A Moment in Time

A Moment in Time, 50 stories that bring East Anglian history to life, by Peter Sargent, was published by Paul Dickson in Norwich on October 2 2017.

In this book, former journalist Peter Sargent takes us on a journey in time, from the mysterious ancient figure of the Green Man in Norwich Cathedral, via the day King Charles II rode a winner at Newmarket’s racetrack on to Second World War soldiers preparing for the D-Day landings in woods on the Norfolk-Suffolk border.

In this series of short stories, many of which first appeared in the Eastern Daily Press newspaper, encounter famous figures who made their mark on the eastern counties. Here is Oliver Cromwell raising an army, Queen Elizabeth I making a Royal Progress, while her sister Mary plays a game of thrones, highwayman Dick Turpin goes about his nefarious business and Norfolk squire and Britain’s first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, saves the country from financial ruin.

You’ll also meet less familiar figures and veer off the beaten track. Here are tales of a Cambridgeshire Iron Age ‘hill fort’, Norfolk’s raffish 19th Century bare knuckle boxers and the sailors who fought a huge, but barely remembered, 17th Century sea battle off the Suffolk coast.

“History can seem quite a dry and uninteresting subject,” said Peter Sargent, “but I hope this book shows just how lively and interesting the past can be. After all, what happened then created the world in which we live today so it affects us all in our day-to-day lives.”

Peter Sargent

Peter Sargent’s interest in history was sparked when he studied the subject at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, during the 1980s. From 2004-11 he wrote weekly articles on local history which appeared in the Eastern Daily Press, and was production editor on Let’s Talk magazine for six years.

A Moment in Time (paperback, £12) is on sale at Jarrold Norwich, Jarrold Cromer, Waterstones Norwich, City Bookshop Norwich, Book Hive Norwich, Maids Head Hotel Norwich, The Holt Bookshop, The Aldeburgh Bookshop and is available online at www.allthingsnorfolk.com. An e-book version will soon appear in all e-book stores including Amazon and Apple Books.