Candidate Profile

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EXPERTISE
Author / Writer
Destinations & Ports
History - Maritime
History - Social
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH:
BIOGRAPHY
Mike is a published author with over a dozen titles to his name, all of them on topics linked to the 18th Century. These include social history titles – based on what everyday life was like for the ordinary ‘man in the street’ and including a look at memorable women and their achievements. Other titles cover Georgian inventors, and an under-the-bedclothes look at what royalty and aristocrats got up to in their private lives. He has written books with maritime themes – on castaways and on piracy. When not writing he blogs and gives talks about aspects of living in the 18th Century, with lectures in the UK, in Spain and in the United States. He has lectured on cruise ships in the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean and in the China Seas and is keen to develop his interest in all-things-Georgian.





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PRESENTATIONS

A. Social History (Talks based on life in Britain in the eighteenth century):

1. Everyday life under the Georgians.
2. Eat, Drink and be Merry.
3. 18th Century Sport and Entertainment.
4. Tourism and sight-seeing in the 18th Century.
5. The development of the English Garden from 1603 to 1837.
6. Philip Astley and the story of the birth of the modern circus in 1768.
7. The story of life in the 18th Century told through Paper-cuts and silhouettes
8. The Golden Age of Satire.
9..The Dark History of Gin.
10. 18th Century Courtesans: Tarts with Hearts and Fashion icons.
11. Royal Shenanigans of the Georgian era.
12. Bristol Blue Glass - the story of a beautiful cobalt blue glassware
13. Twenty things you never knew about the Georgians
14. Jane Austen, Facts and fiction.
15. Pride & Prejudice, from printed book to silver screen.
16. The Royal Academy 1780 to 1837
17. The City of Bath in the 1780s, from Quacks to Quadrilles.
18. Petticoat Pioneers – 18th Century women who made a difference and dared to succeed in a man’s world
19. The American War of Independence – a British viewpoint.
20. A Christmas Tale – how Prince Albert (with the help of a few Americans) changed the face of Christmas
21 They drink an awful lot of coffee in Brazil - the story of coffee
22 Have another cuppa - how a few (tea) leaves conquered the world


B. Maritime History Talks:

Castaways (1)– including Robinson Crusoe, and the story behind the story.
Castaways (2) the heroic story of men such as Charles Barnard, abandoned in the Falklands
Castaways (3) – Ile de Sable and the slaves abandoned on an island for 16 years
4. The voyages of James Cook
5. The Golden Age of Piracy
6. Captain Morgan – the man behind the bottle of rum
7. Olivier Levasseur, possibly the richest pirate of all time, and the search for his buried treasure
8. Captain Woodes Rogers – the man who circled the globe and then cleaned up the pirates.
9. Admiral Anson – treasure ships and a voyage around the world
10. Matthew Flinders – the man who put Australia on the map
11. Solving the Longitude Problem – Harrison and the marine chronometer
12.The enigmatic William Dampier - botanist, world explorer, hydrographer - or pirate?
13 The story of the Barbary Corsairs
14 The Great Belzoni - strongman, Egyptologist - and vandal
15 Will the real Captain Bligh stand up? The story of a much-maligned man.
16 Fletcher Christian and the Mutiny on the Bounty
17 The loss of the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet off the coast of Florida

C. Destination Related Talks:

20 facts in 40 minutes: about places being visited on the cruise – for instance about Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland on Baltic Cruises; Mexico, Panama, Ecuador and Peru on South America cruises. These are not port talks but general background information about the countries to be visited – their currency, their stamps, their cuisine, their inventions, their sports. A quick-fire introduction to the countries being visited, linked to a few of the quirkier facts about their history.
CRUISE HISTORY / EXPERIENCE
Regent Seven Seas SPLENDOR 05APR2022 TransAtlantic crossing Miami to Barcelona
Enchanted Princess N222 05AUG 2022 Southampton round trip via Guernsey, La Rochelle Bilbao and La Coruna
Oceania Sirena TransAtlantic crossing Barcelona to Miami November 2022
Celebrity Beyond Eastern Caribbean December 2022
Celebrity Beyond Western Caribbean December 2022
Celebrity Beyond Western Caribbean January 2023
RECENT PAST CRUISES COMPLETED
The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.
SHIP REF CRUISE DESCRIPTION NIGHTS SAILING FROM DEPARTURE DATE
Sirena SIR230320 Caribbean to Canaries 14 Oranjestad Monday, March 20, 2023
Sirena SIR230310 Southern Caribbean Gems 10 Oranjestad Friday, March 10, 2023
Queen Mary 2 M213 Eastbound Transatlantic Crossing 7 New York Sunday, May 15, 2022
Bolette T2118 Scenic Islands of the British Isles 13 Dover Sunday, August 29, 2021
Crown Princess 3922 British Isles (with Dublin overnight) Cruise 12 Southampton Saturday, August 17, 2019
Diamond Princess M902 Southeast Asia Cruise 9 Singapore Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Boudicca D1824 Indian Ocean Islands 14 Port Louis Thursday, November 15, 2018
Braemar M1802 The Caribbean & Cuba 14 Bridgetown Thursday, January 18, 2018
Boudicca D1622 Islands of the Canaries & Cape Verde 21 Liverpool Sunday, November 20, 2016