After serving time at Oxford University and the RMA Sandhurst, Christopher Joll spent his formative years as an officer in The Life Guards. On leaving the Army, Joll worked first in investment banking, then as an arms salesman before moving into public relations. From his earliest days Joll has written articles, features, short stories and reportage. One such piece of writing led to an early brush with notoriety when an article he had penned anonymously in 1974 for a political journal ended up as front page national news and resulted in a Ministerial inquiry. In 2014, Joll wrote the text for Uniquely British: A Year in the Life of the Household Cavalry, an illustrated account of the Household Cavalry from the Royal Wedding to the Diamond Jubilee. Since leaving the Army in 1975, Joll has also been involved in devising and managing major charity fund-raising events. Most recently, he has focused on devising, writing and directing events for military charities. These include the Household Cavalry Pageant, the Royal Hospital Chelsea Pageant, the acclaimed British Military Tournament, a military tattoo in Hyde Park for the Diamond Jubilee, the Gurkha 200 Pageant and the Shakespeare 400 Gala Concert. In 2018 he is presenting The Great War Symphony in partnership with Classic FM. When not writing, directing or lifting the lid on the cess pits of British history, Joll gives lectures on topics related to the British Empire and is Regimental Historian of the Household Cavalry.

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Why did General Gordon remain in Khartoum? What really happened at the Battle of Abu Klea? How and why did King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, actually die? Who was Jack the Ripper? And why was Oscar Wilde provoked into suing Lord Queensberry? For the first time, convincing answers to these and many other historical questions are answered in the memoirs of Colonel Jasper Speedicut. Speaking on behalf of the Faversham family, I can assure you that this book is an appalling travesty of the truth! A E W Mason Judging from this memoir, the British Empire was coloured pink on the map for a very good reason. Alfred Kinsey