Dee La Vardera

I am Dee La Vardera, writer and historian from Wiltshire. I have written a number of books about Wiltshire towns for the Frith Book Co. and 'The Little Book of Wiltshire' (The History Press, 201.) An updated paperback edition came out October 2020.

I met 91 year old Charles Waite in 2012, and together we wrote his life-story 'Survivor of the Long March, Five Years as a POW, 1940-1945' published by The History Press (2012 & updated 2016). This was translated into Chinese, 2021. After meeting Keith Morgan in 2014, I wrote a book about his father Captain John Percival Morgan (RASC) in Italy during WW2, along with his friend Father O'Shea, a Catholic chaplain in his regiment. 'The Road to Civitella 1944: the Captain, the Chaplain and the Massacre' was published by Fonthill Media (2016). The book was shortlisted in the Hall & Woodhouse DLF (DorchesterLitFest) Writing Award in 2019.

'Bringing Home the Bacon - the Story of the Theft of Wiltshire's Bronze Pigs' (Dewfall-hawk Press, 2018), illustrated by the sculptor Richard Cowdy, is available via website https://dewfall-hawk.com, and Calne Heritage Centre. My latest book is 'C. &T. Harris (Cane) Ltd: an Illustrated History' (Amberley Publishing June 2022). A video of the book launch can be viewed on YouTube.