John Van der Kiste

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About John Van der Kiste

John Van der Kiste read Librarianship at Ealing Technical College, where he edited the student librarian journal Stamp Out. The author of over seventy books, including historical and royal biography, popular music, true crime, local history, plays and fiction, he has also contributed articles to and reviewed books and records for local and national publications, was a consultant to the BBC documentary 'The King, the Kaiser and the Tsar', and is a contributor to 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' and 'Guinness Rockopaedia'. He lives in Devon, and his spare time interests include reading, music and painting. His latest titles are 'James II and the First Modern Revolution' (Pen & Sword), '1970: a Year in Rock: The Year Rock Became Mainstream', 'Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter in the 1970s', and 'Free and Bad Company in the 1970s' (Sonicbond). Due in 2022-3 are titles on King William IV, Queen Victoria's daughters-in-law, and Manfred Mann's Earth Band in the 1970s. He has also edited an English translation of 'Ena and Bee' by Ana de Sagrera, previously published in Spain in 2006, due later in 2022.

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George V's Children Oct 24, 2011

by Van der Kiste

( 111 )

$2.99

The six children of King George V and Queen Mary all lived to maturity except the youngest, Prince John. The eldest, who was Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, reigned as King Edward VIII for less than a year. His infamous romance with Mrs Simpson plunged the country into the abdication crisis and led both of them into a long period of exile. King George VI, who reluctantly and unexpectedly ascended to the throne, was a shy man, handicapped by a speech impediment and a sense of his own inadequacy. However, together with his Consort, Queen Elizabeth, and the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, he gave the nation spirited guidance throughout World War II. Both surviving younger brothers served in the armed forces during war-time. Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was Governor General of Australia from 1944-6 and crowned his military career with promotion to the rank of Field-Marshal. George, Duke of Kent, an officer in the RAF, was tragically killed on active service in 1942. The only sister, Mary, Princess Royal, worked both as a nurse, and a royal ambassador abroad. This book tells the story of the family.

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Jeff Lynne: Electric Light Orchestra - Before and After Aug 23, 2015

by John Van der Kiste

( 288 )

$5.99

** This electronic edition contains 35 photographs **

Passionate about music from childhood and much-respected as a teenage guitarist in his native Birmingham, Jeff Lynne rose through the ranks of various semi-professional local groups to become the frontman of the critically acclaimed Idle Race in the late 60s. From there he joined the ever-popular Move, then helped form the groundbreaking Electric Light Orchestra. After co-founder Roy Wood left in 1972, Lynne turned what had been a struggling rock and classical fusion into one of Britain s most consistently successful and popular acts. Following a run of hit singles, albums, and sell-out concerts throughout the world, he laid the group to rest in 1986 and combined a solo career as an artist and producer with membership of the ultimate supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys. His production credits include Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Del Shannon, George Harrison, and even the Beatles on their two final singles in the mid- 90s. Jeff Lynne: The Electric Light Orchestra, Before and After is the first-ever biography of one of the most prolific and highly regarded performers of the last fifty years. Rich in backstage anecdotes of overheated orchestras, frontmen rivalries, tour mishaps, cross-group partnerships, unlikely collaborations, and self-imposed exile from the stage in the quest for inspiration, this book will leave fans and general readers delighted and inspired by a career at the epicentre of twentieth-century rock.

** This electronic edition contains 35 photographs **

Other Formats: Paperback

While You See A Chance: The Steve Winwood Story Apr 12, 2018

by John Van der Kiste

( 52 )

$6.99

Born in Birmingham, Steve Winwood was already a semi-professional musician, playing keyboards and guitar, while still at school. As lead vocalist with The Spencer Davis Group, he had had two chart-topping singles by the time he was aged eighteen. In 1967 he formed Traffic, long noted as one of the major British psychedelic groups whose music also borrowed from jazz and folk influences as well as rock and pop. A brief hiatus saw him join forces with Eric Clapton in the short-lived Blind Faith, thereafter returning to Traffic until they disbanded in 1974 (and briefly reformed twenty years later). Throughout his subsequent solo career, he has been much respected on both sides of the Atlantic as a vocalist, all-round musician and regular collaborator with or session player for other artists. This is the first biography for nearly thirty years.

Other Formats: Paperback

James II and the First Modern Revolution: The End of Absolute Monarchy Nov 30, 2021

by John Van der Kiste

( 4 )

$22.49

In February 1685, James II succeeded his brother Charles II on the English throne. His popularity had soared and fallen during his brother’s reign. During a period of less than forty years that had seen the execution of their father, Charles I, the proclamation of a republic, and restoration of the monarchy a few years later, nothing could be taken for granted, but the omens for a reign of stability seemed good.

However, James was a deeply flawed character who lacked his brother’s pragmatism. Obstinate, arrogant, alternately pious and debauched, he was little liked by most of those who knew him well. Within three years, his efforts to promote and advance Catholicism in a nation that had predominantly embraced the Protestant faith had alienated and exhausted the patience of his subjects, the aristocracy and the church, who jointly appealed to William, Prince of Orange, his nephew and son-in-law, to intervene and protect English liberties. James fled his kingdom, and the ‘Glorious Revolution’, was swiftly achieved largely without bloodshed.

