Q&A: Robert Wilton (author of Traitor's Field)

The number of historical fiction authors choosing the English Civil War period as a backdrop is increasing. By my reckoning over 30 novels (where the story is set somewhere between 1635-1660) have been published since 2010, compared with around 15 in each of the previous two decades (see my list). Partly this is due to the explosion in print and digital self-publishing, but also reflects mainstream publishers' increased appetite for novels set in the 17th century.

Robert Wilton's Traitor's Field (2013) concerns the rivalry between two military intelligence agents operating during the Interregnum. I asked Robert about how he came to write about the 1650s, what particularly intrigued him about intelligence during the period, and what guides his writing and research ...

Unveiling of the Rainsborough plaque

Click above to see footage from last year's unveiling of the plaque commemorating the resting place of Leveller leader Thomas Rainsborough in St John's churchyard, Wapping.

Speakers on the day included the late Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn, Rania Khan and John Rees. The event climaxes with a musket volley fired by the Thomas Rainsborough Company of The Sealed Knot.

Red Saunders' Leveller tableau

Photographer Red Saunders recreates 'important but overlooked events in Britain’s struggle for democracy and equality'.  Each work is carefully planned and lit, using costumed volunteers in tableaux vivants.

His latest exhibition features the epic Leveller Women in the English Revolution, 1647, 2011, shot in Yorkshire and involving more than 40 local people dressed in period costume ...