Publications

I enjoy writing, and I'm fortunate to have found people prepared to publish some of the things I've written:

Apocalypse Ready

Thames & Hudson
2022

Hardback, 256 pages, Illustrated

Buy it now

Also available in Japanese translation

  • A comprehensive history of 20th century government public information campaigns around unimaginable disasters, including pandemics, natural disasters, nuclear war and alien invasion.

  • "A beautiful new book from Thames and Hudson ... does a great job of placing the health and disaster messaging of today into a lineage of designs for disasters stretching back more than 100 years"
    Creative Review
  • "A huge new pictorial history ... a masterclass in avoiding panic"
    Daily Telegraph
  • "If you aren't worried when you begin this book, you will be when you're done"
    Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • "This guidebook to the end times offers strategies old and new plus (fantastic) visuals for avoiding disasters that run the gamut from alien invasion to nuclear attack."
    MIT Technology Review
  • Shortlisted by the British Book Design and Production Awards 2022

Nuclear War in the UK

Four Corners Books
2019

Hardback, 128 pages, Illustrated

My history of how Britain prepared for nuclear attack during the Cold War, including many previously-unseen documents.

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  • "A handsome book with excellent reproductions of rarely-seen material"
    ★★★★★ Fortean Times
  • "Might be my favourite book of the year"
    Sian Cain, Guardian Books
  • "I am LOVING this book of bleak civil defence and cold war porn"
    Ben Goldacre
  • "Full of wonderful, terrifying pictures ... I heartily recommend it to people who really don't want to sleep at night"
    Iain Lee
  • "I've read a lot of books on the subject, and this is hands down my favourite"
    Dan Vernon, Director, A British Guide to the End of the World (Arena/BBC Four)
  • "Entertaining, informative and chilling ... It offers a startling insight into the government’s attitude to its citizens ... Essential reading"
    Morning Star
  • "A welcome addition covering a new angle on the UK's preparation for the Cold War"
    Subterranea Britannica

Dreaming of the Queen

Fortean Times
Issue 425 (November 2022)

Magazine feature about Elizabeth II as the 'most dreamed about' person of the 20th century, and a survey of people who may have foretold her passing.

Illness and the influence of the stars

Wellcome Collection
November 2022

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This article explores the idea that diseases from outer space might have plagued humanity for millennia, and why some scientists are convinced this is true.

The Other 'D' Day

Four Corners Books
February 2021

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Longform piece about Britain's move to decimal currency, published on the 50th anniversary of 'Decimal Day'.

Preparing for Armageddon

BBC History Magazine
October 2020

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Feature about nuclear fears in Britain in the early 1980s, centred around responses to the government's questionable advice on building your own fallout shelter.

How Not to Prepare for Nuclear War

History Today
Vol 70 No 1 (January 2020)

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Article looking at the genesis of, and reaction to, the Protect and Survive public information campaign, and its impact on how subsequent British governments have communicated unthinkable threats.

Bracing the Nation

All About History
November 2019

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Images extracted from my book, Nuclear War in the UK.

Hun-Identified Flying Objects

Fortean Times
Issue 384 (October 2019)

Feature on the press-driven public hysteria over mysterious objects dropped by German aircraft in the First and Second World Wars.

How to Survive a Nuclear War: The York Experiment

History Today
'Miscellanies' online series

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The story of three women locked in a room for two days to simulate life under fallout conditions slowly losing their marbles.

War of Nerves

Wellcome Collection
Nov 2018—May 2019

Three articles commissioned by the Wellcome Collection as part of War of Nerves: Psychological Landscapes of the Cold War, their joint exhibition with the Wende Museum (Los Angeles).