Book Review : Horse Gunners

With photographs of Julian Calder and Henry Dallal, this is a picture book covering last year's unique Golden Jubilee programme of the King's Troop Royal Artillery.

Horse Gunners is essentially a picture book covering last year' s unique Golden Jubilee programme of the Troop. The photographs of Julian Calder and Henry Dallal are especially evocative and give the reader a tremendous feel for what goes on behind the gates of St John' s Wood Barracks. Sgt Gray and Bombardier Lewis (whose photograph is on the front cover) have also contributed.

Col Bill Clarke has written the two short chapters on the historical background. They are well written in a crisp, succinct style, so it is not long before you are enjoying the photographs of draught parades in the mud of January. I spotted only one mistake: it was of course on August 4, 1914, not August 14, that war was declared, but it is interesting to muse on the fact that the guns we see on parade today are the very same as were in action at Mons and later battles in that fatal war.

If you want to enjoy some superb photography and you are curious about this little-known unit of the British Army then I recommend you invest in this book. You will be fascinated as I still am and it will not dent your purse, for the Troop published it themselves.

Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.

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