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Nelson's unorthodox head-on attack at the Battle of Trafalgar produced a mêlée that destroyed the Franco-Spanish fleet

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)

Other than what you will have seen in the media regarding today's date, for 210 years, 21st October has always been an auspicious date in the British calendar, especially for the Royal Navy. With Napoleon Bonaparte's army encamped across the channel at Boulogne, all that was required for a successful invasion of the British Isles in October 1805 was the protection of the invasion ships and barges by the Franco-Spanish Combined Fleet at anchor in Cadiz harbour. Unfortunately, for the "Bogeyman", waiting for the Spanish and French ships in the open sea, and blockading them in the harbour, was the Royal Navy fleet commanded by Lord Horatio Nelson.

Stung into action by the impending demotion the French emperor was going to inflict on him, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve ordered the French and Spanish ships to sea on 19th October 1805. On the morning of the 21st October, both fleets were in sight of one another and 27 Royal Navy ships readied to do battle with 33 ships of the Combined Fleet.

HMS Victory

The battle that followed not only saw the destruction of the French and Spanish Navies, but also ensured that the name of Horatio Nelson would go down in British folklore. Already a national hero at the time of the battle, Nelson's death at the moment of triumph on the poop deck of the British flagship, HMS Victory, would ensure that his name would be legend for ever more.


To appreciate the lives of the sailors on board the great ship of the line during the time of the battle and which that has place of honour in Portsmouth harbour today, why not purchase a copy of my book Cromarty Biggs, Powder Monkey in hardback or ebook form? Available from Amazon for Kindle or in hardback from FeedARead.com, the story concerns the adventures of two teenage boys from modern day England time travelling back to 1805 on board HMS Victory and follows their lives as they are pressed into the service of the Georgian Royal Navy.

For Kindle:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cromarty-Powder-Monkey-Stuart-Rivers-ebook/dp/B00AUYYU9S











From FeedARead in hardback:
http://www.feedaread.com/books/Cromarty-Biggs-Powder-Monkey-9781782996163.aspx

Swindon Town's New Manager

I wrote to the Swindon Advertiser detailing who should be the next Swindon Town Manager, but, if they fail to print my email, here it is in full. I think you may be surprised as to who I think would be the ideal replacement for Mark Cooper (who did an excellent job for the club, by the way):


Dear Sir,

The Ides of March 1969 saw me three months short of my fourth birthday, so I never went to Wembley that auspicious day nor do I remember watching the match on the television. However, playing football on Buckhurst Field some years later with boys old enough to have been there and listened to their stories of the glorious League Cup victors, I dreamed of seeing my hometown club play on the hallowed turf at least once in my lifetime. I didn’t make it for the Millwall game, nor last season for the capitulation against Preston North End, but I was there when Swindon Town FC were worthy victors over Sunderland AFC, when Chalky White “won” the penalty that saw the Robins eventually see off Leicester City and the loss to Chesterfield in the Johnstones Paint Trophy Final. My three visits to the National Stadium convinced me that the much maligned Wiltshire town that is the place of my birth and the town I have returned to more than once, and call home, deserves better than League 1 football.

Last season should have seen the team achieve promotion, but all concerned froze when it mattered most. That isn’t to say that I believe Mark Cooper to be a bad manager -  far from it. Working within a limited budget, he cobbled together a team worthy of treading onto the Wembley pitch and the day should have seen glory returned down the M4 to Swindon. Real life doesn’t always go with the script and all the hard work of the previous two years put in by the whole Swindon Town team, backroom staff included, unravelled at the feet of one Jermaine Beckford. An exodus followed and Mark Cooper was faced again with building a team from scratch. The previous two seasons gave a false sense of security and more of the same was expected on Saturday 8^th August 2015 once the first ball was kicked against Bradford City at the County Ground to see in the new Football League season. The 4 – 1 win seemed to indicate that all was well, but, only three months into the season, the club is facing the prospect of a relegation battle, the manager has gone and the injury list is expanding daily.

The ideal replacement is out there in the wider world, waiting to be recruited, but the one person I do not want to see at the helm is Steve Evans. Why? Because he has never come across as being an affable person and would probably only use the club as a stepping stone to get somewhere “higher”.  However, the qualities needed by the next incumbent of the Swindon Town hot seat have been shown by some of his/her predecessors. The person given the managerial role at the County Ground should exhibit the following:

1.       The PASSION of Paolo Di Canio

2.       The SKILLS of Glenn Hoddle

3.       The TACTICAL nous of Osvaldo Ardiles

4.       The TENACITY of Lou Macari

5.       The CHARM of Danny Williams

6.       The STAYING POWER of Sam Allen

I hinted above that the next manager could come from any sphere of the football community so I am going to propose someone who has international  managerial experience at the top level, but is not featured in any of the bookies lists.

How about Hope Powell?

She has played at international level and she has taken the women’s England team to the quarter finals of the Women’s World Cup, and finished her England role with an overall international win record of over 52%. I believe that the time for her to venture into Football League management is right and Swindon Town would be the team to allow her to show the footballing world her credentials. We’ve given the opportunity before to inexperienced players to make their mark in football management, so why not allow an experienced person in the women’s game the chance to show what she can do in the men’s one?

Thank you for taking the time to read this email and I hope you will print it in full.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Rivers

There you go. As the Yanks would say, "totally out of left field".

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