Andrew Beattie

London-based author of children's fiction (ages 9-13) and books for adults on history, travel and the environment

www.andrewbeattie.me.uk

Booking enquiry

Available for

Workshop, Talk, Reading, Interview, Commission a book

Audiences

Age 7 to 11, Age 11 to 14, Adult

Genres

Fiction, Historical fiction, History, Non-Fiction, Travel

Book types

Fiction 8-13, Non-fiction for adults, War/Historical

Event feedback

The talk on Henry the Vlll and the palaces he visited throughout his life, was very interesting. Andrew engaged the audience, they seemed fascinated with all the places and his life. The audience had a kind of history lesson and were intrigued by new facts that they never knew. Andrew was very chilled and made the talk relaxing and interesting. He was also very open to questions and answered them in away that made you want to ask more questions and for it not to end. It was fantastic and the audience loved it.

Patsy Brogan (Church Street Library)

Details

I live in London. I am willing to travel to give lectures, talks or presentations anywhere within Southeast England.

Children's Fiction

I have spoken about my children's books The Secret in the Tower and The Angel Player to groups of both children and adults - as set out below. Please contact me if you would like me to do a talk/workshop at your school about either of these two works of historical fiction for children (age 9-12).

I have a thirty-minute powerpoint presentation relating to The Secret in the Tower which looks at how historical themes are presented in the book - including the Tower of London, medieval medicine (including the use of leeches!), Richard III and the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower.

Themes covered in The Angel Player, which is set during the Black Death, include medieval travelling players and the Black Death itself; I can talk about this book on its own, with a powerpoint presentation, or I can talk about both books together.

I also have led workshop activities at schools relating to both books.

October 2022

Talk (with powerpoint presentation) on The Secret in the Tower to a class of Year Six pupils at Southern Road Primary School, Plaistow, organized through the National Literacy Trust; as part of a project organized by the NLT I was also interviewed (on camera) by Year Six librarians at the school on the importance of school libraries.

February 2023

Talk on The Secret in the Tower to a small group of eight pupils from years 6 and 7 at Eltham College on how a book is written, edited and published.

March 2023

Two separate talks (with powerpoint presentations) to pupils in Years 7/8 and 5/6 at Eltham College and Eltham College Junior School about The Secret in the Tower as part of World Book Day (total audience at both talks around 250).

April 2023

Talks (with powerpoint presentations) on The Secret in the Tower to three Year Six classes of local primary school children at the Merthyr Tydfil Children's Literary Festival.

June 2023

Talk at Eltham College about the importance of children's historical fiction to Heads of History of various independent senior schools in London and Southeast England.

June 2024

Workshop sessions with Year Seven pupils at Eltham College on adapting novels for the screen, focusing on The Secret in the Tower

December 2024

Workshop sessions with Year Seven and Eight pupils at Eltham College on The Angel Player, culminating in tasks for pupils that involved rewriting scenes from different perspectives etc.

March 2025

World Book Day: Talk and workshop sessions with over 100 Year Five and Six pupils at Eltham College Junior School on The Angel Player, with pupils presenting their work in small groups at the end of the 90 minute session, which also included book signing

History Books and Cultural Guides

I am available to talk or lecture about places I have written about in my travel and history books. Past engagements include:

March 2010

Contributor (on air) to The Alps (BBC Radio 4, Presenter Misha Glenny) - relating to my book The Alps: A Cultural History

September 2019

Contributor (on air) to a programme on BBC Radio Shropshire relating to my book Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower

September 2023

Lecture (with powerpoint presentation) given at Southwark Cathedral about Greenwich Palace, organized by Tudor Places magazine - relating to my book Henry VIII: A History of His Most Important Places and Events

April 2024

Second lecture given at Southwark Cathedral for Tudor Places magazine - this time about Eltham Palace

May 2024

Talk at Church Street Library, Marylebone: "A Journey with Henry VIII along the River Thames" - looking at the great palaces and houses associated with the king, from Greenwich Palace to Windsor Castle

January 2025

Talk at Church Street Library, Marylebone, on the Black Death - looking at its origins, spread and impact, and also discussing similarities and differences between this pandemic and the Coronavirus pandemic.

Books by Andrew Beattie

I have written a number of stage plays for children, which have been performed by schools and youth theatre groups in the UK, the United States and Australia, and in September 2022 I had my first children's novel published, "The Secret in the Tower" (Sweet Cherry Publishing) - the first in a collection of historical novels for readers aged 9-12 set in medieval England. The second book in the collection, "The Angel Player", set during the Black Death, was published in September 2024. For adults I have written a number of cultural guides (published by Signal Books, Simon and Schuster and Oxford University Press) to the Alps, the Scottish Highlands and the River Danube, and books that look at "history through place" - including the places associated with King Arthur, Henry VIII and the Princes in the Tower (published by Pen & Sword Publishing). My book "Storm Force" (Signal Books) looks at how Britain has been affected by the wind - both constructively and destructively.

