the Leader: Rosita Forbes and Hassanein Ahmed Bey and their journey through the Libyan desert to Kufara
Some things in Libya have not changed. It remains home to three of the most exceptional ruined cities of the entire Mediterranean which when viewed in sequence can pack in more learning than a university course.
Classical Enchantment in Libya
Some things in Libya have not changed. It remains home to three of the most exceptional ruined cities of the entire Mediterranean which when viewed in sequence can pack in more learning than a university course.
Libya: the Ruins of ‘Leptis Magna’
Amongst the lovers of antique, the words ‘Leptis Magna’ are a whispered charm that needs no further elaboration.
A Brief Encounter with the Colonel's Son
So unusual were tourists that our small group was thought to be a party of Bulgarian engineers and our claim to be British tourists was dismissed as a great joke.
Cyrene of Cyrenaica: Hellenic Libya and Greek Libyans
I had first heard of Cyrene's Agora through the poets, though it soon became obvious from my windblown photocopies that neither Pindar or Catullus were the least bit interested in guide-book like accuracy.
Leptis Magna, Done Rome-ing
I can remember as if it was yesterday the experience of seeing the city unfold before me on a first visit some fifteen years ago.
Review of "Gaddafi's Harem" by Annick Cojean
Septimius Severus (145-211) was one of the greatest of the Roman Emperors but remains one of the least known. I have always been fascinated that this man used to the heat of his native North Africa, should die in northern England during a campaign to conquer Scotland.
Septimius Severus, the Libyan-born Roman Emperor who died at York
Septimius Severus (145-211) was one of the greatest of the Roman Emperors but remains one of the least known. I have always been fascinated that this man used to the heat of his native North Africa, should die in northern England during a campaign to conquer Scotland.