With great sadness we announce the death of David James Parker, author of a number of books based on the First and Second World Wars. David, who passed away on Christmas Day, was a chimney sweep by profession but an historian by nature. A keen researcher of some excellence, from the battles of the Western Front to the ill-fated raid on Dieppe, he used artefacts and original documents to piece together his accounts. He wrote about people local to his Sussex home, who had been drawn into major events. His thoroughness was his trademark – and earned him much respect from those in the field.

Until his illness, David was a regular visitor to sites and occasions related to his study. Sadly, he was unable to get to the Far East earlier this year, which had been a subject of his first book Missing. This traced the story of two brothers and included the tragic story of Ballale and the fall of Singapore and Malaya.

David’s interest in history began early in his life, inspired by the stories he heard from his family and by some inspirational teachers. Alongside his work as a chimney sweep he would give history talks to schools and various groups using his collection of memorabilia to bring life to his presentations.  In 2018, Missing was accepted for publication followed by Fragments volumes 1 and 2 – which told the story of his collections, and Flying Fast and Low about the lives and service careers of the three Muller-Rowland brothers.

Robbie Williams has come a long way from the Queen's Theatre in Burslem all those years ago. Read about his journey to stardom in Sean Smith's PATH TO FAME series.

Buy now ...

On the 8th October, The Grant Museum of Zoology at UCL witnessed the launch of the biography of Professor Ambrose Fleming by Jim Lewis, published by Libri Publishing.
The event was attended by a mixture of academics, museum representatives, radio transmissions fans and the general public who were treated to a talk that explained the difference the diode valve has made to the world of electronics. We were also given an insight into the engineering world of the early 20th century.
Fleming became Professor of Electrical Technology at UCL in 1885, and at the end of the evening the author Jim Lewis kindly donated an original diode valve to John Mitchell, current UCL Head of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
The evening finished with guests buying books, discussing the event and enjoying the fascinating exhibits in the Grant Museum of Zoology.

Simon Bennett has been working with Forbes journalist Kevin Holden Platt on an article about the prospects of nuclear war in Europe. The article mentions the book Atomic Blackmail?

You can read the article here:
Russian Strikes On Nuclear Plants May Presage Tactics In War With NATO

The book highlights that in time of war, nuclear power stations present a belligerent a tempting target. As nuclear power stations multiply, so does the risk of atomic blackmail.

Atomic Blackmail? should be required reading for academics and students of risk, lawmakers, civil servants, nuclear planners and the nuclear industry.

Buy now ...

We are delighted to announce the launch of the PATH TO FAME series.  Written by Sunday Times best-selling author Sean Smith, the series chronicles the inspirational and often bumpy life journeys of our most famous and best-loved stars.

Described by the Independent as a ‘fearless chronicler’, Sean specialises in meticulous research and going ‘on the road’ to find the true path and the real person behind the star image.

Starting with Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow the series will cover the stories of 12 celebrities from the world of entertainment, and beyond.

The intention with this book is to serve all those who want to perfect their coaching skills and are committed to take it to a higher level of coach professionalism by going through the ICF credentialing system.

In this book we show how we, Assessors, work with the ICF core competencies when focusing on those coach behaviours which can be observed and hence assessed during a coaching session.

This book came about because as a long time ICF assessor I was inspired by all the good coaching that I listened to that happened to be NOT my style of coaching. Over the past decade this made me realize that coaching is so colourful that we need to embrace it, collate it and celebrate it in its wholeness and diversity. The art of coaching manifests itself that while you are following the ICF quality framework represented by the ICF core competencies you can still make your coaching human and unique by developing your own style. You can play with the competencies in a flexible manner as you shape your own coaching style. We hope that our book helps you follow the ICF competencies in an enjoyable way when your learning is more than just a compliance exercise.

This book serves to further the transparency of our profession, so you as a coach know what us ICF assessors are looking for. Most of us often have close or even over a decade of assessor experience while we are constantly trained, developed through calibration exercises on a regular basis and have permanently ongoing professional discussions on the ICF platforms to make sure that we are aligned with each other and with the latest and highest standards of our profession. As we pass on this knowledge and experience to our readers – I say this with a twinkle in my eye – we know that this will also make our assessor work easier because we shall find even more good coaching when we listen to coaching recordings.

This book demonstrates for the first time how peers, experienced MCC coaches can work together, committed to share their knowledge and experience, to support coaches globally in their development while at the same time contributing to the growth of the coaching profession.

Use this book to find your own inspiration for becoming an even better coach. To support your development, we offer a webinar series where the contributors of the book will be the speakers and will share personal stories about their coach professional life and work. Online twice every Wednesday from 18th September to 4th December we shall be your guide to your own unique coaching mastery along the coaching standards set by the ICF competencies.

Webinars: 18 September - 4 December 2024 / every Wednesday

Special Guest: Professor Jonathan Passmore, co-editor
Hosted by: Judit Ábri von Bartheld MCC, ACTC, co-editor

This month we remember the D-Day landings that helped end the Second World War. Unfortunately, Europe is again at war. Russia has invaded Ukraine, a sovereign democratic state that seeks closer ties with the West.

Atomic Blackmail? identifies a little appreciated threat – that of damage to one or more of Ukraine’s nuclear power stations that could release a deadly radioactive cloud across Ukraine and much of Europe. As with the Chernobyl disaster, a nuclear mis-step in Ukraine would affect us all.

The book highlights that in time of war, nuclear power stations present a belligerent a tempting target. As nuclear power stations multiply, so does the risk of atomic blackmail.

Atomic Blackmail? should be required reading for academics and students of risk, lawmakers, civil servants, nuclear planners and the nuclear industry.

Buy now ...