News and Events

Book is flying off the shelves

The Night They Blitzed The Ritz has been flying off the shelves since its launch last autumn, selling up to 100 copies every week. What's more, it's getting lots of repeat orders, where someone has bought a copy to read themselves, then realised that it would make a good present for other members of their family. The website has also brought in sales from all over Britain as well as the United States and Canada.



Malta launch

-- From The News, Portsmouth, February 25, 2009





What they say - quotes from the professionals

Trevor Fishlock, writer and TV presenter:

"A wonderful narrative, evocative, dramatic, funny."


Harold Ytsma, Amsterdam-based publisher:

"Content, sadness, sentiment, pleasure, cosiness…that good old, sad-Sunday-afternoon-I-finished-my-book feeling. Thank you for sharing your memories with us."



Topic appeals to children

It's not just people who lived through the Blitz who are finding the book of interest. Children want to know what their grandparents and great-grandparents experienced - a point that teachers have been quick to realise. John Bull has been invited to visit a number of schools to talk to children about the book.



Author strikes pioneering deal with local libraries

Faced with declining revenue from CD and DVD rentals because of the surge in popularity of internet downloads, Hampshire libraries were looking for a way to boost income - and responded favourably to John Bull's suggestion that they stock his book not just for members to borrow, but for anyone to buy over the counter. The sales campaign began in Gosport Discovery Centre on September 13 2008 with a 'meet the author' session and book-signing. It is now also available in other Gosport library branches including Elson, Bridgemary and Lee-on-the-Solent, as well as at Fareham, and Stubbington.



Display in empty shop brightens up the High Street

In December 2007, Gosport lost its long-established High Street bookshop and the premises had been empty ever since while waiting for a potential buyer. In a cooperative venture with owner George Miles, John Bull arranged to take over the window of the shop for a four-month period in order to promote The Night They Blitzed The Ritz. The result was an eye-catching display of wartime memorabilia and graphics including illustrations from the book, wartime cookery and 'make do and mend' books, RAF and Luftwaffe model aircraft - and even an old rum keg from a wartime submarine. The display ran until the end of 2008. Other retailers in the High Street have already expressed interest in using empty properties in a similar way, giving the street a more vibrant look and promoting their businesses into the bargain.


Author John Bull with Gosport Councillor June Cully
at the unveiling of the shop-window display



Local paper makes book its 'reader offer'

The News, Portsmouth, has backed The Night They Blitzed The Ritz by making it a 'reader offer', with the book available to buy from News offices around the region, including Gosport, Fareham, Havant, Portsmouth (Lake Road) and its headquarters at Hilsea. The promotion started at the beginning of October 2008.



Churches prove a winner

'Meet the author' sessions at Gosport churches have proved a winner both in generating sales and providing income for the church. John Bull has appeared at successful sessions at Holy Trinity, St John's Forton, Christchurch, St Mary the Virgin Rowner, St Faith's Lee and St Mary's Alverstoke.