Annual Diary
Long ago, this used to be a brief Curriculum Vitæ, but then it grew and grew... Now it's a long Annual Diary of personal & professional work and projects, serving as an index to some of the content on this site.
CHRISTOPHER LONG is a British journalist, editor, foreign correspondent and occasional broadcaster. Born and educated in England, he abandoned reading Law for the Bar at the Inner Temple in London (tort, crime contract and land law), training instead in marketing management overseas (Lever Brothers, Lintas, etc) and working as a copywriter for advertising agencies in Britain. In 1978 he became a journalist.
From 1978-1986 he was a specialist London news and current affairs reporter in Kensington, Chelsea, Westminster and Fulham for the London Newspaper Group. He was a feature writer and diarist (e.g. London Evening Standard), a columnist and leader writer for publications (e.g. London Portrait Magazine), an editor of newspapers and books and an occasional radio broadcaster (e.g. LBC, BBC.
From 1987-1990 he was the founding editor of both the award-winning World Magazine and of The Music Magazine, both later acquired by the BBC.
In 1989 and from 1991-99, he was among the longest-serving reporters in the ex-Yugoslavian Balkan Wars for British and overseas press, radio and television.
He reported from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia / Kosovo to newspapers such as the London Evening Standard and to broadcasters such as Reuters Radio News, the BBC, SABC and BBC World Service. He was a frequent contributor to B-Sky-B News and to Channel 4/ITN News and was (unhappily) a producer of a disappointing war documentary filmed in Mostar for NHK TV (Japan).
In 1992-1993 he was an investigative reporter for The Observer (London) and in 1994-95 became a founder member of an Internet Developers' Association as one of the UK's first web site developers with a particular interest in 'news on demand'. (see this site) The first pages of this site were prepared at the end of 1994, using a Mac, TeachText and a Mosaic/Netscape browser. Its existence owes much to the inspiration and kind encouragement of Dave Gochfeld. It was launched, using HTML 2.0, early in 1995 (via a dircon.co.uk domain). From 2008 to 2011 its pages were hand-coded in HTML Transitional + CSS. Pages created or edited since then use 'pure' HTML5 + CSS3 – i.e. the site does not use Javascript, JQuery, Flash, etc. This site participated in the IT revolution, being among the world's first 3,000 sites. In mid-1994 there were an estimated 2,738 web sites throughout the world and by the end of 1994 there were more than 10,000. In 2023 there were more than 200,000,000..
In 2001 he settled in France where he contributed to French newspapers and magazines and continued to edit and translate web content.
He is also an independent French-English interpreter and translator for museums, exhibitions, national and local authorities, voluntary associations, lawyers and businesses (e.g. Mont-Saint-Michel, Thalès, Département de la Manche, PAH de Valognes, Monuments Historiques, etc.). (see links below).
In their spare time, he and his wife Sarah run a flock of pedigree Dorset Down sheep on five hectares of grassland in Normandy.
From around 2003 he developed a growing interest in the vernacular architecture of the Bocage Virois in southern Manche and Calvados ranging from C10th churches to C16th hall houses.
In 2008 he saved, with help from the Royal Engineers, a WWll Bailey Bridge, originally part of the 1944 Mulberry 'B' artificial harbour at Arromanches (later, in 1958, used to bridge the river Vire between Pont-Farcy and Fourneaux). This 27 tonne veteran of the Battle of Normandy was threatened with destruction in 2008 but six of its nine sections are now preserved at Pont-Farcy and managed by Les Amis du Pont Bailey. In 2020, the three remaining sections were lent to the Normandy Victory Museum at Catz as an external exhibit.
In 2016 he saved a 28 tonne WWll 'Whale' (a section of the floating roadway from the 1944 Mulberry 'B' artificial harbour at Arromanches), later re-used as a road bridge at Pont-Farcy. This was presented to the Imperial War Museum (Duxford), – along with a memorial panel commemorating Normandy's liberators – by Les Amis du Pont Bailey at an inaugural ceremony on 9th April 2016.
From 2018 to 2021 he designed and built with his own hands an oak-framed hall, using mediaeval carpentry techniques, along with cob fills and glass. This exercise in experimental archaeology provided him and his wife with a new house in Pont-Farcy.
Much of 2022-24 was devoted to offering a home to four families (finally 8 adults and 9 children) fleeing the war in Ukraine, housing them either with us or in houses nearby. Some needed continuing support in later years.
Principal areas of academic and historical/archaeological research are:
- Researching and recording the family histories of the Chiot and Phanariot diaspora (post 1822)
- Encouraging and helping those researching or visiting the battlefields of Operation Bluecoat – the British break-out in the Battle of Normandy (Jul-Aug 1944)
- Researching the role of the abbeys of Mont Saint-Michel and St Michael's Mount in the tin, lead and copper trade between Britain and Normandy in the mediaeval period
- Exploring the vernacular architecture (domestic and ecclesiatic) of the Bocage Virois, Normandy (predominantly C10th - C17th)
- Exploring the significance of the mediaeval and post-mediaeval artisan iron industries in Manche, Calvados and Orne (Normandy) (C10th onwards)
- Exploring the system of 'high roads' and 'low roads' (crest roads and valley roads) that prevailed in Western Normandy throughout the mediaeval periods
- All aspects of the Anglo-Norman 'adventure' (C10th-C13th)
1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
2026
- Les Amis du Pont Bailey were delighted to hear from the DRAC (Normandie) that the Monument Historique status of their Bailey Bridge at Pont-Farcy had been reinforced by decree to the level of an 'inscription par arrêté'.
Pont-Farcy, France.
2025
- Invited again to be a judge in the 2026 'Young Journalist Awards', sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Journalists, London.
- Gave a talk about the role of Bailey Bridges in WWll to a group of mill-owners (AMB-N) during their AGM gathering and a visit to Pont-Farcy.
- Organised, with Rémi Pinet, an archaeological visit to Pont-Farcy and Pleines-Œuvres by about 60 members of the Société d’Archéologie d’Avranches, Mortain et Granville, led by Fran¸ois Saint-James.
- Organised a family gathering and gave a talk entitled Who Are Your People? to an invited audience of about 250 descendants of the Chiot & Phanariot diaspora associated with the Hellenic Enclosure, West Norwood Cemetery, London. The talk described the history of this global community from Byzantine times to the C20th, including the story of the Massacres of Chios. See article by Alexander Billinis for Neos Kosmos.
- On 20 March, the World War ll British Bailey Bridge, displayed at Pont-Farcy in Normandy since 2008, was granted the status of a French Monument Historique, thus assuring its protection into the future. In 1944 it had served the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches and in 1958 was re-used as a road bridge linking Fourneaux with Pont-Farcy. Threatened with destruction in 2008, it was saved by Les Amis du Pont Bailey with help from the British Corps of Royal Engineers.
- Invited to help author Chris Ramsay with research into the lives of Georges & Fanny Rodocanachi who were key members of the Pat Line escape and evasion network in Marseilles in 1940-1943.
- Asked by the DRAC (directorate of cultural affairs) in Strasbourg to help them preserve two very rare British 'telescopic' Whale bridges which had served the 1944 Battle of Normandy's Mulberry 'artificial' Harbours, then used to replace a war damaged road bridge and which by 2025 were threatened with destruction.
- Continued to advise and occasionally lead the archaeological assessment and physical exploration of the ruins of the C16th Sainte-Marie 'Guescelin' manor house at Longueville, Normandy.
Pont-Farcy, France. London (2).
Projects: Guescelin Manor dig. Hellenic Enclosure Gathering.
2024
- Invited to be a judge in the 2025 'Young Journalist Awards', sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Journalists, London.
- Invited, as a historian of the C19th Chiot and Phanariot hellenic diaspora, to join the Strategic Partnership Board at West Norwood Cemetery in south London, overseeing the restoration, maintenance and revitalisation of the cemetery and its Hellenic Enclosure, founded in 1842 by London's Anglo-Greek community, now considered the cemetery's 'crown jewel'.
- Gave a talk on 'Anglo-Norman Hall Houses - d'hier à aujourd'hui' (C5th-C16th) at the Au Charbon community centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer.
- Volunteer advisor and occasional leader on the archaeological assessment and physical exploration of the ruins of the C16th Sainte-Marie 'Guescelin' manor house at Longueville, Normandy.
- Gave a short talk on the history and importance of Bailey Bridges, during the Battle of Normandy, to about 50 people taking part in a 'Liberation' Walk around Tessy, Normandy.
- Interviewed for a profile article by Philippe Bertin in La Manche Libre.
- Gave a talk in English on the significance of Bailey Bridges during the Battle of Normandy to students from the Collège at Tessy-sur-Vire in order to encourage their English abilities and to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Liberation of Normandy.
- Asked by Maisons Paysannes de France and the DRAC (Normandy) to contribute to a site visit to analyse the C16th Sainte-Marie manor house at Longueville, Manche, which it is hoped could lead to a full restoration of the building.
- Gave an address at the 6th June D-Day commemoration at the British CWGC cemetery at Saint-Charles-de-Percy, thanking the commune and its former mayor, Michel Leteinturier, OBE, for their commitment to the memory of the 809 men buried there and 22,442 British soldiers who died in the Liberation of Normandy in 1944.