IBSN: 978-1782268819

Author's website

Jack Broom thinks that war and politics have nothing to do with him. He is a simple apothecary’s boy dreaming of becoming a surgeon – until soldiers mistake him for a boy of noble birth. Narrowly avoiding being dragged to the Tower of London, Jack sets out on a perilous mission to find out who he truly is. With the help of his new friend Alice, he uncovers conspiracies, treason, and the deadly lengths people will go to for power. For readers aged 9-12.

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Waterstones

IBSN: 978-1782268826

Author's website

In book 2 in the Tales From the Middle Ages series of historical standalones, Andrew Beattie takes readers to 1349, when England is under the cloud of the Black Death. Will Hunter and his troupe of travelling theatre players come across a young boy, barely alive. Thomas Rose has a mysterious past, an uncanny ability for magic tricks – and he claims he can help put an end to the disease and misery that has gripped the land. But is Thomas an angel or a fraud? And as his influence grows, can Will protect him from the an...

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Waterstones

IBSN: 978-1399007788

Author's website

Henry VIII: A History of His Most Important Places and Events

The story of Henry VIII is well known. He is the subject of scholarly and popular biographies and of numerous fictional works. But this book tells the story of Henry VIII in a very different way to any of these: through the places where the events of his life unfolded. From Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London to the site of the Field of the Cloth of Gold near Calais where Henry met the French King Francis I for a week of pageantry in 1520, and from his lavish palaces in London to quieter manor houses in the Eng...

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Waterstones

IBSN: 978-1526727855

Author's website

Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower

The story of the Princes in the Tower is well known: the grim but dramatic events of 1483, when the twelve-year-old Edward Plantagenet was taken into custody by his uncle, Richard of Gloucester, and imprisoned in the Tower of London along with his younger brother, have been told and re-told hundreds of times. The true events of that year remain shrouded in mystery, and the end of the young princes' lives are an infamous part of the War of the Roses and Richard III's reign. Yet little about their lives is commonly kno...

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Waterstones

IBSN: 978-1526727817

Author's website

Following in the Footsteps of King Arthur

The story of King Arthur is one of the best known in English history. This probably mythical ruler has been the subject of thousands of books; yet this one tells his story in a way that is wholly new - through the places where the events surrounding his life supposedly unfolded. From Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Arthur's reputed place of birth, to Slaughterbridge in the same county, one of the contenders for the location of his final battle against the Saxons, and from Cadbury Castle in Somerset, one of the numerous ...

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Waterstones

IBSN: 9781904955665

Author's website

The Danube is the longest river in western and central Europe. Rising amidst the beautiful wooded hills of Germany's Black Forest, it touches or winds its way through ten countries and four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea through a vast delta whose silt-filled channels spread across eastern Romania. From earliest times, the river has provided a route from Europe to Asia that was followed by armies and traders, while empires, from the Macedonian to the Habsburg, rose and fell along its length. Then, ...

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Waterstones

IBSN: 978-1904955245

Author's website

The Alps are Europe's highest mountain range: their broad arc stretches right across the center of the continent, encompassing a wide range of traditions and cultures. Andrew Beattie explores the turbulent past and vibrant present of this landscape, where early pioneers of tourism, mountaineering, and scientific research, along with the enduring legacies of historical regimes from the Romans to the Nazis, have all left their mark.

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Waterstones

IBSN: 978-1909930001

Author's website

The Scottish Highlands: A Cultural History

The Scottish Highlands form the highest mountains in the British Isles, a broad arc of rocky peaks and deep glens stretching from the outskirts of Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen to the remote and storm-lashed Cape Wrath in Scotland's far northwest. Andrew Beattie explores the turbulent past and vibrant present of this landscape, where the legacy of events from the first Celtic settlements to the Second World War and from the construction of military roads to mining for lead, slate and gold have all left their mark.

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Waterstones

IBSN: 978-1909930377

Author's website

Storm Force: How Britain has been Forged by the Wind

Britain is the windiest country in Europe. Storm Force looks at all aspects of the wind in Britain. From the development of the scientific understanding of storms to their representation in literature, art and music, from the destruction of the storm-tossed Spanish Armada to the devastation wrought by tornadoes, and from the early development of windmills to the contemporary furore surrounding wind turbines, this book shows how the wind has had a surprising and profound impact on Britain's landscape, history, wildlif...

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Waterstones

Photos

Keywords

CHILDREN'S FICTION (9-12) CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION ENGLISH HISTORY EUROPEAN CULTURAL HISTORY EUROPEAN TRAVEL HENRY VIII HISTORY KEY STAGE 2 HISTORY KEY STAGE 3 KING ARTHUR MEDIEVAL ENGLAND RICHARD III THE BLACK DEATH TRAVELLING PLAYERS UK GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENT WORLD BOOK DAY