Castle repeated on Discovery History

Looks like my old TV series, Castle, is being broadcast on Mondays at 3pm and 10pm for the next few weeks. Viewers who have found this webpage may be interested to note that the book which accompanied the series is now available in paperback. You can also download my collected articles, Kings and Castles, for just £1.99.

New Castle Tour for 2013

I'm very pleased to announce that next year I'll be doing a tour of Edward I's castles of North Wales. It's an exciting itinerary over two days, taking in Rhuddlan, Conwy, Caernarvon, Harlech, Dolwyddelan and Beaumaris. For more details and dates, see my Public Appearances page.

Kings and Castles - FREE!

My new book, Kings and Castles, is available to download for FREE from today until Friday. Click on the cover image opposite to go straight to its Amazon page. You can download it to read on your PC if you don't have a Kindle.

Millfield School

Last event of 2012 - unless someone cares to book me before Christmas - is my talk on the Normans this Thursday at Millfield School in Somerset.

Thames Valley History Festival

Buoyed by a good home crowd at the Folkestone Book Festival, I'm looking forward to my next talk about the Normans at the Thames Valley History Festival, on Monday 12 November at Waterstone's Windsor.

Folkestone Book Festival

Next Monday, 5 November, I'm speaking about the Norman Conquest at the Folkestone Book Festival. 6.30pm at the Quarterhouse, Tontine St.

Kings and Castles

I have a new book out! Kings and Castles is a collection of my magazine articles from the past decade - 15 in total, and two of them never before published. It's only available as an e-book, but can be downloaded to your PC as well as to your Kindle. Click the picture of the cover to go straight to its Amazon page.

Battle of Hastings 2012

On Sunday 14 October I'll be present at English Heritage's now traditional re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings at Battle Abbey, signing books in the EH marquee at 1.30pm, and probably hanging around the BBC History stand at other points in the afternoon.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) evening I'm speaking in Winchester to the Hampshire Writers' Association about the business of writing history books. On Thursday I'm leading a tour of Rochester Castle for members of English Heritage. For more info on either event, follow the links from the Public Appearances page.

Anyone who is interested in attending my talk on the Norman Conquest at Maidstone Museum on 20 October should note that the time has changed from 2pm to 10.30am, because that's the time the Museum have mistakenly printed in their events leaflet.

Those who have discovered this page as a result of watching the repeat of Castle  may be interested to know that the book which accompanied the series is now available as a smart new paperback.

My old TV series, Castle, is being shown again on Discovery History this week, from 11am on Sunday 30 to 5am on Monday 1 October.

More public appearances this week. On Thursday, talks on the Norman Conquest for the American Women of Surrey and for BBC History Magazine at the British Academy. On Friday (and until Sunday), I'm off to Wales to lead tours of the castles at Chepstow, Goodrich and Raglan.

My autumn of talks and tours kicks off on Wednesday this week at Framlingham - the chief castle of the Bigod earls of Norfolk, and so a place close to my heart. Lots more at other places in the coming months: Winchester, Maidstone, London, Folkestone, Rochester, Dover, Millfield, Goodrich, Chepstow, Battle Abbey... See Public Appearances page for full details and links.

Pleased to see that the Normans are on the cover the August issue of BBC History Magazine, which comes out today. I've written an article about the castles built by William the Conqueror.

Just received the sad news that the English Heritage Festival of History has been cancelled, because the site is completely flooded.

I've just updated my 'public appearances' page with a whole bunch of new talks and tours for this autumn...

In order to celebrate the new edition of Castle, I'm doing some tours of some of my favourite castles for English Heritage - Dover, Rochester, Framlingham and Orford. For more details see

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/events/members-events/

Two talks on the Norman Conquest coming up next week. On Friday 13 July I'll be appearing at the Lichfield Festival (2pm), and then on Saturday 14 July I'm speaking at the English Heritage Festival of History (also at 2pm).

http://www.lichfieldfestival.org/blog/2012/04/marc-morris/

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/events/foh-2012/

It has been brought to my belated attention that Castle is being shown again tonight on Discovery History - though apparently not the last episode, which featured Raglan Castle. A pity, since that was one of my favourites; also, I happen to be in South Wales this evening, ready to lead a tour of Raglan first thing tomorrow morning...

