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Rupert’s Year In Books

Rupert’s 2024 Year in Books

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Rupert Matthews

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February 2010

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Rupert Matthews's Blog

TALK - Plagues, Pandemics and Covid 19

Yesterday I have my talk on "Plagues, Pandemics and Covid-19" to a History Club in Sussex via Zoom.

This is - inevitably - a fairly grim talk but fascinating nonetheless. And in the end it has a message of hope to us all. Humanity has survived far worse diseases than Covid-19. Have a look at this map of the spread of the Black Death across Europe. Up to half the people in Europe were wiped ou

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Rupert Matthews’s books

Average rating: 3.73 · 2,846 ratings · 389 reviews · 368 distinct works • Similar authors

	Titanic: The Tragic Story of the Ill-Fated Ocean Liner 4.29 avg rating — 203 ratings — published 2011 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Stalingrad: The Battle that Shattered Hitler's Dream of World Domination 3.86 avg rating — 194 ratings — published 2012 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jack the Ripper's Streets of Terror: Life during the reign of Victorian London's most brutal killer 3.87 avg rating — 182 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jack the Ripper's Streets of Terror: Life During the Reign of Victorian London's Most Brutal Killer 3.78 avg rating — 152 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hitler : Military Commander 3.67 avg rating — 156 ratings — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Age of the Gladiators: Savagery & Spectacle in Ancient Rome 3.52 avg rating — 155 ratings — published 2004 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	You Wouldn't Want to Be a Mayan Soothsayer!: Fortunes You'd Rather Not Tell by Rupert Matthews (Goodreads Author), David Antram (Illustrator), David Salariya (Goodreads Author) (Created by) 3.94 avg rating — 119 ratings — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Alien Encounters 3.48 avg rating — 115 ratings — published 2007 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	You Wouldn't Want to Be a Chicago Gangster! by Rupert Matthews (Goodreads Author), David Salariya (Goodreads Author) (Creator), Mark Bergin (Illustrator) 3.85 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 2010 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sasquatch: True-Life Encounters with Legendary Ape-Men 3.65 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 2008 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Rupert Matthews rated a book it was amazing Traitors Gate (William Warwick Novels) by Jeffrey Archer (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I bought this book in France. It was getting near the end of our holiday and I'd read all the books that I had bought with me. I didn't fancy my teenage daughter's reading fare so was at a bit of a loose end. Then - glory be - a French bookshop had a ...more
Sep 07, 2025 08:12AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Traitors Gate by Jeffrey Archer. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Traitors Gate by Jeffrey Archer <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rupert Matthews rated a book did not like it How They Broke Britain by James O'Brien	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
oh dear. If you are irredeemably woke and left wing fan of Jeremy Corbyn who has been on Just Stop Oil protests and campaigns against Sir Keir Starmer as you view him as far too right wing then I guess this is the book for you. Otherwise, forget it. I ...more
Sep 07, 2025 06:42AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of How They Broke Britain by James O'Brien. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — How They Broke Britain by James O'Brien <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rupert Matthews rated a book it was amazing On the Ruin of Britain by Gildas	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I've been meaning to read this important historical document for years. Finally I found the time to sit down and plough through it. I've long been intrigued by this book. It is the only substantial piece of literature to survive from Britain in the 5 ...more
Aug 31, 2025 09:51AM · 1 like · like · see review
Rupert Matthews rated a book it was amazing Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Its by Bernard Cornwell, so obviously this is a great book. This is a real departure by Cornwell. Rather than being a military novel set in a historic period, this is set in prehistory and looks at the building of Stonehenge. There is quite a lot of ...more
Aug 25, 2025 09:52AM · 1 like · like · see review
Rupert Matthews rated a book it was amazing Operation Mayhem by Steve Heaney	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A great war book. Real edge of the seat stuff. It tells the story of a small British unit sent to Sierra Leone as part of the British intervention there that brought an end to the civil war. The larger issues both political and military get little co ...more
Aug 25, 2025 09:29AM · 1 like · like · see review
Rupert Matthews rated a book really liked it Red Notice (Tom Buckingham, #1) by Andy McNab	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I read this book on holiday and really enjoyed it. I must say that it was not very demanding, ideal for a holiday but everything about it was a bit light. The characters were nicely drawn but none of them were very deep. I wouldn't go so far as to sa ...more
Aug 24, 2025 11:06AM · 1 like · like · see review
Rupert Matthews rated a book it was amazing Lessons From History: Hidden heroes and villains of the past, and what we can learn from them by Alex Deane	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A great little book. Does what it says on the tin - and does it very well indeed. This is a series of anecdotes from history, each of which has a little lesson in it - or a moral if you will. They are all quite short - I think the longest was 5 pages ...more
Aug 24, 2025 10:31AM · like · see review
Rupert Matthews rated a book it was amazing The Summer of the Danes (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #18) by Ellis Peters	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 21, 2025 06:23AM · 1 like · like
Rupert Matthews rated a book liked it American Gods (American Gods, #1) by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Well, that was an odd book. I mean, even for Neil Gaiman it was a bit peculiar. I'll not spoil the plot for you - partly because it would be unfair and partly because it is so complex that I'm not sure that I could do. Let's just say that you really ...more
Jul 13, 2025 07:17AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Rupert Matthews rated a book really liked it The Union Jack : The Story of the British Flag by Nick Groom	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A fascinating book. As the title implies this book follows the story of the assorted flags that have symbolised England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales and how they came together to form the Union Jack [except Wales]. It also looks at the circumstances ...more
Jul 13, 2025 07:01AM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Union Jack by Nick Groom. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Union Jack by Nick Groom <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Rupert Matthews (?)

“Outsiders might mistake the East Enders habit of dealing with their own issues as being criminal, but to the local inhabitants it was more a case of keeping things out of the hands of the authorities.”
― Rupert Matthews, Jack the Ripper's Streets of Terror: Life during the reign of Victorian London's most brutal killer

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“Murder, even an accidental killing in a fight, was not only frowned upoп but was rare. In 1887 there was only one murder in Whitechapel, and in 1889 none at all. So while violence was common and widespread, killing was not.”
― Rupert Matthews, Jack the Ripper's Streets of Terror: Life during the reign of Victorian London's most brutal killer

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“It is not the number of victims that Jack the Ripper claimed that ensure his lasting fame. Only five women were definitely killed by him, and certainly there were no more than eight victims. Other serial killers since then have murdered more. And although the horrific mutilations Jack the Ripper carried out were disturbing and violent, they too have been surpassed since. In the records of serial killers, Jack the Ripper is unexceptional in many ways. But he remains the most famous of them all.”
― Rupert Matthews, Jack the Ripper's Streets of Terror

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