iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Another secondhand book fair at our local Town Hall, so another opportunity to fill some gaps in the collection. #history #booksky

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Another one of my Redcoat History podcasts is online - this one about the assault on Montevideo in 1807. Thanks again to Chris Parkinson for making this available. #britisharmy #napoleonicwars #history www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pBS...

youtube.com

The British Army’s Strangest Forgotten Disaster? (1806-1807)

YouTube video by Redcoat History

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

New book haul! first in a while. Naval & Military Press Ltd had big sale on. #napoleonic #history #books

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Thanks to my good mate Chris Parkinson, another of my Redcoat History podcasts has gone up on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywkq... The Invasion of Java in 1811! Now there's a little known campaign. Watch to find out more. #napoleonic #history #redcoat #britisharmy

youtube.com

The Bravest Man to Ever Wear a Redcoat: The Java Campaign

YouTube video by Redcoat History

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Unboxing the end of an era. I started the King George's Army & The Men Who Led Them series in 2009. It has officially come to a conclusion today, with the receipt of my author copies for Vol 5. A big shout out must go to Bob Burnham, Andrew Bamford, Rob Griffith, Nick Lipscomb, + others. #helion

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

On this, the 111th Anzac Day, remembering those who did not come back. Including my grandfather's older brother, Private Tom Dean, 19th Battalion AIF. Wounded at Pozieres, died of wounds in Rouen, as the matron's letters to my great-grandmother attest. We will remember them. #anzacday

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Thrilled to be a finalist in the Geelong Short Play Festival for the second year running! Now comes the hard(er) part - bringing the play to life. #geelongwriters

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

My new podcast on Redcoat History is out. I hope to be doing a few more of these soon: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj6y...

youtube.com

Not Just Waterloo: Britain’s Forgotten Campaigns

YouTube video by Redcoat History

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I recently remembered that I had in my collection the movie book to the film Waterloo that my Dad bought me on seeing the film in 1970. The images in it are great. Mostly of scenes that never made the final cut. More to follow. #napoleonic

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

It's been Indexing time - for all five volumes! 3000+ field officers. The most common surnames were: 1 Campbell 55+ 2 Stewart 50+ 3 Gordon 45+ 4 Hamilton 40+ 5 Fraser 35+ 6 Murray 35+ 7 MacDonald / McDonald (combined) 30+ 8 Brown / Browne (combined) 30+ 9 Smith 25+ 10 Ross 25+

helion.co.uk

King George's Army: British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815 Volume 5 | From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 | Helion & Company

King George's Army: British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815 Volume 5, From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 - just one of the military history books available from Helion & Company.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

I do love local secondhand book fairs. Most of these cost me $2 each. There's my winter reading sorted. #BookSky #Napoleonic

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

One thing that history has taught me is that it always repeats. Always. I was working on a section of a new work, and before I knew it, I was faced with working out the details of an expeditionary force in the Straits on Hormuz. In January 1810... #Napoleonic #History

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

I'm not fan of AI. The very idea that it could 'write something for me' has me reaching for an air sickness bag. However, I have discovered that it can be useful for writing support tasks. Like indexing, for example. Give AI some simple, non-ambiguous instructions on what to look for...

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

I wonder what the commanders at Waterloo would have been like if they were a bunch of blokes at the pub... Arfur ‘Wello’ Wellesley Roly ‘Poly’ Hill Harry ‘Bill’ Clinton Tommy ‘The Topper’ Picton Denny ‘Six’ Pack Henry ‘Hopalong’ Uxbridge Perhaps they're a darts team, waiting for the French to show?

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

This is absolutely what is forming up, metaphorically.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

A bit of a landmark day for me - attending the performance of my first play, Hear No Evil, a finalist in the Geelong Short Play Festival.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Unboxing!!! Thanks to From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 for sending my author's copies of Volume 4 half way around the world, as work on Volume 5 (the final volume) continues apace. You can order your copy of Vol 4 at www.helion.co.uk/military-his... #napoleonic #history #britisharmy #helion

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

I'd like to extend thanks to Geelong Regional Libraries and Queenscliff Library for facilitating my talk on Writing Military History as part of the LocalWord25 festival last Friday morning. Such a nice venue! Such a good turnout! And such a long and interesting Q&A! #militaryhistory #Napoleonic

Steve Brown presenting Writing Military History at Queenscliff Library on Friday 22 August 2025.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

I'm just starting to prepare for my presentation on Writing Military History at Local Word 2025 - it's now only a couple of weeks away. Booking link: events.grlc.vic.gov.au/event/13943709 #localword25 Plus... some latest stuff I did for Redcoat History: www.youtube.com/watch?v=br6c...

