I'm
delighted to welcome Peter Walters onto my blog today. Peter is a
friend and work colleague from our Coventry Telegraph days.
With a wealth of knowledge about the city, he has now written his
second book on Coventry entitled –
Great War Britain: Coventry Remembering 1914-18.
Illustrated with wonderful old photographs from the city's archives,
the book explores the 1914-1918 story of the place they called The
Busiest Town In England, years that established Coventry as one of
Britain's most important 20th century industrial dynamos. It's a tale
often over-shadowed by the city's suffering in World War Two and has
not been told often enough.
Peter's
first book, The Story of Coventry, also evocatively
illustrated, was the first full narrative history of Coventry for
more than a decade, tracing the city's story from its beginnings
around the year 1000 to the recent recession. Written for the general
reader, it concentrates on the rich gallery of characters who have
populated that colourful thousand years.
Peter
and his wife, Barbara who is also a journalist, were already working
at the Coventry Telegraph when I started back in the day. I
asked him how he first got into writing.
“I
was always keen on English at school and got an S level (grade 1) in
it as well as A level. Stupidly, I was persuaded that law was a
better career so did a law degree at Leeds University (69-72). When I
finished I immediately went into newspapers, initially a weekly in
Cheshire.
“I
came to the Coventry Telegraph as a reporter but quickly switched to
features. I was a general feature writer but found myself writing a
lot about the city's history – I'd always been interested in
history. I also liked profile writing and did a lot of those too. In
later years I had a weekly light-hearted column and wrote leaders for
the paper, the latter I think great training for a writer as it
forces you to be succinct.”
Around
2011, publishers, The History Press approached him to write a book on
Coventry.
“I
was nervous about it but found it less difficult than I had imagined.
I treated it as an extended feature, I suppose. As a journalist you
are at least comfortable with putting pen to paper, so to speak.”
It
took him around a year to research and write his first book, The
Story of Coventry which came out in 2013. This led to the
writing of his second book featuring Coventry during the First World
War. Great War Britain: Coventry Remembering 1914-18.
“I loved doing the research, most of it in the Herbert Museum's History Centre,” added Peter. “It felt like an extension of something I had always done on the paper – in the CET's Library. To be honest, I didn't find anything that came as a complete surprise as I'd written a lot about the city's history already. But Coventry's extraordinary monastic past was something I hadn't really grasped before and the incredible scale of its contribution to the First World War was also unexpected.”
With
his interest and knowledge about the city of Coventry, when he's not
writing – or reading, Peter conducts city walks for people with an
interest in its history along with being involved in community
projects; and in his free time, he plays tennis, enjoys film, theatre
and music. I wondered whether there were any more books in the
pipeline.
“I'd
love to write more books,” Peter told me. “Although I'm not sure
if I want to write more about Coventry. I feel I've 'done' the city
in a way. I'd really like to write something in the popular history
field with a national focus. I'm trying to work up an idea for the
publishers at the moment.”
I'd
like to thank Peter Walters for being on my blog today, and wish him
every success with these books and good luck with future projects.
Great
War Britain: Coventry Remembering 1914-18.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-War-Britain-Coventry-Remembering/dp/0750960752
The
Story of Coventry.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Coventry-Peter-Walters/dp/1860776922/
Both books are published by The History Press.
http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/
If
you would like to contact Peter, Email:
peter@waltersconsultancy.co.uk.
Mobile 07748 116041.
Mobile 07748 116041.