This book examines how the forces of Anglicanism and Jacobitism collided, how a monarch came to forfeit so much goodwill so quickly, and through his own folly aided the effortless victory of the man and his wife, William and Mary (James’s own daughter), who replaced him on the throne and at last brought a period of calm to a country that had only recently endured civil war and years of upheaval.

Other Formats: Hardcover

The End of the Habsburgs: The Decline and Fall of the Austrian Monarchy Nov 26, 2019

by John Van der Kiste

( 94 )

$9.99

In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist when Francis II became Emperor of Austria. 112 years later, the Habsburg empire collapsed after the First World War after surviving many tribulations. During the year of revolutions in 1848 the much-loved but incompetent Emperor Ferdinand had abdicated in favour of his young nephew Francis Joseph. His long reign was marked by defeat in several wars, family tragedies and scandals including the execution of his brother Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, the suicide of his son Crown Prince Rudolf, and the assassinations of his wife Empress Elizabeth, and nephew Francis Ferdinand. He was succeeded in 1916 by the succession of his great-nephew Charles, who abdicated in 1918 and died after two unsuccessful attempts to regain the throne of Hungary, but his eldest son Otto remained head of the family and Member of the European Parliament for twenty years. This book looks at the final chapter of the Habsburgs, from the Napoleonic era to the age of the dictators and post-war Europe.

Other Formats: Hardcover

George III's Children Jan 1, 2004

by John Van der Kiste

( 27 )

$9.99

The eldest of King George III's children, who became Prince Regent and King George IV, is less remembered for his patronage of the arts than for his extravagance and maltreatment of his wife. This objective portrayal of the royal family draws upon sources to lay to rest the gossip and exaggeratio

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Queen Victoria's Children Oct 24, 2011

by Van der Kiste

( 315 )

$7.99

Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort had nine children who despite their very different characters, remained a close-knit family. Inevitably, as they married into European royal families their loyalties were divided and their lives dominated by political controversy. This is not only the story of their lives in terms of world impact, but also of their own personal achievements, their individual contributions to public life in Britain and overseas and in their roles as the children of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort.

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Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicolas II Feb 1, 2004

by John Van der Kiste

( 333 )

$9.99

This biography of Xenia, sister of Nicholas II gives a new angle on the Romanov story and provides new information on relationships within the family after the Revolution. Important new letters and photographs are also included.

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Emperor Francis Joseph: Life, Death and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire May 19, 2005

by John Van der Kiste

( 30 )

$9.99

In 1848, 28-year-old Francis Joseph became King of Hungary and Emperor of Austria. He would reign for almost 68 years, the longest of any modern European monarch. Focusing on the life of Emperor Francis Joseph and his family, this book examines their personal relationships against the turbulent background of the 19th century.

Other Formats: Hardcover

Alfred: Queen Victoria's Second Son Dec 9, 2013

by John Van der Kiste

( 88 )

$9.99

Prince Alfred, who was created Duke of Edinburgh in 1866 and became Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha in 1893, was the second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. A patron of the arts, pioneer philatelist and amateur violinist, he joined the Royal Navy as a boy and rose to become Admiral of the Fleet. At the age of 18 he was elected King of Greece by overwhelming popular vote in a plebiscite, although political agreements between the Great Powers of Europe prevented him from accepting the vacant crown. The most widely travelled member of his family, he had visited all five continents by the age of 27, and while on a tour of Australia in 1868 he narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of a Fenian sympathiser. Married to Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, the only surviving daughter of Tsar Alexander II, at one stage he had to face the possibility that he might be required to fight on behalf of the British empire against that of his father-in-law. His last years were overshadowed by marital difficulties, alcoholism and ill-health, and the suicide of his only son and heir.

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Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz: The Tragic Love Story of Queen Victoria's Eldest Daughter and the German Emperor Jan 1, 2003

by John Van der Kiste

( 53 )

$9.99

This work tells the love story of the royal couple against the changing background of 19th-century Germany. It looks at the differing political sympathies of the couple, revealed through letters, and re-examines the prevailing view that the domineering Vicky never bothered to conceal her distaste for everything Prussian and flaunting her sense of British superiority. In many ways ahead of her time, she was something of a pioneer feminist, refusing to accept the oft-accepted maxim that women were second-class citizens. Insufficient consideration has been given to her health and the possibility that her judgement and reason may sometimes have been affected, albeit mildly, by the family's inheritance of porphyria that led to the 'madness' of her great-grandfather George III.

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The first German Empress May 30, 2016

by John Van der Kiste

( 19 )

$6.49

Born a princess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1811, Augusta was married at the age of seventeen to Prince William of Prussia, the future King and first German Emperor. A woman of progressive opinions and artistic tastes, married to a man with whom she had almost nothing in common, she soon found herself out of place at the military-minded court of Berlin, an existence she sought to alleviate for a time in an endless round of parties and social activities and an appetite for gossip. But despite increasing ill-health from middle age, she soon found self-fulfilment in her involvement with nursing and other welfare activities in Berlin, as well as her interest in the arts. A friend of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort in England for some years, she passed her liberal views on to her only son Frederick, destined to reign for only three months as German Emperor in 1888, two years before her own death. This is the first biography in English for over a century.

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