Outlaw (43 page)

Angus Donald
Kent, January 2009

Acknowledgements

This book has taken nearly seven years to turn from idle pub chat to actual printed volume, and during that time I have been helped enormously by a great number of people: literary professionals, librarians, journalists and historians, friends and family. I’d first like to thank my agent Ian Drury, of Sheil Land Associates, who spotted some potential in the few rough chapters I sent him; I‘d also like to thank David Shelley at Sphere for agreeing to publish this book and his colleague Thalia Proctor for doing such a good editing job. The staff of the British Library have been brilliantly helpful over the years, as have the kind folk at Tonbridge Library. I’d also like to thank Kieron Toole for being so patient while he was teaching me to stalk deer.

My long suffering friends and former work-mates at
The Times
, I thank, for putting up with endless conversations in The Caxton about me and my literary ambitions, when we could have been talking about much more interesting things (such as them and their literary ambitions). My brothers, Jamie, John and Alex deserve a special mention, too, as we have worked out many a knotty plot point together while tromping through the fields of Kent on a Sunday morning, or while getting outside a pint or three to refresh us afterwards. My parents Alan and Janet have been very helpful, too, bringing me old books and relevant newspaper articles, offering suggestions and, of course, for giving me more than forty years of love and support.

Some of the people who have been most helpful, I have not had the plesure of meeting, namely those professional historians whose books I have enjoyed: I particularly want to thank John Gillingham for his masterful work
Richard I
, Alison Weir for
Eleanor of Aquitaine
, A.J. Pollard for
Imagining Robin Hood
, Mike Dixon Kennedy for
The Robin Hood Handbook
, which always sits beside my desk, Robert Hardy and Matthew Strickland for
The Great Warbow
, and David Boyle for
Blondel’s Song
.

I apologise in advance for any historical errors made; despite the huge amounts of help I have had in writing this book, these mistakes remain entirely my own.