Selected articles
On the trail of Sultan Moulay Ismail
It was shopping that first inclined me towards an interest in Islam, though it must be said that the lupine line of hassling touts that in the old days awaited the visitor immediately outside the old Tangier dock gates did their best to keep the secret well-springs of their faith well hidden.
Introduction for “The Last Storytellers: Tales from the Heart of Morocco” by Richard Hamilton
It is after the sunset call to prayer that the place begins to glow with a mounting pitch of animation
Souk shopping in Tangier
It was shopping that first inclined me towards an interest in Islam, though it must be said that the lupine line of hassling touts that in the old days awaited the visitor immediately outside the old Tangier dock gates did their best to keep the secret well-springs of their faith well hidden.
Marrakech: some Dos and Don'ts
Do remember to hoard your spare change to give to beggars. Or as the Prophet said if you wish for a favor from God, at least favor the poor with a kind word.
The Battle of the Three Kings
On June 17th 1578 the young King Dom Sebastian of Portugal attended a service in the cathedral, where he was presented with a new standard embroidered with an imperial crown. For it was assumed that the dignity of the Kingdom of Portugal would ascend ever higher and he would become the first Christian Emperor of Morocco.
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.
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.
The Four Faces of Algeria
Algiers will always be married to its past. For her streets and her harbour walls have witnessed some of the most decisive engagements of recent world history.
A Grand Tour of the classical monuments of Algeria
Algiers has become another Rome to me. Like the eternal city, every street and hill of its complex topography echoes with some dramatic scene from history.
Algiers and Tlemcen
Algiers has become another Rome to me. Like the eternal city, every street and hill of its complex topography echoes with some dramatic scene from history.
In Algeria with Don McCullin
Don, a genuine home-brewed product of London’s East End, was launching into an imitation of the precocious, slightly camp, auction-house accent of Bruce Chatwin. It was Chatwin who had first brought Don to Algeria, on the trail of a story that traced the Algerian war of independence right back to the massacre of Setif
Taking Pleasure in Ruins
Tipasa is just one of the many Roman port-cities that studded the coast of North Africa, but if you look deep into their stratigraphy they all started life as harbours of the Phoenician traders about three thousand years ago.
The Other Armadas: The Three Spanish invasions of Algiers: 1516, 1519 and 1541
As the galley pulled alongside, rather than risk any of his men unnecessarily, the commander of Our Lady of the Conception ordered that the merchantman should be raked with gunfire. For you never knew in these waters, who was armed with what.
The Algerian Flag in Exmouth Market
I was horrified to discover that it was the British under Lord Exmouth who had destroyed the eight-hundred-year old Almoravid mosque that had been the heart, soul and university of the city.