- Took part in a week-long conference on Guernsey exploring late mediaeval vernacular domestic architecture, organised by John MacCormack.
- Invited to visit the restoration work taking place at the Greek Enclosure at West Norwood Cemetery, South London, in the company of Sir David Ralli and George Vassiadis, providing Lambeth Council with feedback from families with notable mausoleums within the enclosure.
- Visited Bailey Bridge at Lougé to advise the mayor regarding the structural state of the bridge.
Pont-Farcy, France. Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk, London, Sussex, England (Apr). Guernsey, Channel Islands (May).
Projects: Hall Houses. Boquet Cart Shed arcade.
2023
- Published a very brief summary of the Feudal Lords of Pont-Farcy and their Tenants at Le Bosquet / Le Boquet.
- Provided administrative and practical support to the 2023 Battlefield Archaeology Group (BAG) three-year archaeological campaign working in Normandy along the break-out lines between American and German troops during Operation Cobra (July 1944). About 30 professionals and apprentices took part in the 10 days of digs along the D38 in Manche. [See: Time Time video]
- Organised and facilitated TV coverage (France 3 Télévision) of a day-long cycle ride by Paul Harris following the route taken by his grandfather, George Hanks (Highland Light Infantry), during the Battle of Normandy (Jun-Aug 1944). This involved cycling from 'Gold' landing beach, via Caumont-l'Éventé, to Estry where Hanks was killed on 7th August 1944. This 70-mile ride was a small part of Harris's bid to cycle 22,442 sponsored miles – one mile for each British soldier who died in the Battle of Normandy, in aid of the British Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer.
- Interviewed by Elaine Richard of La Manche Libre about the saving of the Pont-Farcy Bailey Bridge 15 years earlier. A separate item appeared about a chance meeting with Swiss visitors to the bridge.
- Led a day-long tour of the Operation Bluecoat battlefield (Battle of Normandy, 1944), organised for descendants of Major Robert Heywood-Lonsdale, the Grenadier Guards' officer who commanded the three tank squadrons which led the initial assault (Jul-Aug 1944) from Caumont-l'Éventé to Viessoix via Bény-Bocage and Estry.
- Translator (FR-EN) of subtitles to a short documentary on the architectural evolution of Mont Saint-Michel for Les Films du Chahut.
- Translator (FR-EN) of the Mont Saint-Michel exhibition catalogue Demeure de l'Archange, managed by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.
- Gave an illustrated talk to museum and heritage guides at the Château de Saint Sauveur-le-Vicomte: 'The Architectural Vocabulary for Anglo-Norman Mediaeval Defensive & Domestic Structures'. Event organised by the PAH Valognes.
- After seven years as a subscriber, became a regular beta-tester for Tap Forms, the 5-star MacOS and iOS database app which has become a game-changer for many of us and which manages much of the ±280 GB of data that lies behind the content of this web site.
Pont-Farcy, France. Tavistock, Croyde, Devon, England (Jan). Argentan, Bellême, France (Sep).
Projects: Old Hall and Cart Shed floors. Archaeological dig on 1944 Normandy Cobra lines.
2022
- Spent the first four months of the year fitting out and adding finishing touches to the recently completed timber-framed hall at Le Boquet.
- On 24 February, invited two Ukrainian families to seek shelter at our Le Bosquet house. Two mothers with their three children from Donetsk/Dnipro and Odesa arrived 07/09-04-22). See: La Voix Le Bocage and La Manche Libre. In May, accommodation was found for a third Ukrainian family of five from Donetsk/Dnipro in nearby Sainte-Marie-Outre-l'Eau. In July, accommodation was found for a fourth Ukrainian family of five from Dnipro in nearby Saint-Vigor-des-Monts.
- With Alain Cavaillé, presented 244 of Dr Maurice Warot's WWl Western Front Stereoscopic Glass Photo Negatives (+ 65 photographic prints) to the Médiathèque du Patrimoine et de la Photographie.
- Appeared in and anglo-french performance of Alice In Wonderland at the LaBo, Landelles-et-Coupigny, directed by Dominique Birien.
- Translated visitor information panels for Pays d'Art & d'Histoire du Clos du Cotentin and publicity leaflets for Les Chemins du Mont-Saint-Michel.
- Invited to comment on the pre-publication typescript of The Power of Reconciliation by Justin Welby (Archbishop of Canterbury), published 2022.
Le Boquet Timber Hall Project (collage)
Le Boquet Timber Hall Completed
Pont-Farcy, France. Chatelaudren, Tréguier, Brittany, France (Aug).
Projects: Arrival of four Ukrainian families. Enabled archaeological dig on 1944 Normandy Cobra lines.
2021
- Life much restricted by the lockdown / confinement due to Covid-19.
- Finished construction of the timber-framed hall at Le Boquet.
- Continued to provide translation and interpreting services to usual clients in Normandy: legal interpreting for notaires in Condé-sur-Noireau; translating visitor information panels for Pays d'Art & d'Histoire du Clos du Cotentin; and publicity leaflets for Les Chemins du Mont-Saint-Michel.
- Provided ongoing support to the owners of one of the most beautiful and historic water-mills in Normandy, Le Moulin de Fervaches threatened by destruction of its weir and functionality by political 'ecologists'. [See historic photo]
Le Boquet Timber Hall Project (collage)
Le Boquet Timber Hall Construction
Le Boquet Timber Hall Completed
Pont-Farcy, France. Chausey Islands.
Projects: Covid restrictions. Moved to Le Boquet hall. Created new Boquet driveway.
2020
- Translator (FR-EN) for the exhibition "Merveilles d'or et d'argent. Trésors cachés et savoir-faire de la Manche" on Mont Saint-Michel in 2021, organised by the Département de la Manche, Normandie.
- Translator (FR-EN) of a series of local history panels, explaining highlights of various village histories, for visitors to the Cotentin peninsular, produced by Pays d'Art et d'Histoire de Cotentin.
- Rebuilt three remaining sections of the Pont-Farcy Bailey Bridge at the Normandy Victory Museum at Catz, Manche. This was achieved by five elderly gentlemen: Rob Adams, Patrick Fissot, Yves Lenchon, Simon de Lautour and CAL.
- Finished basic construction, roofing and slating of the oak-framed hall at Le Boquet, Pont-Farcy. Fitting out and finishing to take place throughout the winter.
- Most regular work, projects and teamwork activities on hold owing to COVID-19...
Le Boquet Timber Hall Project (collage) 1/2
Le Boquet Timber Hall Project (collage) 2/2
Le Boquet Timber Hall Project (collage) at 25-01-2020
Le Boquet Timber Hall Construction
Pont-Farcy, France. Lézardrieux, France (Oct).
Projects: Covid restrictions.
2019
- Agreed, on behalf of Les Amis du Pont Bailey to the long-term loan of two and a half sections of WWll Bailey Bridge to the Normandy Victory Museum at Catz in Normandy.
- Recorded readings, in English and French, of Victorian accounts of C19th life in Avranches for the exhibition Oh, my book! (Lumières sur le fonds anglais d'Avranches) at the Scriptorial museum.
- Received an official US army visiting group from Nebraska at the Pont-Farcy Bailey Bridge, giving them an explanatory tour.
- Organised a 75th anniversary battlefield tour of Operation Bluecoat (the series of British 'break-out' actions from 30 July to 7 August during the 1944 Battle of Normandy), introducing 20 invited guests to key locations between Caumont-L'Éventé and Perrier Ridge, while meeting several eye-witnesses along the way.
- Founder member of the sheep-breeders' cooperative group Dorset En France, aiming to promote the Dorset Down breed in France. Designed the group's website.
- Continued construction of the oak-framed hall at Le Boquet, Pont-Farcy.
- Asked to contribute memories and reflections on the arrival of Vietnamese Boat People refugees at Kensington Barracks in 1978 for an hour-long BBC Four TV documentary.
- Interviewed Timur D'Vatz about his life and career for his Scriptorial museum exhibition catalogue (Avranches April 2019).
Le Boquet Timber Hall Project (collage)
Le Boquet Timber Hall Construction
Pont-Farcy, France. London, England (Jan). Lambeth, London, England (Feb). La Vendée, France (Sep). Poitiers, Angoulême, France (Nov). Maidstone, Canterbury, England (Dec).
Projects: Organised D'Vatz exhibition in Avranches.
2018
- Began construction of a two-storey, 70 sq.m. oak-framed hall (using mediaeval joinery techniques and cob-fill) as an extension to the C16th hall house at Le Boquet, Pont-Farcy. Walls completed to first floor level before winter.
- Invited to join in a round-table discussion on 'Corvée(s) & Partage(s)', part of Rencontres du Patrimoine organised by C.A.U.E. de la Manche at the Haras National de Saint-Lô. Also asked to exhibit the skills and methods of traditional leather-working.
- Invited to join and act as a facilitator in Normandy for an archaeological investigation (led by Cameron Ross on behalf of Military History Live) of 'Operation Cobra', an Allied military action during the 1944 Battle of Normandy.
- Organised a day-long tour for visiting historians and archaeologists from the Société Guernsiaise, including visits to Le Plessis-Grimoult, La Graverie, Bures-les-Monts, La Carbonnière in Condé-sur-Vire and Le Boquet in Pont-Farcy.
