David Fletcher: 51 books

Marmite, Bites and Noisy Nights (in Zambia) is another day-by-day account of an expedition made by Brian and his wife, Sandra, this time around the South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi national parks in, unsurprisingly, Zambia. However, it is also an example of how the travel-book genre can be harnessed...

Sabah-taged is a further day-by-day account of an expedition made by Brian (of Brahmaputra fame), together with his wife Sandra – this time to the Sabah province of Borneo. It inevitably has similarities to the preceding books in the series (A Syria Situation and Brian on the Brahmaputra) in...

Cape Earth is yet another day-by-day account of an expedition made by Brian (of Brahmaputra fame), together with his wife, Sandra, this time to the ten-island archipelago of Cape Verde. It follows the same format as the preceding books in the series in that it weaves together an informative, factual...

A mauling of mankind and a travel diary make rather odd bedfellows. However, in The Country-cides of Namibia and Botswana, these unlikely playmates not only share the same pages, but they also enfold each other in a somewhat intimate embrace. This remarkable union is all thanks to Brian. Because,...

Life is full of trivia. More and more, it seems, every waking minute of our lives is spoken for, by the inconsequential, the irrelevant, the incidental, the positively wasteful, and by a whole host of other stuff that serves no purpose whatsoever other than to distract us from what is really important....

The Universal Carrier was a fast, lightly armed vehicle developed by the British Army to carry infantry across ground defended by small-arms fire, specifically the Bren light machine gun, hence the name 'Bren Gun Carrier'. This name would stick with the Universal Carrier and all of its future variants....

Eggshell in scrambled eggs, bad wedding receptions, inserts in magazines and music snobs are amongst the many pet hates subjected to a considered review in this easy to read tome. With prose and poetry (of sorts) the author has sought to confront the worst of his pet hates (including macadamia nuts)...

The Sherman DD (Duplex Drive) tank was a brilliant innovation; the design and development of a tank that could float and even 'swim' in water was controversial. Each tank was enveloped in a waterproofed canvas screen, launched at sea from landing craft and then 'swam' to shore, where the screens were...

This is the definitive study of British light tanks of the Second World War. The author draws upon a vast and comprehensive body of archival information and research to explore their technical characteristics and combat performance. The title focuses largely on the very widely used Mark VI, but also...

In 1915 a machine christened Little Willie changed the way that wars were fought. Little Willie was a fully tracked armoured vehicle that could break a trench system. Its development was completed in December 1915, but by then it had already been superseded by an improved design, Mother. This was...

For most of World War II, British tank development remained faithful to the design philosophy inaugurated during World War I. Experiences in North Africa highlighted flaws in this basic design, however, and the General Staff identified the need for a new heavy cruiser that could combine speed and...

The Covenanter (which never saw active service) and Crusader Cruiser tanks were developed between 1939 and 1940. The Crusader first saw action in the North African desert in June 1941: its speed and sleek design made it a hard target to hit, and the tank was well-respected by the Afrikakorps for its...

This title looks at the Medium Mark A Whippet, one of the most successful British tanks of World War I and, when placed alongside existing titles covering the Mark I, Mark IV and Mark V, completes the New Vanguard series' coverage of the major British tanks of the war. The evolution of the Whippet...

The first Rolls-Royce armoured car was a privately owned vehicle fitted with a machine-gun and a limited amount of armour plate, used by the Royal Naval Air Service in Flanders in 1914. By 1915, nearly 100 had been built and turned over to the Army. From then on, as Sir Albert Stern said 'They searched...