HISTORY

**Shakespeare** and friends smuggled a load of timber over the frozen river Thames in the middle of the night on December 28th, 1598, and built the Globe Theatre by morning. Illustration for **Young Performer Magazine**

ODD HISTORY

It’s always a pleasure to be invited to create illustrations based on historical themes. Engaging with the rich tapestry of the past with illustration has always been something I’ve been keen to do.

I’ve tackled humorous themes along with more serious ones and every project presents a unique challenge.

ODD HISTORY - Mrs Paddington and the Silver Mousetraps

Written by Gail Skroback Hennessey Published by Red Chair Press

Winner of The Purple Dragonfly and Northern Lights Book Awards

The Napoleonic Wars

A series of wars between Napoleonic France and shifting alliances of other European powers that produced a brief French hegemony over most of Europe. Along with the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars constituted a 23-year period of recurrent conflict that concluded only with the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon’s second abdication on June 22, 1815.

The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars.

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two armies of the Seventh Coalition.

WW2 - WOMEN ON THE FRONT LINE

There were over 640,000 women in the armed forces, including The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), plus many more who flew unarmed aircraft, drove ambulances, served as nurses and worked behind enemy lines in the European resistance

WW2 - WAR IN THE AIR

Air warfare played a crucial role in World War II, both strategically and tactically, in both the Pacific and Europe. The war led to technological advancements in aircraft design and performance, including all-metal fighters, remote-controlled guns, pressurized cabins, and powerful engines.

SPITFIRE PILOT

During World War II, the Royal Air Force (RAF) needed trained pilots quickly to meet operational needs. Newly qualified pilots were sent to Operational Training Units to prepare for front-line duties. The length of time it took to qualify as a pilot varied, but at the start of the war it could take as little as six months, and on average it took 18 months to two years. 

D-Day 6th June 1944

SPACE RACE

The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. Six of the missions (Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) achieved this goal. Apollos 7 and 9 were Earth orbiting missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules, and did not return lunar data. Apollos 8 and 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon, and returned photography of the lunar surface. Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a malfunction, but also returned photographs. The six missions that landed on the Moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.