Le Boquet Timber Hall Project (collage)
Le Boquet Timber Hall Construction
Pont-Farcy, France. Maidstone, Smarden, England (Jun/Jul). Jersey, Channel Islands (Sep). Poitiers, Nantes, France (Oct)
Projects: Started Le Boquet hall construction. Enabled archaeological dig on 1944 Normandy Cobra lines.
2017
- Gave a speech at the Uzbekistan Embassy in London to mark the 25 years since the artist Timur D'Vatz first arrived and first exhibited in London, coincidentally in the 25th anniversary year of the recognition of Uzbekistan's independence.
- Invited to join the Steering Group responsible for the New Beginning project dedicated to restoring and revitalising London's West Norwood Cemetery. Asked to provide specialist help/advice on the heritage value and potential of the Greek Enclosure and its St Stephen's Chapel, as well as to propose and help with future displays in the Events & Exhibition spaces of the Cemetery Lodge.
- Oversaw a detailed analysis of the C15th-C16th hall house at Le Boquet, mostly undertaken during a four-day study by the archaeologist and architectural historian Robert Waterhouse MCIfA, FSA.
- Gave an illustrated talk on the saving of the Pont-Farcy Bailey Bridge to a party of walkers at Les Bruyères, Gouvets.
- Proposed the setting up of Annales Anglo-Normandes & Nord-Atlantique, a society to be based at the University of Caen, designed to promote links and exchanges between historians and archaeologists in Normandy, the Channel Islands, the British Isles and the european north-Atlantic coast.
- Cooperated with historian Anthony Hogan and Paddy Shennan of the Liverpool Echo in their bid to see George Rodocanachi – a founder of WWll escape network in France, Pat Line – recognised with a memorial in Liverpool, where he was born and grew up.
- Began providing information and resources to Steve Williams for his book (subsequently published in 2023), The Greek Community of Liverpool: A History 1822-2022.
Le Boquet Timber Hall Project (collage)
Pont-Farcy, France. Central & Western Crete, Greece (Apr/May). London, England (Dec).
Projects: Re-roofed Bread Oven. Le Boquet old hall archaeological study and site preparation.
2016
- Led and gave a talk to members of the Amicale Culturelle Européenne (ACE) on a visit to Le Grand Doyenné, Avranches.
- Interviewed by Talkback Radio, Dublin, about Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia's birth on allegedly 'Yugoslav territory' in a hotel suite at Claridges, London, in 1945 (see original press article).
- Organised a ten-day project to strip, sand-blast and repaint the Bailey Bridge at Pont-Farcy, greatly assisted by Rob Adams and Alen Dosen with support from Claude Loisel. 'Olive military drab' paint generously provided by PPG/Johnstone Industries, UK.
- Took up leather-working to make things I couldn't find commercially or couldn't afford.
- Officially donated a Whale section of the Arromanches Mulberry 'B' artificial harbour to the Imperial War Museum (Duxford) at an inauguration ceremony there on 9th April 2016 attended by many members of Les Amis du Pont Bailey.
- The Whale Bridge and its memorial plaque were presented to the Imperial War Museum to commemorate all those who helped liberate Normandy and Western Europe in 1944-45.
- Led a group of nine 'Anglo-Norman' historians and archaeologists on a research trip exploring mediaeval Anglo-Norman sites in and around Chester and north Wales.
Pont-Farcy, France. North Wales, Chester, England 'Conquest' + London, Duxford, England (Apr). Somme, France (Jul). Dorchester, England (Sep). Jersey, Channel Islands (Sep). Artigues, France (Oct). London, England (Oct).
Projects: Leather-working. Mulberry Harbour 'Whale' inauguration IWM Duxford. Wood store construction.
2015
- Gave a talk on The Story of Pont-Farcy's Bailey Bridge to British members of an MG car collectors' club on their visit to Normandy.
- On the 100th anniversary of the 1st Battle of Loos, took part in events in Ypres (Belgium) and Loos (France) commemorating the 8th Bt. The Royal Berkshire Regiment and specifically in memory of Lt. Cyril Spartali.
- Began recording notes and descriptions of a site of potential archeological interest, first identified in 2013, at La Hatuyère, Pont-Farcy, whose form bears superficial similarity to early hill-top settlements elsewhere in France.
- Organised the gift by Les Amis du Pont Bailey to the Imperial War Museum (Duxford) of a 27-tonne Whale, originally a section of the floating roadway at the WWll Mulberry B artificial harbour at Arromanches, the culmination of a seven year campaign to save for posterity this rare relic of Operation Overlord and the Battle of Normandy.
- Took part, with Julien Deshayes, (at the request of Françoise Herman) in an assessment of the C14th maladrerie at La Carbonnière, near Saint Lô, which revealed inter alia wall paintings in the chapel dated ca. 1325 and substantial surviving elements of the priest's house at the leper colony.
- Gave a talk to members of the Amicale Culturelle Européenne (ACE), in Coutances, Normandy, entitled Mirror Images – The Anglo-Norman Adventure covering some aspects of the cross-Channel cultural exchange to which monks contributed in the C11th and C12th.
- Published articles on a growing collection of typewriters manufactured 1917-1968, many of which were used professionally by CAL in the 1960s-1980s. See images.
- Annual tree-planting included two Horse Chestnuts on the lane (Letellier) and silver birch in new rounded field corners.
Pont-Farcy, France. Devon, England (Jan). Les Andelys, France (Jun). Beauport, Britanny (Aug). London, England (Sep). Ypres, Belgium (Sep). London, England (Dec).
2015 Farm – Offline only
Projects: Extension concrete floor.
2014
- Gave a talk to members of the Amicale Culturelle Européenne (ACE) entitled The Coming of the Cow about the mid-C19th arrival in Normandy of canals, railways, a dairy industry and a revolution in vernacular architecture.
- Collaborated with Timur D'Vatz who used The English Knight stories as inspiration for a collection of paintings exhibited at the Galerie de Buci, Paris (Oct) and at The Cadogan Contemporary Gallery, London (Dec). The stories and paintings were published in London in a limited edition in December 2014. [See: English pdf version or French pdf version]
- Published a first draft of Artisan Iron Working in the Valleys of the River Vire?, presenting evidence that iron smelting took place in the valleys of the river Vire.
- Organised a large picnic gathering on and around the Pont-Farcy Bailey bridge to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy and the Liberation. This event was followed in the evening by Pont-Farcy's annual fête communale.
- Gave a guided talk on the history of Pont-Farcy and its architecture to the Amicale Culturelle Européenne (ACE), followed by a lunchtime talk on the history of Pont-Farcy's Bailey bridge.
- Published a provisional paper concerning the author's contention that an important artisan iron-working industry existed in the thickly wooded, iron-rich valleys of the river Vire basin in Lower Normandy.
- Hosted a visit by 17 students from the Lycée Agricole de Thère to study small-scale sheep management and selection along with the English vocabulary associated with sheep breeding.
- Gave a talk on Operation Bluecoat to a gathering at La Ferrière-Harang commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy as a prelude to accounts by local eyewitnesses to the arrival of British troops on 31 July 1944.
- Helped organise a Hedgerow Census at Le Boquet in collaboration with Jean Collette and GONm – (see results and press article).
- Worked with the Communauté de communes du Bény-Bocage in their plans to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy in WWll: arranging for Les Amis du Pont Bailey to lend a single section of its original nine-section Bailey Bridge for display at the MuséeMusée de la Percée du Bocage at St Martin-des-Besaces; assembling background information for a memorial to 24 British soldiers killed in Saint Ouen-des-Besaces in 1944; and supporting a parallel scheme to reconstruct a second spare section of the Bailey Bridge, to be lent by Les Amis du Pont Bailey to local fêtes and events. [NB This loan never materialised into anything positive and the the section joined two others to ben lent to the Normandy Victory Museum, Catz]
- Supplied material relating to the WWl naval battles of Coronel and The Falkland Islands for a commemorative exhibition planned by the Falkland Islands Museum & National Trust.
- Spent three days in and around Otterton, in south-east Devon, researching the priory lands held by the monks of the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy from the C11th.
Pont-Farcy, France. London, England. Weymouth, Dorchester, Dorset (Sep). Beaminster, Dorset, England (Nov). London, England (Dec).
2014 Farm – Offline only
Projects: The English Knight publication. Built Bosquet Studio. Demolished the dilapidated 'American Barn'.
2013
- Began a new study of the history of Pont-Farcy based on evidence from its highly detailed 1832 'Napoleonic' cadastral map coupled with a parallel study of surviving evidence on the ground.
- Hosted a visit by 16 students from the Lycée Agricole de Thère to study small-scale sheep management and selection along with the English vocabulary associated with sheep breeding.
- Designed a web site for Anglo-Russian artist Timur D'Vatz.
- Invited by La Manche Libre to comment on the death of Margaret Thatcher.
- Supported a project to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1944 Battle of Normandy with a stone plaque commemorating 24 British soldiers killed in Saint Ouen-des-Besaces during the fighting for Hills 226 and 309 in July/August 1944, an action which formed the first objective of Operation Bluecoat.
2013 Diary – Offline only
2013 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. Lorient, Pontivy, Brittany, France (May). Paris, France (Jul). Angers, France (Aug). London, Westerham, Guildford, England (Sep) Gulworthy, England (Nov & Dec).
Projects: Replaced Land Rover chassis (galvanised) and bulkhead.
