Samuel G. Benady MBE [1] MB, FRCP, DCH (born 11 September 1937 in Gibraltar) is a Gibraltarian historian, novelist and retired paediatrician of Sephardic Jewish descent. He has been a regular contributor to the Gibraltar Heritage Trust's Journal, and lecturer in the Gibraltar Museum, [2] [3] and author of several works related to the history of Gibraltar and also works of fiction. According to the Gibraltar Chronicle , Benady is "Gibraltar’s well known and prolific author". [4]
Dr Benady was born in Gibraltar, where his family has lived since the 18th century, and received his Medicine degree in London. He worked as a paediatrician in Bristol, Jerusalem and Gibraltar, where he ran the Child Health service. Benady worked for the Gibraltar Health Authority from 1980 until his retirement in 2002. [5] In 2007 he was appointed a MBE "for services to health care and voluntary work". [1]
In 1990, Benady published two short stories in Sherlock Holmes in Gibraltar . [6] These pastiches are set in the pre-Watson days. In the first one, The Abandoned Brigantine, Sherlock Holmes reveals the solution to the mystery of the Mary Celeste, while in the second, The Gibraltar Letter, the detective solves the case of the abduction of the Duke of Connaught while he was posted to Gibraltar. [7] In 1992, after reading La compra de Gibraltar por los conversos andaluces, ("The purchase of Gibraltar by Andalusian conversos"), a monograph by Diego Lamelas about the story of the Cordova conversos who purchased Gibraltar in the 15th century, Benady translated and published it in English as The Sale of Gibraltar in 1474. Then, he approached the history of St. Bernard's Hospital, publishing Civil Hospital and Epidemics in Gibraltar. Diary of an Epidemic and Passing through the Fever (both co-authored with Prof. L A Sawchuk) were published in 2003 and 2005. In 2005, Benady approached the biography genre, publishing a work on Sir George Don, Lieutenant Governor of Gibraltar from 1814 to 1831. [8] [9] The Keys of the City: An Episode in the History of Gibraltar, also published in 2005, is a historical novel based in his former translation of Lamelas' work. A Spanish translation by Cayetano Ramirez has been published in 2015 by Nagrela Editores of Madrid, with the title Las llaves de Gibraltar. Next came a detective mystery series of seven novels set in 18th and 19th century Gibraltar featuring the amateur detective Giovanni Bresciano, co-authored with Mary Chiappe. [4] [10] [11] His latest project is 'A Pictorial History of Gibraltar' with Sarah Devincenzi (illustrator), published in 2019.
The History of Gibraltar portrays how Gibraltar gained historical significance and a reputation over time.
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character is often a detective, who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Some mystery books are non-fiction. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.
BBC Books is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The imprint has been active since the 1980s.
The Gibraltar territory currently contains an 800-metre (2,625 ft) long section of the isthmus that links the Rock with mainland Spain. Spain does not acknowledge British sovereignty over Gibraltar beyond the fortified perimeter of the town as at 1704. The United Kingdom claims the southern part of the isthmus on the basis of continuous possession over a long period.
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory and city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean. It has an area of 6.8 km2 (2.6 sq mi) and is bordered to the north by Spain. The landscape is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar, at the foot of which is a densely populated town area, home to some 34,003 people, primarily Gibraltarians.
Marvin Nathan Kaye was an American mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and horror author, anthologist, and editor. He was also a magician and theater actor. Kaye was a World Fantasy Award winner and served as co-publisher and editor of Weird Tales Magazine.
The history of the Jews in Gibraltar dates back more than 650 years. There have been periods of persecution, but for the most part the Jews of Gibraltar have prospered and been one of the largest religious minorities in the city, where they have made contributions to the culture, defence, and Government of Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is a juridically independent area in western Europe, and forms part of the Commonwealth of Nations as a British overseas territory.
Gibraltarians are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.
Mesod Benady MBE is a Gibraltarian historian of Sephardic Jewish descent. He currently lives in Grendon, Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom.
Leslie S. Klinger is an American attorney and writer. He is a noted literary editor and annotator of classic genre fiction, including the Sherlock Holmes stories and the novels Dracula, Frankenstein, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comics, Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons's graphic novel Watchmen, the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, and Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
The Gibraltar City Hall is the former city hall for Gibraltar, centrally located within the city at the west end of John Mackintosh Square. It is the office of the Mayor of Gibraltar and since 2023 has been the location of the Registry of Marriages.
John Mackintosh Square is a main square in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It has been the centre of city life since the 14th century and takes its name from John Mackintosh, a local philanthropist. Notable buildings on John Mackintosh Square include the Parliament Building and the City Hall.
The history of Gibraltar, a small peninsula on the southern Iberian coast near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea, spans over 2,900 years. The peninsula has evolved from a place of reverence in ancient times into "one of the most densely fortified and fought-over places in Europe", as one historian has put it. Gibraltar's location has given it an outsized significance in the history of Europe and its fortified town, established in the Middle Ages, has hosted garrisons that sustained numerous sieges and battles over the centuries.
Mary Chiappe was a Gibraltarian writer and former Gibraltar Minister for Education in the 1960s. She was the author of several books, including the Giovanni Bresciano series of detective novels set in the 18th and 19th centuries, which she had written in conjunction with the Gibraltarian writer and historian Sam Benady. She had written a regular weekly column in the Gibraltar Chronicle since 2001. With Dr Sam Benady, she received a Gibraltar Heritage Trust Award in October 2015 for historical detective series: for making Gibraltar's history of the period and cultural heritage accessible to readers. She died on Friday 8 December 2017 in Gibraltar, surrounded by friends and family.
The Royal Calpe Hunt of the British Crown Colony of Gibraltar originated in 1812 as the Civil Hunt. The fox hunt was initially a civilian endeavour that began when a pair of English foxhounds were imported to Gibraltar. The hunts took place across the border, in the Campo de Gibraltar area of Spain. However, in 1814, the membership of the Hunt underwent a substantial change. Many officers of the Gibraltar garrison joined the Hunt, which shifted from a civilian to a military enterprise. That year, the name was changed to the Civil Calpe Hunt. It retained that title until 1817, after which it was known as the Calpe Hunt. The first Master of the Hunt was Charles Elphinstone Fleeming. However, the Master most associated with the Hunt was Pablo Larios, Marquis of Marzales, who held that title for forty-five years. His election to that position in 1891 was not only historic, but strategic. His appointment represented only the second time that the position had not been filled by a member of the military. In addition, his Spanish heritage and influence in the Campo de Gibraltar, where he owned extensive estates, garnered him the loyalty of the local Spanish farmers, and therefore eased the ever-present tensions between the military and the farmers over the crop damage that was inherent to the Hunt. In 1906, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and King Alfonso XIII of Spain became joint Patrons of the Hunt, after which it was known as the Royal Calpe Hunt. The tradition of the Hunt continued for more than a century, until 1939, and the onset of the Second World War
Town Range is a major road in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located in the old town area and runs parallel to Main Street and part of Prince Edward's Road. It is also known in Spanish as Calle Cuartel, in reference to the barracks constructed on the street in 1740. It is one of the three main parallel streets in the old town and is likely to date back to the Moorish period. Until the mid-19th century it was notorious for its filthiness due to wholly inadequate sanitation and lack of any running water supply. It was the point of outbreak of Gibraltar's devastating 1804 epidemic of yellow fever, which killed a third of the territory's population. The street is now a residential and commercial area notable for several important public buildings in addition to the old Georgian barracks, which have been converted for civilian use.