Richard Hall

The English Electric/BAC Lightning, a product of Britain’s once-thriving aviation industry, is arguably the most iconic single-seat interceptor ever created. Those who remember its arrow-shaped form hurtling skywards love to regale anyone who will listen with tales of its incredible performance, eardrum-assailing reheat and near-vertical climbs. The Lightning was advanced for its time and required considerable investment and research to take it from the drawing board to active service as an effective fighting machine. Significant strides were made in the early years after the award of the contract—all of which could have come to nothing when it was deemed in the 1957 Defence White Paper that piloted aircraft had had their day. The design was saved only by its advanced stage of development; as is often the case in flight, turbulence is to be expected. But despite the obstacles put in its path, the Lightning prevailed to become one of Britain’s most admired and respected fast jets. Taking the reader through the politics that threatened its development, its groundbreaking design, its service career and many other aspects of its extraordinary history, Lightning: From Inception to Preservation is a comprehensive study of Britain’s first and only truly homegrown supersonic jet-powered interceptor.

‘Honest storytelling at its finest’ – AttitudeIn 2024 a gay youth leader was jailed for 22 years. One of his victims tells why it took him two decades to call the policeIn 1996, at the age of fourteen, Richard Hall met a man who changed his life. Two and half decades later, he called the police. As a result, the man was jailed for twenty-two years. This is the story of what came before the police: how a teenage boy who had been hounded at school because he was gay walked into a world where he thought he would be safe, but which he was too inexperienced to navigate. In his naivety, he thought what happened next was normal, or somehow his fault. In a vivid, compellingly readable account, Hall recreates with unnerving frankness – and with surprising bursts of humour – the year in his childhood when the attention of older admirers went to his head, with lasting consequences for the rest of his life. I’m Fine is not just the intensely moving story of one mixed-up boy’s private hell. It also stands as a powerful warning about predators operating with the impunity conferred on them by ‘community’ status.