2012
- Proposed the toast to Timur D'Vatz at an exhibition at Cadogan Contemporary Gallery, London, marking the 20th anniversary of his arrival in England from Russia (see video).
- Author of an article on sustainable living in the Bocage Virois for the English language French newspaper The Connexion.
- Participated in the Ouest-France newspaper campaign reporting birds in the Bocage Virois
- Organised a corvée working-party at Le Boquet to explore and share methods of restoring clay-built buildings.
- Author of an article on the exhibition Permis de (Re)construire: Vire 1944-1965 for the English language French newspaper The Connexion. (See: Phoenix of '44)
- Helped organise the launch of the M2M Mont-to-Mount bid by Mike, William and Harry No¨e;l-Smith and to row across the English Channel from Mont Saint-Michel (see see satellite plot of the rowers' progress) and the delivery of the Mont Saint-Michel cartulary to the former priory at Otterton in Devon.
- Designed a web site for the architectural historian David Nicolas-Méry, specialising in the history of the bay of Mont Saint-Michel.
- Author of Remembering the Coronation in Vine Magazine, marking the Queen's diamond jubilee – an abridged version of The Coronation Generation.
- An interviewee on radio TendanceOuest, talking about the Mont2Mount cross-Channel rowing bid.
- An interviewee on radio France Bleu's Vivre en Normandie programme, talking about Pont-Farcy.
- Helped convert planning of the Mont2Mount row from an eight-man 'pilot gig' event in June 2012 (including public and press involvement) to a three-man event in an ocean-going boat in July 2012 which one organiser insisted should be un-promoted in Normandy.
- Interpreter for Vet Cell in its negotiations with a group veterinary researchers in Normandy.
- Contributed to the planning and facilities for a France 3 TV 'Des Racines et des Ailes' programme on the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel.
- Organised educational visits and field studies at Le Bosquet/Boquet, Pont-Farcy (linked to flora & fauna, rural life in the past, hedging practices, ornithology, or traditional building methods) including:
- A visit by 28 children from Landelles-et-Coupigny school, practicing their English while observing animals and their young.
- A work experience visit to Le Boquet by 24 students from the Lycée Agricole (Vire), with emphasis on hedge coppicing, hedge management and hedge-laying.
- An ornithological 'open day' at Le Bosquet, one of seventy bird sanctuaries opened to the public in Basse-Normandie, organised by Jean Collette of GONm (see Ouest-France announcement). Note: By the end of 2012, the number of bird species in recorded at Le Bosquet had doubled in the seven years since record-keeping was begun by ornithologist Jean Collette in 2005.
- A visit by 16 students from the Lycée Agricole de Thère to examine sheep management, the selection of a ram sire and the English vocabulary associated with sheep breeding.
- Stood down as president of Les Amis du Pont Bailey — remaining honorary president — after founding the society four years earlier but by now exhausted by the negotiations involved in trying to keep the Arromanches Whale as a memorial in Normandy. Temporary homes were found for it in Vire and at Catz, near Carentan. Later returned as president of Les Amis du Pont Bailey when it became clear that it would only find a safe final home in England. It was presented as gift to the Imperial War Museum (Duxford) in 1916.
- Organised the reception in Normandy of six members of Cornwall's Mount's Bay Pilot Gig Club on their third and final research trip prior to their planned 2012 Mont2Mount bid.
- On behalf of Les Amis du Pont Bailey, took formal ownership of a World War ll 'Whale' element of a floating roadway from the British 'Mulberry B' harbour at Arromanches: a gift from Claude Loisel of LTP Loisel.
- Became an official English/French interpreter for notaires in Thury-Harcourt.
2012 Diary – Offline only
2012 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France.
Projects: Mulberry Harbour 'Whale' saved. Gravelled Bosquet and driveway. Cross-Channel row MSM to SMM (Start Point). Bread Oven restoration 'corvée'.
2011
- Organised the reception of five members of Cornwall's Mount's Bay Pilot Gig Club in Normandy on a research trip prior to their planned 2012 Mont2Mount bid to row the English Channel from the Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy to St Michael's Mount in Cornwall. The team arrived on cycles having travelled 270 miles in 18.5 hours as a team-building exercise.
- Made a failed bid to interest the local press and local community in the paved Roman road in Pont-Farcy, La Pavée, which is being used as a municipal tip and to which public access is denied (probably illegally).
- Gave an illustrated talk at the Musée du Bocage Normand, Saint Lô, on Paysans de Normandie, Paysans du Monde mais pas de Paysan Anglais.
- Contributed to a conference on Operation Bluecoat (Battle of Normandy 1944) organised by the Musée de la Percée du Bocage, Saint-Martin-des-Besaces.
- Gave a talk about the work of war correspondents to two separate groups of students at the Collège Emile Maupas, Vire (June).
- Organised educational visits and field studies at Le Bosquet/Boquet, Pont-Farcy (linked to flora & fauna, rural life in the past, hedging practices, ornithology, or traditional building methods) including:
- Twenty-six children from the Écoles Maternelle et Primaire, Pont-Farcy exploring how birds and mammals survive winter in Normandy (December)
- Eight students from the Lycée Agricole de Thère, St Lô – small scale sheep breeding and management (April)
- Two groups of about 30 children from the Écoles Maternelle et Primaire, Landelles-et-Coupigny – flora and fauna; agricultural life 100 years ago (May)
- Les Amis des Musées de St Lô — Le Bosquet Ornithological Visit (J. Collette).
- Les Amis des Musées de St Lô — Le Bosquet Vernacular Structures (C. A. Long).
- Fifteen students from Espace Locale d'Activités Novatrices (ELAN) – construction and restoration of clay wall structures (May)
- Twenty older children from the Écoles Maternelle et Primaire, Pont-Farcy – agricultural life 100 years ago (June)
- Younger children from the Écoles Maternelle et Primaire, Pont-Farcy – flora and fauna (June).
- Four Macedonian and five French adult students – a week-long course learning the building, restoration and finishing techniques involved in traditional Norman clay wall constructions (July).
- Presented a collection of early C20th marriage photographs (from Pont-Farcy, St Vigor-des-Monts and Landelles-et-Coupigny) at the Club Photo de Pont-Farcy [e.g. the Cordhomme/Goddard marriage.]
- Began preparatory planning and facilitating in Normandy for a bid by Mount's Bay Pilot Gig Club (Cornwall) to row, in 2012, non-stop across the Channel from Mont Saint-Michel to St Michael's Mount with a team of six oarsmen and a cox. (See also: press article 1 + press article 2.)
- Began the progressive restoration of farm buildings at Le Boquet / Bosquet, Pont-Farcy, involving masonry and clay-cob repairs to a C16/17th house/barn, a communal bread oven, a calf shed, a pigsty/hen house and a cowshed.
2011 Diary – Offline only
2011 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. S + ME London (Jan). Westerham, Crettingham, Ashill, Worcestershire, England (Jun). Lézardrieux, Brittany, France (Sep).
Projects: Franco-Macedonian Lime & Clay week-long workshop (Jul). Rebuilt Bread Oven.
2010
- Led the APB's negotiations with the town of Vire in Calvados which sought to borrow a WWll 'Whale' element of the British artificial Mulberry B harbour at Arromanches to serve as a bridge over the river Vire for the benefit of walkers and cyclists on the Carentan to Mont Saint Michel voie verte.
- The 'Whale' had been promised to the Les Amis du Pont Bailey in August 2008 on condition the association found a suitable location for it.
- Translated (Fr-Eng) Le Mont-Saint-Michel Sous l'Occupation 1940-1944 by Emmanuel Villain, including an introduction by Henry Decaëns, published January 2011.
- Featured in an article 'Avec Le Général' in La Manche Libre coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the death of General de Gaulle.
- Contributed a short series of items under the title 'Les Découvertes en Campagne de Christopher', to the Normandy newspaper La Voix Le Bocage.
- Appeared in a 3-minute documentary news item for French television, TF1 on the Vlasto family's response to General de Gaulle's 18 June 1940 'Appel'.
- Persuaded Pont-Farcy's municipal council to display its superb church clock in the church's south door entrance (unveiled in April 2011). It had been abandoned and neglected in the tower since the early 1960s (see article).
- Organised a number of educational visits and field studies at Le Bosquet/Boquet, Pont-Farcy (linked to flora, fauna, hedging practice, ornithology or traditional local building methods) including:
- Thirty students and two teachers in two groups from the Lycée de Thère, St Lô – field trip to study the importance of hedges, led by ornithologist Jean Collette of GONm, and CAL on hedge-laying and management, combined with sheep breeding. (October)
- Eleven students and two teachers from the Lycée de Thère, St Lô – studying sheep management on a small-holding (March).
- Thirty-two historians and archaeologists from the Channel Islands and England – examining a dozen buildings from the C11th to the C16th (churches manor houses, etc), notably those from the C16th rural Renaissance period in the Bocage Virois.
- Sixteen students and two teachers from the Lycée Agricole, Vire – working field trip to develop practical skills in hedge-laying, and tree and hedgerow maintenance, including an ornithological tour led by Jean Collette of GONm (March).
- Gave a talk to the Club Photo de Pont-Farcy on the history and significance of the river Vire whose canalisation (completed in 1861) brought lime to the Bocage Virois leading directly to a world-renowned dairy industry in Normandy: De l'Eau, des Bateaux, de la Chaux et des Veaux.