Anyone who has found this page having watched the series should note that the book has just come back into print in a handsome new paperback edition!

Another review for the Norman Conquest, from last week's Morpeth Herald.

http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/lifestyle/battles-in-worlds-of-fact-and-fiction-1-4646327

The Norman Conquest has been given a five-star review in the Mail on Sunday:

‘Grips not only as a work of narrative history but also as a sleuthing exercise... Morris has captured the triumph and tragedy of this tumultuous era with verve, insight and a rollicking narrative.’

After a long hard slog, my book on castles - the imaginatively entitled Castle - comes back into print today, and should be available in all discerning bookshops. Bodiam, the cover star on the original version, has been relegated to the back cover, making way for the mighty great tower of Rochester, a castle even closer to my heart. I was apparently taken round it almost every weekend in my pushchair...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Castle-History-Buildings-Medieval-Britain/dp/0099558491/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336036055&sr=8-1

My next public appearance will be in Leominster on 12 May, at the Mortimer History Society's Spring Conference. For more details see www.mortimerhistorysociety.org.uk/forth.html

The podcast I did last month on the Conquest for BBC History Magazine has just gone live. Didn't detect any obvious howlers on listening to it, but I'm sure readers will correct me in due course. Do have more ums and ahs than Robert Peston, however...

http://www.historyextra.com/podcast/26th-april-2012

The Norman Conquest is Book of the Month in the May issue of BBC History Magazine, which came out today. Prof Nick Higham writes:

Marc Morris’s new book is an exciting arrival... a strong and often gripping story, developed with enormous verve, a clear sense of direction and considerable confidence... carries the reader on a spirited ride across the subject... a stimulating history which has both some new dimensions and internal coherence... an attractive volume which offers a good, detailed introduction to the subject. Morris is committed to teasing out what he thinks the evidence is saying and he writes well.

On Monday next week (St George's Day) I'll be in Ely, giving a talk on the Normans, hosted by Topping Books. See http://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/ely/marc-morris/ for more details.

It has been pointed out to me that you can now read the Introduction and Chapter 1 of The Norman Conquest online via Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Norman-Conquest-Marc-Morris/dp/0091931452). But be warned, the sample breaks off midway through Chapter 2, so if you want to know whether Edward the Confessor becomes king or not, you'll just have to buy the book.

Thanks to the BSFA, and particularly Tony Keen, for their warm reception at the 2012 Eastercon today. Next Conquest talk is at Waterstone's Cirencester on Wednesday evening.

A good review of Norman Conquest in today's Evening Standard - http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/book/a-welcome-light-on-1066-and-all-that-7621109.html

Strange as it may seem, I'm speaking about the Norman Conquest this Saturday at Eastercon, the annual convention of the British Science Fiction Association. http://www.bsfa.co.uk/events/bsfa-lecture-at-eastercon/

The Norman Conquest comes out today, hooray. I'm also appearing in Sunday's episode of Time Team (5.25pm, C4), wearing my castle-expert hat. Sunday is April Fool's Day.

The Norman Conquest comes out in two days' time. Tomorrow I'm giving the first publicity talk, at Watestone's Richmond at 7pm.

I will be doing some evening talks and signings with Ian Mortimer in various branches of Waterstone's: Richmond on 28 March; Cirencester on 11 April and Bath on 12 April. Check individual stores for exact timings.

Just confirmed that I will be giving a talk about the Norman Conquest in Winchelsea on Saturday 14 April at 3pm in the town's New Hall.

One month until my new book, The Norman Conquest, comes out. There's a synopsis and more details about it here.

Planning some evening signings of The Norman Conquest at various branches of Waterstones. More details and dates to follow...

This week I'm travelling to Oxford to speak at Magdalen College School, and to Oxford University History Society.

My photos of sites associated with Edward I.