A long-time fascination with an intriguing historical figure has resulted in a novel by Tinonee resident Terry Stanton.
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Terry first came across the story of the Earl of Strafford during his school days in England.
“I became fascinated by history at school,” he said.
“I had a very inspiring teacher called Johnny Walker.
“He taught 17th Century English and European History for the A Levels. That was in 1959 to ‘61. I was fascinated by the story of the Earl of Strafford.
“There was an excellent biography by CV Wedgewood written about 30 years before, which I read.
“Just after I had taken the exams she published a new version which showed him in a somewhat different light,” he said.
The Earl of Strafford was Thomas Wentworth, who rose from relative obscurity to become an English Statesman and played a “tremendous” role in the lead up to the English Civil War.
He joined parliament, was a supporter of King Charles I and had a strong authoritarian rule as the Lord Deputy of Ireland between 1632 and 1640.
He was called back to England by the King to help him fight the war, becoming a leading advisor.
In what followed, things went from bad to worse for Wentworth.
“It’s a fantastic story and the best part is the end of it,” said Terry. “It was how it ended that really attracted me as a boy at school.”
In 1995, Terry started writing the Earl’s life story as a play and after moving to Australia in 2005 hired dramaturge Peter Matheson from Maclean who showed him what could be worked on.
He sent the play to a publisher in England, who gave him some feedback and direction, as well as telling him the play wouldn’t be published unless there had been a professional production.
“I had no idea how to get it performed. I approached an agent who said they were too busy with existing clients, so it went on the backburner for a few years.”
Four years ago Terry read a biography and decided Strafford’s life story would make a good novel.
“I did a huge amount of research and had piles of papers and books. I’ve told the story as accurately as I can based on the research.”
His friend Michael Davies, of the Mickie Dalton Foundation, helped Terry publish his book on Amazon.
“He is a writer too, and has published quite a few books of his own, and for other people.”
Terry’s novel is called Deliver Me from Evil and is now available from Amazon US and UK.