- Organised research visits to l'Aumoire at Morigny (Manche, Basse-Normandie): a well-preserved example of a C16th manor house with evidence of galleried hall and an array of secondary buildings including: a separate manor house above a cider production facility, a bakery, a chapel, a dovecote, etc. (See press article: L'Aumoire)
- Acquired Le Boquet (2 hectares) along with its C16th-C19th buildings (house/barn/grange, bread oven, stable, pig sty, well and calf fattening shed) to be restored, along with two further dwellings and a dairy, as a rare example of the structures which comprised an independent farm 'village' in the Bocage Virois.
- Proposed stories to French press:
- La Vire Canalisée: Randonné et Conférence Passionnent 50 Amateurs (OF)
- L'Abbé Yves Langlois: Souvenirs d'un Réfractaire au STO F (Service du Travail Obligatoire en Allemagne) Août 1943 - Août 1944 (LVLB)
- Les Jeunes Préservent Le Paysage de Demain (LVLB)
- L'Horloge de Pont-Farcy (LVLB)
- Les Stranges Vous Disent Merci (LVLB)
- L'Aumoire: Les Anglais Friands du Patrimoine Oublié (LVLB)
2010 Diary – Offline only
2010 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. Guédelon, Burgundy, France (Aug). Bruges, Belgium (Sep)
Projects: Built the Studio at Le Bosquet. Cob renders on straw-bale extension. Bought Le Boquet. Two Chestnuts and one Walnut planted on lane.
2009
- Speaker at the Mont et Merveille conference at the Archives Départementales at St Lô, Normandy, on the relationship between Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy and St Michael's Mount in Cornwall during the C11th and C12th, proposing that, as a consequence of the Norman Conquest, their monks may have lost ancient rights to a lucrative trade in Cornish tin (see: St Michel, l'Étain et l'Âge des Cloches").
- Introduced, for the first time, the Special Forces Club in London (Stuart Duncan) to L'Amicale des Anciens des Services Spéciaux de la Défense Nationale in Paris (Col. Henri Debrun), leading to a joint ceremony at Buchenvald concentration camp on 15 Oct 2010 in memory of 30 British and French special services personnel who died there at German hands in World War ll (attended by General Sir Michael Rose). The two organisations then planned to share research material and wartime records.
- Began a project to restore a ruined workshop at Le Bosquet experimenting with a timber-framed straw-bale and clay construction, sitting on a foundation wall of car tyres rammed with earth around a 20 sq. m. beaten-earth floor.
- Interviewed by La Voix Le Bocage for an article marking the Prix Bayeux for war reporting.
- Led the fourth annual Anglo-Norman 'Conquest' (this time in Guernsey and Jersey) with David Nicolas-Méry, Julien Deshayes, James St Aubyn and Sarah Long: exploring Anglo-Norman, Roman, Saxon and Viking links in Durham, Yorkshire and Northumberland.
- Organised a Bailey Bridge Picnic on D-Day (06-06-09).
- Organised the official inauguration of the preserved Bailey Bridge at Pont-Farcy on 08-08-2009, as president of Les Amis du Pont Bailey.
- Published a study entitled Tonsures, Tin, Bronze & Bells proposing that the monks of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy may have been involved, through their priory at St Michael's Mount in England, in the mediaeval trade in tin from Cornwall, necessary for the production of pewter, bronze and church bells.
- Scanned 244 of Dr Maurice Warot's WWl Western Front Steroscopic Glass Negatives (+ 65 photo prints) for Alain Cavaillé having agreed to find a secure home for the collection in a major French museum or collection.
- Organised a visit, led by historian David Lecoeur, for Les Amis du Pont Bailey to Mont Pinçon, the highest point in Normandy, liberated by British forces in August 1944 during the Battle of Normandy.
- Proposed stories to French press:
- Revue de l'année 2008: Bailey Bridge (LVLB)
- Timur d'Vatz Fait Voyager Les Couleurs du Bocage (LVLB)
- Brianna: Sur les Traces de George Para Pendant la Guerre (LVLB)
- Comment Susciter l'Intérêt Autour du Pont? (LVLB)
- Amis du Pont Bailey: Pour Que Vive le Vétéran Métallique (OF)
- Entre Fête et Devoir de Mémoire (LVLB)
- Cérémonie de la Libération: Se Rassembler Pour Mieux Se Souvenir (OF)
- Recueillement et Festivités Pour Les 65 Ans (OF)
- Les Amis du Pont Bailey en Visite au Mont Pinçon (OF)
2009 Diary – Offline only
2009 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. Guernsey, Jersey, Channel Islands 'Conquest' (Apr). Beaulieu-sur-Sonnette, Angoulême, Artigues, France (May). Pontivy, Brittany, France (Aug/Sep). Artigues, France (Sep).
Projects: Bailey Bridge inauguration Pont-Farcy. Built the Bosquet Extension in straw-bale and clay.
2008
- Founding president of Les Amis du Pont Bailey, formed to save a condemned British World War ll Bailey bridge (once part of the Mulberry 'B' artificial harbour at Arromanches). The last physical evidence in the bocage of British involvement in the Battle of Normandy after D-Day in 1944, the bridge was unveiled in Pont-Farcy on 17 October in the presence of sappers of the Royal Engineers who helped restore and set it up as a memorial.
- Translated a variety of material (French-English) for Les Chemins du Mont-Saint-Michel including its web site.
- Organised visits to Cornwall by French historians and archaeologists to promote the re-connection between St Michael's Mount in England and Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy (see TV documentary A Tale of Two Castles by Footloose TV, screened England in May 2008).
- A judge of Dorset Down sheep presented at the Concours Général Agricole des Animaux (Salon de Paris) agricultural show. Also showed Dorset Horn sheep at the Bures-les-Mont 'Mediaeval Fair'.
- Led the week-long third annual Anglo-Norman 'Conquest' of England with Anne & David Nicolas-Méry, François Saint-James, Timur d'Vatz and Sarah Long: exploring Anglo-Norman, Roman, Saxon and Viking links in Durham, Yorkshire and Northumberland.
- Provided web site and other translations for Les Chemins du Mont-Saint-Michel in Vire, Normandy, in preparation for the 1,300th anniversaries of the founding and consecration of Mont-Saint-Michel (2008/2009), having instigated the proposed opening of 'pilgrim' routes in south-west England linking St Michael's Mount and Mont-Saint-Michel.
- Continued to edit a web site for Respecter Le Bocage; to provide independent French/English translator and interpreter services to local notaires; and translator/interpreter services to Alu Composites Yachting.
2008 Diary – Offline only
2008 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. Northumberland, Durham, England 'Conquest' (Apr). Saint-Malo, France (Jun).
Projects: Bailey Bridge saved and rebuilt. Restored cob walls of Dairy.
2007
- Conceived and designed a web site promoting the town and annual fête of Landelles-et-Coupigny.
- Translated from French into English the technical specifications and publicity material for Alu Composites Yachting's Futuna 50', 57' and 70' ocean-going cruisers.
- Launched a campaign to preserve and publicly display Pont-Farcy's superb church clock which had been abandoned and neglected since the early 1960s – successfully achieved in 2011!).
- Conceived the idea of telling local history through bandes-dessinées, becoming a founding member of the team that created Chroniques de l'Armoire Temporelle, stories written and illustrated by 'Moloch' to explore episodes in the history of the Norman Bocage Virois, the first being Le Filigrane du Rat published by La Voix le Bocage on 7 Dec 2007, supported by 'Tourisme en Bocage Virois' and European 'Leader+' funding – featuring Sarah Long and Georges de Coupigny, also translated into English.
- Organised a series of semi-official visits and tours of Le Mont-Saint-Michel – collaborating with David Nicolas-Méry and François Saint-James – in order to re-establish relations between St Michael's Mount in Cornwall and Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy (for the first time about 700 years) in the run-up to the 1300th anniversary of the founding of the Norman abbey.
- Led the week-long second annual Anglo-Norman 'Conquest' of England with David Nicolas-Méry, François Saint-James and Sarah Long: exploring Anglo-Norman and Saxon links in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Hampshire.
- Produced the first pedigree Dorset Down lambs from a newly imported English Dorset Down ram [see Elevage Dorset] showing a ram and a ewe of this breed at the annual Saint Sever Sheep Fair.
- Continued to edit a web site for Respecter Le Bocage; and to provide independent French/English translator and interpreter services to local notaires
2007 Diary – Offline only
2007 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. Norman Conquest: St Michael's Mount, Gulworthy, Sheepridge, Morwell Barton, Glastonbury, Wells, Bath, Deerhurst, Tewkesbury, Avebury, Winchester (Feb). Berlin, Germany (May). Somme, France (Jun/Jul). North Brittany, France (Sep).
Projects: Two Castles documentary. 'Shelburn' coastal walk, Britanny.
2006
- Translated (French to English) three short films forming part of the Mont Saint Michel manuscripts' displays at the new Avranches Scriptorial museum (opened August 2006).
- Produced the first pedigree Dorset Horn & Dorset Down lambs for sale through Elevage Dorset (see references in article in La Manche Libre and article in La Voix Le Bocage) – subsequently presenting the Dorset Horn breed at the Saint Sever sheep fair.
