Andrew Godsell

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Andrew Godsell is a British writer, born in 1964 at Aldershot, in Hampshire.

United Kingdom Country in Europe

The United Kingdom, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but more commonly known as the UK or Britain, is a sovereign country lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

Aldershot town in Hampshire, UK

Aldershot is a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, about 31.8 mi (51.2 km) southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 36,321, while the Aldershot Urban Area, a loose conurbation has a population of 243,344, making it the thirtieth-largest urban area in the UK.

Hampshire County of England

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England. The county town, with city status, is Winchester, a frequent seat of the Royal Court before any fixed capital, in late Anglo-Saxon England. After the metropolitan counties and Greater London, Hampshire is the most populous ceremonial county in the United Kingdom. Its two largest settlements, Southampton and Portsmouth, are administered separately as unitary authorities and the rest of the area forms the administrative county, which is governed by Hampshire County Council.

Contents

Writing

Godsell has published the following books.

“A History of the Conservative Party” (1989) was the first critical history of the British Conservatives ever published.

“The World Cup” (1990) provides a history of the world’s leading football competition.

“Europe United: A History of the European Cup / Champions League” (2005) covers the relevant football competition.

"Legends of British History" (2008) is a panoramic survey, stretching from the origin of Stonehenge five thousand years ago through to controversies in the twenty first century.

Stonehenge Neolithic henge monument in Wiltshire, England

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It consists of a ring of standing stones, with each standing stone around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide and weighing around 25 tons. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.

"Fifteen Minutes of Fame" (2011) is a satirical commentary on contemporary culture.

"Planet Football" (2012) profiles a dozen stars of the modern game, from Alfredo Di Stefano to Lionel Messi.

Lionel Messi Argentine footballer

Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and regarded by many as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has won a record-tying five Ballon d'Or awards, four of which he won consecutively, and a record five European Golden Shoes. He has spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he has won a club-record 32 trophies, including nine La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles and six Copas del Rey. Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals scored in La Liga (408), a La Liga season (50), a club football season in Europe (73), a calendar year (91), El Clásico (26), most hat-tricks in the UEFA Champions League (8), as well as those for most assists in La Liga (165) and the Copa América (11). He has scored over 670 senior career goals for club and country.

Godsell’s writings on football, politics, history, genealogy, and rock music have also appeared in magazines and newspapers, plus an educational textbook, and several websites. A theory on the historical events behind the legends of King Arthur has prompted international discussion. Moving from fact to fiction, a contribution to textual accuracy has led to an acknowledgment of Mr A Godsell in the Penguin Classics edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker.

King Arthur legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the Annales Cambriae, the Historia Brittonum, and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as Y Gododdin.

<i>Dracula</i> 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It introduced the character of Count Dracula, and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy. The novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and a woman led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

Bram Stoker Irish novelist and short story writer

Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish author, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.

Biographical detail

Godsell has combined writing with a career in finance. Political activism has included candidacies in a series of local elections. Godsell acted as publicity co-ordinator of Brooce Fans for Fair Ticketing, a campaign against ticket touting which attracted media attention, and is mentioned in the book “Twenty Nights to Rock: Touring with the Boss” by Bill Tangen, an American sports writer, and fellow Bruce Springsteen fan. Godsell’s supposed failings in the departments of cooking and housework have been discussed with great amusement on ITV’s “This Morning” programme, and he was interviewed by Rob Bonnet of the BBC at the 1990 World Cup finals.

Bruce Springsteen American singer and songwriter

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen is an American singer-songwriter and leader of the E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Boss," he is recognized for his poetic lyrics, his Jersey Shore roots, his distinctive voice, and lengthy, energetic stage performances.

Robert Bonnet is a BBC sports journalist. He has presented bulletins across the BBC News Channel and BBC World News and presents Extratime, an interview programme on BBC World and BBC News. Bonnet is currently one of the main sports presenters on BBC Radio 4's flagship breakfast programme Today.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London, and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total, 16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed-contract staff are included.

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