John Van der Kiste
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John Van der Kiste (born 15 September 1954 in Wendover , Buckinghamshire ) is a British author, son of Wing Commander Guy Van der Kiste (1912–99). He was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton, where he briefly formed a rock band Cobweb with fellow pupil Miles Tredinnick , later the vocalist with the new wave band London and subsequently a playwright and scriptwriter, and read librarianship at Ealing Technical College, where he edited the librarianship students' magazine Stamp Out .
His first book, Frederick III , appeared in 1981, and since then has become a prolific author of royal and historical biographies, as well as books on local history, true crime, rock music, fiction and drama. He is also a contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Guinness Rockopaedia , and has produced articles on historical, musical and art subjects in national and local journals, including Illustrated London News , Royalty Digest , European Royal History Journal , Best of British , BBC History Magazine , Record Collector , Antique Collector , This England , The Independent and Gibbons Stamp Monthly . He has reviewed books and records for the press, written CD booklet notes, and between 1991 and 1996 edited and published the 1970s rock fanzine Keep on Rockin .
In 2002, he was a consultant for the BBC TV documentary The King, the Kaiser and the Tsar , first broadcast in January 2003. More recently he has contributed articles to the BBC History Extra website.
In 2015, "I'll Never Walk Away", a song which he co-wrote with Miles Tredinnick under his music business alias Riff Regan, and Steve Voice, appeared on Regan's solo album Milestones . He also played harmonica on 'Cling to Black Leather', a track on The Hell For Leather Mob , released in 2020 by Regan and Voice's band London .
He lives in Devon . Between 1978 and 2017 he was an assistant in the Library and Learning Resources Centre at City College Plymouth , formerly the College of Further Education, where he was commissioned to write a history of the college for internal circulation.
Books
Historical and royal biography
- Frederick III, German Emperor 1888 (1981)
- Queen Victoria's Family: A Select Bibliography (1982)
- Dearest Affie: Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh , Queen Victoria's Second Son, 1844-1900 (with Bee Jordaan) (1984)
- Queen Victoria's Children (1986)
- Windsor and Habsburg: The British and Austrian Reigning Houses 1848-1922 (1987)
- Edward VII's Children (1989)
- Princess Victoria Melita, Grand Duchess Cyril of Russia, 1876-1936 (1991)
- George V's Children (1991)
- George III's Children (1992)
- Crowns in a Changing World: The British and European Monarchies 1901-36 (1993)
- Kings of the Hellenes: The Greek Kings 1863-1974 (1994)
- Childhood at court 1819-1914 (1995)
- Northern Crowns: The Kings of Modern Scandinavia (1996)
- King George II and Queen Caroline (1997)
- The Romanovs 1818-1959: Alexander II of Russia and his Family (1998)
- Kaiser Wilhelm II: Germany's Last Emperor (1999)
- The Georgian Princesses (2000)
- Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz: Queen Victoria's Eldest Daughter and the German Emperor (2001)
- Royal Visits in Devon and Cornwall (2002)
- Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicholas II (with Coryne Hall) (2002)
- William and Mary (2003)
- Emperor Francis Joseph: Life, Death and the Fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (2005)
- Sons, Servants and Statesmen: The Men in Queen Victoria’s Life (2006)
- A Divided Kingdom: The Spanish Monarchy from Isabel to Juan Carlos (2007)
- Jonathan Wild: Conman and Cutpurse (2009)
- William John Wills: Pioneer of the Australian Outback (2011)
- Alfred (2013), revised version of Dearest Affie
- The Prussian Princesses (2014)
- Prince Henry of Prussia (2015)
- Princess Helena: Queen Victoria's Third Daughter (2015)
- The Last German Empress: A Life of Empress Augusta Victoria, Consort of Emperor William II (2015)
- Charlotte and Feodora (2015)
- Dictionary of Royal Biographers (2015)
- The First German Empress: Empress Augusta, Consort of Emperor William I (2016)
- Queen Victoria and the European Empires (2016)
- Daughter of Prussia: Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden, and her Family (2017)
- Of Royalty and Drink (2017)
- The End of the German Monarchy (2017)
- The Dukes of Clarence (2018)
- Sarah Forbes Bonetta (2018)
- The Dukes of Cumberland (2019)
- The Heroine of Gaeta (2019)
- Hugh Shortland (2019)
- The End of the Habsburg Monarchy (2019)
- George FitzClarence (2020)
- James II and the First Modern Revolution (2021)
- Ena and Bee: Queen Victoria's Spanish granddaughters [edited by] (2022)
- William IV: The Last Hanoverian King of Britain (2022)
- Queen Victoria's Daughters-in-law (2023)
Music
- Roxeventies: Popular Music in Britain 1970-79 (1982)
- The Roy Wood Story (1986)
- Beyond the Summertime: The Mungo Jerry Story (with Derek Wadeson) (1990)
- Gilbert & Sullivan's Christmas (2000) - anthology
- Roy Wood: The Move, Wizzard and Beyond (2014)
- Jeff Lynne: The Electric Light Orchestra, Before and After (2015)
- Pop Pickers and Music Vendors (2016)
- A Beatles Miscellany (2016)
- We Can Swing Together: The Story of Lindisfarne (2017)
- Electric Light Orchestra: Song by Song (2017)
- While You See a Chance: The Steve Winwood Story (2018)
- Led Zeppelin: Song by Song (2018)
- All Around My Hat: The Steeleye Span Story (2019)
- Kate Bush: Song by Song (2021)
- 1970: A Year in Rock: The Year Rock Became Mainstream (2021)
- Decades: Mott the Hoople and Ian Hunter in the 1970s (2022)
- Decades: Free and Bad Company in the 1970s (2022)
- Decades: Manfred Mann's Earth Band in the 1970s (2023)
- Eagles On Track: Every Song, Every Album (2023)
Local history
- Devon Murders (2006)
- Devonshire's Own (2007)
- Cornish Murders (with Nicola Sly) (2007)
- Somerset Murders (with Nicola Sly) (2008)
- A Grim Almanac of Devon (2008)
- Cornwall's Own (2008)
- Plymouth: History and Guide (2009)
- West Country Murders (with Nicola Sly) (2009)
- Surrey Murders (2009)
- A Grim Almanac of Cornwall (2009)
- Durham Murders and Misdemeanours (2009)
- Berkshire Murders (2010)
- Ivybridge and South Brent Through Time (with Kim Van der Kiste) (2010)
- More Cornish Murders (with Nicola Sly) (2010)
- Dartmoor from Old Photographs (2010)
- More Somerset Murders (with Nicola Sly) (2011)
- A Grim Almanac of Hampshire (2011)
- Plymouth Book of Days (2011)
- More Devon Murders (2011)
- The Little Book of Devon (2011)
- The Little Book of Cornwall (2013)
- Plymouth: A City at War (2014)
- Hugh Shortland (2019)
Fiction
- The Man on the Moor (2004)
- Olga and David (2014)
- Elmore Sounds (2015)
- Always There (2015)
Drama, verse and miscellaneous
- The Big Royal Quiz Book (2014)
- The Big Music Quiz Book (2015)
- A Mere Passing Shadow (2015)
- The Man on the Moor (2015) - a dramatisation of his novel
- Dartmoor and other Places: Collected Poems 1975-2015 (2015)
- C.S. Forester’s Crime Noir (2018)
- South Brent and Beyond (2019) - paintings
Sources
- International Writers and Authors Who's Who
References
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