- Continued to edit a web site for Respecter Le Bocage; and to provide independent French/English translator and interpreter services to local notaires.
- Led the week-long first annual Anglo-Norman 'Conquest' of England with David Nicolas-Méry, François Saint-James, Timur d'Vatz, Vanessa Gendrin, Didier and Sarah Long: exploring Anglo-Norman links in Dorset and Devon.
2006 Diary – Offline only
2006 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. Gulworthy, England (Feb). Artigues, Plaisances, Villebois-Lavalette, France (Aug).
Projects: Created Bosquet kitchen from former 'cave'. Planted many trees along Top Field road bank.
2005
- Presented a talk to the London Hellenic Centre entitled Greek Migrations: Phanariot, Chiot & Other Families, and the Secrets of their Success.
- Helped BBC Northern Ireland with a TV documentary, Flight to Freedom, concerning the WWll Pilot Bill McGrath who evaded capture in France and returned to Britain via Pat Line.
- An occasional contributor to the local French media: e.g. Quality of Life.
- Continued: to edit a web site for Respecter Le Bocage; to provide independent French/English translator and interpreter services to local notaires; and to develop Elevage Dorset.
- Agreed to the publication of Sorting Out Sir Winston in the magazine Finest Hour (encouraged by Lady Soames). This article concerned the author's childhood memories of Sir Winston Churchill and of a time, in 1966, when he was involved in sorting out the former prime minister's personal effects.
2005 Diary – Offline only
2005 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. Devon, Samford Spiney, England (Feb). London, England (Apr). Saint-Valéry, Somme, France (Jun). Geneva, Switzerland (Aug).
Christmas 2005a and Christmas 2005b
Projects:Oversaw building works at Le Ménage Pont-Farcy.
2004
- Founding member and web-site editor of Respecter Le Bocage, a local action group devoted to protecting the Calvados/Normandy environment and specifically demanding that cables carrying a proposed 400,000 volt electricity supply be buried rather than carried on pylons across a highly sensitive area of outstanding natural beauty – a lost cause when the pylons were constructed across the département de la Manche in 2012 despite general disapproval.
- Continued the web presentation of David Nicolas-Méry's study on the Donjon d'Avranches.
- Registered with A.I.F.C.C. in Caen as an official, independent French/English translator and interpreter (resigned in 2005). Became an official English/French interpreter for notaires in Condé-sur-Noireau.
- Devised and taught an English language training course to meet the needs of about 20 French secrétaires de mairie in Normandy.
- Continued: to develop Elevage Dorset, using the press to publicise the merits of traditional hedge-laying (plessage) (a technique largely lost in Normandy); and to provide bi-lingual web authoring and editing services to new and existing clients.
2004 Diary – Offline only
2004 Farm – Offline only
Pont-Farcy, France. Paris, France (Mar). Norman Conquest (West Country): Nethercerne, Corfe, Abbotsbury, Exeter, Gulworthy, Salisbury, Winchester, Devon (Nov).
Projects: Arrival of Dorset Horn flock. About 120 Ash planted over two years.
2002 — 2003
- A judge in the NetMedia 2003 European Online Journalism Awards.
- Occasional contributor to French media on the impending war in Iraq – e.g. Radio France Bleu and La Voix Le Bocage.
- Gave a talk in Avranches (part of the Barbacane 'Equinox' Festival) on an Englishman's appreciation and comprehension of Norman Patois in the Bocage virois and with reference to its parallels in the English language today. Other speakers were Pierre Boissel, Edward Impey, François Saint-James and Julien Deshayes.
- Designed, edited and maintained web sites, several with multi-lingual capability: examples (finished, testing or under construction) include:
- L'Association Barbacane d'Avranches, Normandie – a society which explores the history, archeology and culture of Avranches in Normandy and which organises events and festivals devoted to Norman and Anglo-Norman heritage.
- Festival Equinox d'Avranches, Normandie – the annual Anglo-Norman festival held in Avranches and organised by L'Association Barbacane.
- The Donjon d'Avranches, Normandie – a large site explaining the re-discovery in 2002 of the full extent of the remains of an important C11th Norman castle at Avranches.
- Jean-Louis Tamvaco, Paris – related to the author's previously published research into the history of opera as published as Les Cancans (CNRS Paris) and which includes some family Greek diaspora family history.
- Ste Marie Outre L'Eau, Normandie – a small site devoted to life in a tiny French commune in Calvados and to its annual fête in particular.
- L'Orangerie, Vire, Normandie – devoted to the sale of an historic property in Normandy (site now withdrawn).
- Le Parc, Le Tourneur, Normandie – information concerning an old Norman farmhouse in Calvados, available for holiday rental.
- A judge in the NetMedia 2002 European Online Journalism Awards.
- Established Elevage Dorset, an officially recognised small flock of pedigree Dorset Down & Dorset Horn sheep at Le Bosquet, Pont-Farcy, France, France. The project, on 3 hectares (5 hectares by 2010), aims to improve the two breeds, introduce their qualities to European breeders, and provide breeding ewes, along with rams as terminal sires, to European breeders [Flock No.: FR 14-513-091 — Siren /Siret : 448 316 208 00017].
2002 – Offline only
2002 Farm – Offline only
2003 Diary – Offline only
2003 Farm – Offline only
2003: Pont-Farcy, France. Marais Paris, Neuilly, France 'Page' (Jan). Artigues, Château des Francs, France 'Wine' (Mar). Paris, France 'Postel-Viney' (Mar).
2002: Pont-Farcy, France. Paris, France (Jan). Nether Cerne, Gulworthy, England (Jul). Nether Cerne, Dorset, England (Sep).
Christmas 2003a and Christmas 2003b
Projects: Arrival of Dorset Down flock. About 120 Ash planted over two years.
2001
- Settled permanently in Pont-Farcy, France. See video interview by Timur D'Vatz.
- Commissioned by RSCG (Corporate), Paris to translate and edit web site material for its French defence and avionics client, Thalès.
2001 Diary – Offline only
2001 Farm – Offline only
Living on Highclere Estate and in Pont-Farcy, France. Albert, Somme, France (Jul). France; Italy; Athens, Greece; Chios (Sep-Oct). Paris, France (Dec). Nether Cerne, Saffron Walden, Cambridge, London, England (Dec).
2000
- Short term contract as a web author for the Clinnix service operated by Synigence plc, in Berkshire, UK.
- Designer and editor of web sites for several clients: including Timur D'Vatz in London; Laverock School in Surrey, UK; Winton Pre-school in Hampshire; and designer of web graphics for Morwellham Quay in Devon.
- Encouraged a cousin, Dominie, Lady Nicholls (née Vlasto), to finish and publish her memoirs. Edited her manuscript and supplied additional family history information for Quite A Lot, published privately in 2001.
2000 Diary – Offline only
Middle Wallop, Tavistock, Ashmansworth, Highclere Estate, England. Heilly, Somme, France. Provence, France (?).
1999
- Consultant to the town of Albert, Somme, France, on the development of its municipal web site.
- Consultant to the private bank Zarifi et Cie in Marseilles, France, for its corporate web site.
- Carried out research for a prospective British TV documentary on Mediterranean history — in Vienna, Trieste, Livorno, Marseilles and the Aegean island of Chios.
- Eleventh tour to The Balkans for B-Sky TV News, based in Skopje and on the Macedonia/Kosovo frontier, covering the Spring assembly of Nato's Extraction Force & Kfor components as conflict continued in Kosovo.
- Toured Eastern Europe (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic) observing the situation 10 years after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.
1999 Diary – Offline only
Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Greece, southern France, Macedonia, northern France, London and Middle Wallop.
1998
- Continued as a specialist studio contributor to B-Sky TV News coverage of Balkan affairs during the Kosovo conflicts.
- Featured in 'Sleep' a Twenty-Twenty TV series for Channel 4, screened 07-98, enacting the effects of stress-induced disturbed sleep (see related item: At The Margins'.)
- Created a web site for the international educational project Crossing Borders.
- Continued to provide editorial, IT, web & graphics skills to London design consultants Catalytico.
- Created an outline Web site for the London based charity for refugees in Slovenia TFSR.
- Provided testimony and evidence to prosecution investigators from the International Criminal Tribunal (Yugoslavia) (ICTY) on events in the Balkans, 1991-95 — see War Crimes Trials. This evidence particularly concerned General Milivoj Petkovic, commander-in-chief of the HVO in Hercegovina in 1992. [In May 2013, Petkovic was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on nine counts of crimes against humanity, eight counts of violations of the laws or customs of war and eight counts of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.]
- Contributed & edited news/policy items for Bulletins 12 and 13 of the National Consumer Council.
- Continued to comment on Balkan developments — e.g. Kosovo Ignites for KPFK radio Los Angeles.
- Continued to develop The Memory Bank 2000 project.
- Continued to write and compile a practical handbook for journalists.
- Wrote a comment to BBC Radio 4's PM programme, broadcast 11-03-1998.
1998 Diary – Offline only
1997
- Conceived and developed The Memory Bank 2000 as an on-line archive of popular C20th memory and experience in text, sounds and images.
- Provided editorial, IT, web & graphics skills to London design consultants Catalytico.
- Edited a number of advisory reports published by the National Consumer Council to assist British government policy-making on Environment, Health, etc.
- Short assignment to write web articles for Price Waterhouse.