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Eerily reminiscent of a high school second XI match in Perth circa 1978 in which I had the misfortune to be on the receiving end - on a primary school oval with a cracked concrete pitch and 40 metre boundaries. Memories…

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

It was great to catch up with Christian Parkinson last night to finally record Part 2 of my British Regiments series - due out on Redcoat History in a few weeks. Keep an eye out on YouTube.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Getting a July 1914 kinda vibe from seeing this week’s gatherings…

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Hear hear, for our Parliamentary and electoral system.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Some recent book purchases, three-quarters of which are appropriate on this #AnzacDay2025. I visited Pozieres and Fromelles in 2016, the centenary of the actions, as well as Ypres, Mons, Bullecourt and Dixmuide. The Menin Gate evening service was truly memorable.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Prepping for another podcast with the excellent Chris Parkinson at Redcoat History - recording next Tuesday. Should be a good one - Part 2 of British Army ranks and structures during the Napoleonic Wars.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

My wife is in hospital for some chemo. This is her dinner menu. It runs to eight pages. I’m thinking I should pretend to be ill so I can eat here.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

Australian battalion losses in the attack at Fromelles, evening of 19/20 July 1916, from starting strengths of around 950. Fromelles was these unit’s first action under fire. Welcome to WW1.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

TRUMP: Soon I will be getting calls from kings, queens and ambassadors looking for tariff exemptions. He plainly has no idea how constitutional monarchies work, in addition to everything else.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

I’m normally a non-fiction / military history kinda guy, but occasionally, I like to practice my historical fiction chops. The freedom to create actions and dialogue I find quite exhilarating. So is setting in the action in places you know well. Coming to a bookshop near you. One day. Maybe.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Latest acquisitions. Normally an army guy, but it’s important to know what the senior service were up to.

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Reposted by Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️

Matt Bevan @mattbevan.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

If we were smart, we’d be shipping boatloads of Australian whisky, wine, rum and beer to Canada like yesterday.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

I travel 3000km to the other side of the country, and gadzooks, whilst out browsing, come across something a bit familiar.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Secondhand bookshop find this morning. The owner has promised to keep an eye out for the missing instalments. #patrickobrianfans #aubreyandmaturin

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

So the real victor of Waterloo was Rothschild, after all…

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Last night: An insane amount of rain. This morning: Our neighbour, with his head over the fence, saying “erm… have you seen our umbrella, by any chance?” Me: “Now that you mention it….”

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

The other week I posted about British army officers who were commissioned literally from the cradle. Well, here is a list of officers under Wellington who served well into their geriatric years! BTW: Field Marshal was an appointment, not an automatic promotion. #NapoleonicHistory #britisharmy

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Reposted by Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️

Mark S Thompson @marksthompson.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Next talk for Friends of the Lines of Torres Vedras will be by historian Steve Brown on 21 Jan. Title: The command structure, dispositions and strengths of the Allied forces in the Lines. Register interest by emailing: i_j_brewer@msn.com. NOTE. Talk starts 8pm UK time due to time differences.

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Doing some final edits for my Friends of the Lines of Torres Vedras podcast on 21 January. Tech rehearsal tonight!

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

I get the impression that my last roundup of 18th century British army officer names gave folks inspiration for character names. So here are some more. Most still sound like brands of real ale / west country villages / secondary characters in Harry Potter. #NapoleonicHistory #writing #britisharmy

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Every Wednesday, at about this time: Mrs B: It’s bin night. Me: I don’t care what it’s bin. I want to know what it is now!

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

The purchase system for officer commissions in the British army might seem unfair to us now; but it did allow a general upward mobility in the Army. But the RA used strict seniority - hence poor old Edward Whitmore, a brevet LtCol at age 68, and still doing duty aged nearly 80 . #NapoleonicHistory

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Australia 3 India 1. Great to win but that scoreline does not do justice to India. It was tight most of the time. Boom boom Bumrah Boland Beau! #AUSvIND #CricketSky

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

I recently watched Who Do You Think You Are where the guest expressed surprise that an ancestor was in the RN at the age of 10 - something that was quite common. Before the Duke of York's reforms on officer ages in 1795, officers could be commissioned far younger... #NapoleonicHistory #britisharmy

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Having pored over 18th/19th century Army Lists these last couple of years, I have kept a running list of some of the more interesting names of British army officers of that era. Here is just a selection. Yes, there was an actual Lt Johnny Rotten (47th Foot). #NapoleonicHistory #writing #britisharmy

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Steve Brown 🇦🇺 📖🖊️ @stevebrownauthor.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

Thanks to Helion for sending me my author’s copies of British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them Vol 3. It’s a chunky tome! Vol 4, which covers the 61st-104th Foot, is already well advanced. You can buy all these online from Helion. #NapoleonicHistory #writers #britisharmy #military #history #helion

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