- Studio and news-room assistance in ITN/LNR's General Election radio news coverage.
- Monitoring and analysing the British General Election coverage in the national press for Carma International.
- Began writing and editing a definitive practical handbook for trainee & graduate journalists.
1997 Diary – Offline only
1996
- Visited Nuremberg for the 50th anniversary of the 1946 Nuremberg Trials, comparing them with the 1996 International Criminal Tribunal (Yugoslavia) (ICTY) at The Hague for LBC/LNR Radio.
- Regular production shifts, news stories and special reports for London Talk Radio/LBC Radio, learning to use Uher and Nagra recording machines and tape-editing on studio machines. Simultaneously adapted to Basys and Newstar electronic sound editing and newsroom systems.
- Covered the Somme 80th Anniversary in northern France for UK & Overseas radio.
- Continued to contribute to South African Radio (SABC) on Bosnian and European events.
- Conceived and wrote the 'Blue Light Zone' for the Unisys Mobile Data web pages, in association with Axcess Media.
- Built a first, provisional web site for the Chartered Institute of Journalists.
1996 Diary – Offline only
1995
- Conceived and developed the Journalist Tracking Network (JTN) – a web-based service linking editors and news rooms with journalists and news sources world-wide.
- Commentator for South African Radio (SABC) on Bosnia events and the Dayton peace process.
- Contributor to The Journal of the CIoJ on the Lessons of War.
- Tenth tour to The Balkans, contributing 22 live two-ways and reports to Reuters Radio News, London News Radio and BBC Radio News covering Bosnian events, the summer offensives, UN hostage crises, the formation of Rapid Reaction Forces, UN policy failures and the assembly of the quasi-Nato Task Force. Followed front line developments from Ploce and Mostar to Vitez, Gornji Vakuf, Visoko and Zenica.
- Frequent live studio appearances as a specialist commentator for B-Sky TV's coverage from The Balkans.
- Founder member of the Internet Developers Association (London).
1995 Diary – Offline only
1994
- Ninth tour to The Balkans, for NHK TV (Japan), to devise, research & write 'The Bridge' as associate producer of a 20' Hi-Def TV documentary about civilian victims of war in the divided city of Mostar, screened 25-11-94. And unhappy experience with a pointless result.
- Frequent specialist commentator on B-Sky TV's coverage from The Balkans.
- Newsdesk shifts in London at Independent Radio News (IRN) and helped the setting up of Reuters Radio News.
- A contributor to MacFormat magazine.
- Eighth tour to The Balkans, examining illegal arms supplying to the war zones, sanctions-busting and the efficiency of UN frontier monitoring, observed from Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Albania, Macedonia and Greece.
1994 Diary – Offline only
Highgate, London. Albania. Bosnia-Hercegovina. Croatia. France. Greece. Italy. Macedonia. Monaco. Scotland?
1993
- Contributor of home, foreign & investigative news items to The Observer.
- Adviser to Brit-Aid — a project to evacuate children at risk in war zones.
- Bought a long wheel-base Land Rover 110 200Tdi Defender (Images) in order to work more effectively in the Balkans (see: Land Rover 110 (Service).
- Specialist adviser to Channel 4 TV's week-long 'Bloody Bosnia' & 'Comment' content.
- Left 14 Earl's Court Square after living in Kensington & Chelsea for 25 years. Over the next seven years lived variously in the Balkans, Highgate (London), The Somme (France), Westminster (London), Ashmansworth and Highclere Estate (England) and Normandy (France).
- Conceived, developed and designed the 'Portudio' an analogue portable mixer-amplifier and studio-link for radio reporters.
1993 Diary – Offline only
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5. Germany. Guernsey? France. Italy. Slovenia. Switzerland.
1992
- Seventh tour to The Balkans, filing to BBC Radio News and The Daily Mail from the Bosnia-Herzegovinian front-line (Metkovic, Mostar, Sarajevo, Kiseljak, Vitez, Travnik, Bugojno and Prozor). Exclusive: the British ODA/UNHCR convoy driving into severe artillery fire at Sarajevo Airport. Exclusive witness to Bosanski Brod refugee disaster.
- Sixth tour to The Balkans, observing the Croatian political situation in Zagreb, filing to BBC Radio News and contributing Where To Draw The Lines in The Balkans to Nova Matica.
- Contributed a series of investigative news features for The Observer.
- Covered the European Community's London Conference on former Yugoslavia.
- Fifth tour to The Balkans, covering front line activity in Hercegovina, Bosnia, the besieged capital, Sarajevo and the Bosanski Brod and the Dalmatian Coast refugee crises, contributing to: BBC Radio News, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 1, The Daily Telegraph, LBC, Capital Radio, IRN and Croatia Radio.
- 'Eye witness' speaker at a Royal Institute for International Affairs seminar on the Balkan wars and guest speaker at the RIIA seminar on the likely effects of sanctions on Serbia.
- Fourth tour to The Balkans, witnessing the start of the Croat assaults on Muslims in Hercegovina, e.g. in Prozor, Gornji Vakuf and Dornji Vakuf. Covered the developing refugee crisis on the Dalmatian coast for The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, the Evening Standard and BBC Radio News. Further contributions to ITN's Channel 4 News, B-Sky TV, and the BBC's 'World Service', 'World Tonight' & 'World At One'.
- Wrote an obituary for The Independent on a colleague, the photographer Paul Jenks, killed in Croatia.
- Visited Moscow as a guest contributor to the independent newspaper Nezarvicimaya.
1992 Diary – Offline only
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5. Bosnia-Hercegovina. Croatia. Guernsey? Russia. Switzerland.
1991
- The first commentator to predict war in Bosnia-Hercegovina on ITN's Channel 4 News (17-12-91).
- Invited to take part in London's Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA) conference and subsequent seminar on 'Yugoslavia'.
- Specialist contributor on the war in Croatia for BBC Radio News, BBC Radio Northern Ireland, IRN, LWT, BBC TV News and ITN's Channel 4 News.
- Exclusive interview with President Tudjman in his nuclear shelter for BBC Radio News ('Today') and Globus.
- Exclusive interview with President Stipe Mesic aboard M.V. Slavija for Globus (Zagreb).
- Two extensive tours in 'Yugoslavia', covering the wars in Slovenia and Croatia as a correspondent for the London Evening Standard and Globus (Zagreb). The only British newspaper journalist aboard the M.V. Slavija (leading a convoy which confronted Serbian JNA gun boats in order to break the Dubrovnik Blockade), reporting for the London Evening Standard and Globus (Zagreb).
- A contributor to the first two issues of London's The Big Issue and involved in its production using QuarkXpress.
- Invited to take part in a Kilroy TV show (12-11-1991) as an eye-witness to the situation in ex-Yugolslavia. An unpleasant programme.
- Wrote a series of explanatory pieces and profiles for Globus (Zagreb), as the Serbo-Croatian war developed.
- Contributed Balkan Suicide to Osmija (Belgrade).
- Wrote the obituary for Sir Geoffrey Peacock, CVO, for The Times.
- Continued to provide copy-writing services to IMS, London.
- Market research for Toiletries. Script-writing for Riverside Nannies. Sourced and provided editorial services for an Atlas of Art.
1991 Diary – Offline only
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5. Austria. Croatia.
1990
- Conceived, designed, launched and edited The Music Magazine a monthly magazine devoted to all aspects of classical music. The title was published by Orpheus Publications and then sold to the BBC where it remains a flagship title.
- Provided copy-writing services to IMS, London.
- Founding director of The Yellow Guide Publishing Company.
1990 Diary – Offline only
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5.
1988 — 1989
- Reported on the 1989 military assault by the JNA on Pristina in Kosovo.
- Investigated and revealed the Pamella Bordes Libyan security scandal as exclusives for the London Evening Standard and The Daily Express: 17/18-05-89.
- Presented, in 1988, a paper to the International Conference on The Littoral (University of Lille) on the current state and likely future of the English Channel's coastal ecology.
- Invented, in 1988, The Snowball (British Reg. Pat. No 88 26 895.8).
- Emergency volunteer during the London Ambulance Service workers' strike.
- Helped research & edited (1989–90) Greek Fire by Helen Long (Abson Books, 1992) [see: Massacres of Chios].
- Provided editorial and publishing consultancy services to: Orpheus Publications, BBC Publications, IMS, The Big Issue, The Evening Standard, The London Diary and American News.
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
1988 Diary – Offline only
1989 Diary – Offline only
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5. Yugoslavia: Slovenia/Serbia/Macedonia.
1987
- Winner in the 1987/88 'Magazine of the Year Awards' and 'PPA Awards' as editor of World Magazine.
- Founding editor, 1987, of World Magazine. Conceived, developed, designed and launched the double award-winning, 128-page, full-colour, international monthly (circ. 75,000 p.m.) — subsequently bought by the BBC in 1989.
- Contributor of regular features to The Mayfair Times.
- Devised a proposed gardening magazine to be called Exteriors.
- Worked with Charles Karsenbarg for a publisher proposing to launch a magazine devoted to whiskies to be called Still Life.
- Advised and helped Jocelyn Hay (founder of The Voice of the Listener) prepare for a significant meeting with the BBC Director-General (Marmaduke Hussey) in her campaign to promote and protect the highest editorial standards of public broadcasting at the BBC at a time when these were under threat (see: 'Blurring of news and comment on TV' Daily Telegraph).
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
1987 Diary – Offline only
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5.
1986
- Commented on the confusion between News & Comment in TV reporting for The Daily Telegraph.
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5.
1985
- Edited, 1985, Voyage Of The Flowers by D. Fordyce, tracing the origins of Buddhism and Hinduism to the Indus Valley (c.3000 BC) through the iconography of flowers.
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5.
1984
- Regular feature-writer, 1984—86, on London Hotel Magazine and Ritz Magazine.
- Contributor to Property & Investment Magazine.
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5.
1983
- Edited, 1982/83, That Reminds Me... and wrote the forward to Michael Beecham's autobiography, published 1983.
- Covered the IRA bomb attack near Harrods.
- Regular contributor, 1983—86, to London Portrait Magazine as principal News Columnist and Feature Writer.
- Helped research, 1983—84, Safe Houses Are Dangerous by Helen Long (Wm. Kimber, 1985) — [see Secret Papers, for London Portrait Magazine, on WWll SOE & MI9 escape lines]
- Contributor to Selfridges Magazine (1983–84).
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5.
1982
- Covered the IRA bomb attack at Hyde Park.
- Regular feature-writer, 1982—84, on Select Magazine.
- Took part in a press trip to Tunisia reporting on budget holidays for 'singles'.
- Featured in a radio item by Robert Booth for BBC Radio 4's Money Box (14-06-1982) on old English silver spoons.
- Featured in a BBC Radio Leicester phone-in programme on how to avoid a dirty divorce (an item led by an article written for Select Magazine).
- Invested in one of the first, prototype Brompton folding bicycles [no.185] when, in 1982, its inventor, Andrew Ritchie, asked 30 or more friends and acquaintances to order a £250 trial version in order to help finance future production and make the machine visible on London's streets.
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
Earls Court Square, Kensington, London SW5. Tuscany - Rome - Ischia
1981
- Sailed from Southampton to Cherbourg on the QEll on a press trip to Normandy returning on the last voyage of the Maid of Kent
- Covered the IRA bomb attack on Chelsea Barracks.
- Press adviser, 1981–82, to the Rev'd David Horton's team developing 'Project 155A', a new Methodist chapel and drop-in centre in King's Road, Chelsea, London.
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
1981 Print Journalism Jan-Mar
1981 Print Journalism Apr-Jun
1981 Print Journalism Jul-Sep
1981 Print Journalism Oct-Dec
Living at The Chelsea Arts Club, Old Church Street, London SW3.
1980
- Covered the Iranian Embassy siege, Prince's Gate, London (30 April – 5 May).
- Helped Elizabeth, Lady Longford with research, 1980, for illustrations for her book Images Of Chelsea (St Helena Press, 1980, limited edition) and received an inscribed copy (no.50).
- Editor, advisor and 'author's reader', 1980–83, in Chelsea and in Provence, for the publisher Mary Glasgow during the writing of her autobiography.
- Occasional contributor, 1980–92, to Independent Radio News (IRN) and London Broadcasting Company (LBC).
- Copy-writer, 1980, for Homeline Limited.
1980-89 Some Random Images Related to Journalism
1980 Print Journalism Jan-Mar
1980 Print Journalism Apr-Jun
1980 Print Journalism Jul-Sep
1980 Print Journalism Oct-Dec
Napier Place, Kensington, London W14.
1979
- Contributor of frequent 'overnights' (unattributed news items) to the London Evening Standard and commissioned contributions to the Home, Foreign, Diary and Features desks (1979-93).
- Columnist on Time & Tide magazine, the political monthly, until its closure.
- Elected, Nov 1979, a member of The Chelsea Arts Club in Old Church Street, Chelsea, and a permanent resident there during the summer of 1981.
- Took an increasing but temporary role in helping to manage Slaley Hall, Northumberland, a large mixed agricultural estate (1979–82) — see: training gun-dogs.
Napier Place, Kensington, London W14.
1978
- Joined the staff of The London Newspaper Group on 13-10-1978 (for five years) as a news reporter, feature-writer and principal columnist on the Fulham Chronicle (16-10-1978), Kensington News & Post (30-10-1978), Marylebone Mercury, Chelsea News and Westminster & Pimlico News [see: Chelsea Vignette]. Worked from offices in Fulham, Kensington, Marylebone and Hammersmith. Over nearly five years produced around 3,200 news items, features, leaders and columns on Central London affairs, personalities and events. All these items were typed on 1950s typewriters such as an Imperial 50, an Imperial 65, an Imperial 66 (Image andManual) or a Royal HH. Freelance items were written on an Olympia Splendid 66.
- Helped, 1978, in the preparing the reception of 347 Vietnamese Boat People refugees at Kensington Barracks, in Kensington Church Street, and organising their visit to the English countryside in Kent.
- A founding member, 1978, of The Friends of Holland Park, led by Steve Rettig, dedicated to protecting the park from the threat of destruction by the Greater London Council. Persuaded Lady Antonia Fraser to become its patron.
1976-1979 – Offline only
Napier Place, Kensington, London W14.
1976: Living in Perrin's Walk, Hampstead, London NW3.
1973-75: Living in New Street, Westerham, Kent.
1972-73: Living in Elsham Road, Kensington, London W14.
BEFORE BECOMING A JOURNALIST
- 1948 — 67 Christopher Long was born in England and educated in the UK:
- Laverock School, Limpsfield, Surrey (1953-56)
- The Hill School, Westerham, Kent (1956-62)
- St Edmund's School, Canterbury, Kent (1962-67)
- Left with 3 'A' Levels and 6 'O' Levels. Captained St Edmund's cross country team, completed the Advanced Certificate in the Officers' Training Corps (OTC/CCF) and qualified for the British Red Cross first aid certificate.
- 1966 Helped Sir Winston Churchill's secretary, Grace Hamblin, to sort and list his personal possessions, papers and books following his death and prior to the establishment of a museum at Chartwell, Westerham, Kent. Took part in a student visit to Leningrad and Moscow.
- 1967 Entered The Hon. Society of The Inner Temple, London, to read Tort, Crime, Contract and Land Law. 'Adopted' as a student by Leslie Barlow and Sir Leary Constantine at 2 Paper Buildings, Inner Temple, London.
- 1968 A marketing trainee for: Coates Brothers (printing inks) and a brief spell working for the Lloyd's shipping insurance firm, Leslie & Godwin in Mark Lane, City of London.
- 1969 Carried out research at King's College Hospital Medical Library for Disease & History (Hart Davis, 1971), written by Frederick Cartwright and Michael Biddiss. Trained in marketing with the Granite & Quartzite Centre in London and later in Cape Town, Namaqualand and Durban.
- 1970 Joined Lever Brothers in South Africa as a trainee brand manager, helping to manage five leading detergent brands (Lux Flakes, Surf, Skip/Persil, Omo and Rin); later seconded to advertising agencies Lintas and JWT, working on the imminent launch of television in South Africa. Returned to the UK by sea from Durban to Venice via Port Elizabeth, East London, Cape Town, Walvis Bay, Tenerife, Barcelona and Brindisi.
- 1971 Re-entered The Hon. Society of The Inner Temple, London, to read tort, crime, contract and land law.
- 1972 A member of the East India & Sports Club in St James's Square, London (resigned Nov 1979).
- 1974 — 76 Temporary clerical assistant with Godstone Rural District Council (Oxted, Surrey).
- Developed, with Redland Tiles (Westerham, Kent), two of his own patented inventions to production (tile clips for straight and broken bond roof tiles).
- 1975 A founding director of the audio-visual production company Access Media.
- 1976 — 77 Edited Change Into Uniform (Terence Dalton, 1978) an autobiography by Helen Long. Helped produce a brochure for a pressed steel tool manufacturer, Powdrex. Held temporary account executive and copywriting posts at advertising agencies Astral and S&J (Kensington, London) and, as a marketing executive, at Lamson Paragon (Canning Town, London).
1948-59 Diary – Offline only
1960-69 Diary – Offline only
1970-79 Diary – Offline only
SKILLS
-
A career's worth of experience as: a reporter (home, investigative, foreign, war, etc), leader writer, feature writer, columnist and diarist, sub-editor and commissioning editor. - Expertise in: all aspects of print and web publishing.
- Expert knowledge of: Macintosh computers (since 1987) and most of their software, including text, sound and image manipulation (Affinity suite, Adobe suite + Lightroom, VS Studio, BBEdit, Scrivener, Reunion, Tap Forms, LibreOffice, etc).
- Hand-coder of web content using HTML5 & CSS3.This entire web site has been hand-coded by CAL using HTML5 and CSS3. It was first published online in 1994/1995 on a Dircon server and has evolved in parallel with the evolution of HTML/CSS ever since.
- Competent in: radio production, presentation and news desk procedures.
- Good understanding of: the fundamental principles of English law.
- Languages: native: English; fluent: French (CEFR at C2).
FACILITIES
- Resident in Normandy, France.
- French driving licence.
- No visa restrictions.
- Red Cross First Aid Certificate.
- Recognised as an official independent French/English interpreter for French notaires.
ID & PRESS ACCREDITATION
- UK & International press accreditation (& HMG/Metropolitan Police press accreditation).
- Since 1979, a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists (London).
- Dual British/French nationality.