Meet My Guest Ian Churchward and Read About His Book, His Medieval Band "The Legendary Ten Seconds" and How They Were Created

I met Ian through the Richard III Society, of which I've been a member for 30 years. Ian is a gifted musician and songwriter who writes lyrics and music in the medieval style but with a folksy touch and even hints of rock. All the songs tell stories about the life of Richard III, as ballads, some lively, some slower. His book, Songs About Richard III - A Richard III Music Project (click on the title to see it on Amazon) ties in with all his songs, explains how he became a loyal Ricardian, and how he formed the band. 

About the Book, in Ian's Words

This is a revised edition of the original book which is about the songs I have written for my Richard III music project. It includes the lyrics for the songs which have been released on the albums which have been recorded as The Legendary Ten Seconds. The songs that I have written and recorded tell the story of the life and times of this King and the book has been written to try to satisfy the demand from people who want to know more about my music.

The introduction for the book has been written by the author Kathy Martin and her books include The Woodville Connection and The Beaulieu Vanishing. My book has been edited with the help of the author Sandra Heath Wilson who has had many novels published since the 1970's. Sandra wrote and read the narratives which accompany the songs for the second album about Richard III by The Legendary Ten Seconds and these narratives are included in my book.

The original version of Songs About Richard III was published in 2016 and this revised edition includes details of the songs which have been recorded up until the end of 2020. It includes information about the Mer de Mort album which was recorded to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Mortimer History Society. It also includes details about the Torbay Pageant concept albums which was the main focus of The Legendary Ten Seconds throughout 2020.

About Ian

Ian's main hobby is music and he has played guitar in several bands in South Devon. He started recording as the Legendary Ten Seconds when he was the lead guitar player of The Morrisons who were featured on John Peel's radio one show back in 1987. Ian lives with his wife in Torquay, Devon, England and is a keen supporter of his local football club.

How The Band Was Born

The Legendary Ten Seconds started off as the solo music project of Ian Churchward in 2004 during the time when he was the lead guitar player of The Morrisons who were featured on John Peel's Radio One show back in 1987. When Ian started recording as the Legendary Ten Seconds he was also playing guitar for a ceilidh band called Phoenix. In 2013 Lord Zarquon joined Ian's music project and since then the line up has gradually expanded and various guest musicians and vocalists have helped out in the recording studio. These have included the backing vocals of Camilla Joyce and the lead guitar of Rob Bright. The most recent musicians to join the project are Phil Swann and Martyn Hillstead. The sounds of the Mellotron feature quite significantly in the recordings.

Most notably The Legendary Ten Seconds have recorded many critically acclaimed English folk rock albums which chronicle the Wars of the Roses and the life and times of Richard III in England during the late fifteenth century. The albums are available on Amazon and iTunes and the band have donated money to a scoliosis charity from some of the income generated from the sale of their music. The CD versions of the albums are available via the Richard III Society in the UK. In 2018 the band recorded the Mer de Mort album which was commissioned by the Mortimer History Society to commemorate the Society's tenth anniversary. It is a historically accurate album of songs which tells the story of the significantly important Mortimer medieval family from their roots in Normandy prior to the battle of Hastings and into the 15th century. The album includes historical narratives read by the actor John Challis ( Boycie in Only Fools and Horses ) who was the patron of the Mortimer History Society. The Legendary Ten Seconds have also recorded a comedy song about the Mortimers with John Challis speaking as Boycie.

2019 saw the release of four albums, Devon Roses, History Book Part One. Instrumental Legends and Thrilling Blunder Stories. The Devon Roses album features the lead vocals of the lady singers of the Legendary Ten Seconds, Bridgit England, Pippa West, Jules Jones and Ian's wife Elaine.

In February 2020 the History Book Part Two album was completed and this was followed by The Acoustic Almanac, Amazing Songs and the Pageant of Torbay Part One albums. This last album contains songs which explore the rich and varied history of Torbay. For instance The Billy Ruffian is about when Napoleon Bonaparte was held as a prisoner on board HMS Bellerophon while at anchor in Torbay. Additionally a new version of the first Richard III album was released in digital format via Circle of Spears Productions. The new version of the album features fictional narratives written by Sandra Heath Wilson. The narratives are read by Sandra and Ian's wife Elaine, in the form of an exchange of letters between Richard III's mother and his sister Margaret.

2021 has so far produced three new albums by The Legendary Ten Seconds. These are the Pageant of Torbay Part Two, Semi Acoustic Almanac and a concept album of songs about Devon. This latest album is in the format of a Torquay radio show with jingles recorded by the band and introductions by Riviera FM's Peter Cartwright.

The band have performed several concerts for the Richard III Society including one for the USA branch in Denver.

Click Here for the Band's Website

Purchase CDs on the Band's Website

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I must say, the CD covers are fabulous frame-worthy works of art. Below are some of the covers:

Artist: George Harman

Artist: Georgie Harman

Artist: Georgie Harman

Artist: Graham Moores

Contact Ian

My Review of The Legendary Ten Seconds for the Ricardian Register (magazine of the American branch)

As a longtime Ricardian, I enjoy music from his era, but The Legendary Ten Seconds, led by balladeer Ian Churchward, who writes the music and lyrics, writes songs of Richard III's life. They each tell a story about different times and events in Richard's life before and during his reign, and the music will transport you right back to medieval times. The accompanying flute, as well as Ian's singing voice, instantly made me think of one of my favorite bands of all time, Jethro Tull, with flute virtuoso Ian Anderson's lively melodies and smooth voice. It's folksy, yet some of the songs have a faster tempo, as the folk-rock of Tull, and you'll find yourself tapping your foot as you listen to the livelier songs. Richard, who appreciated music and was reportedly a great dancer, would have thoroughly enjoyed these songs.

The CD covers are works of art. The CD Loyaulte Me Lie, (Richard's motto "Loyalty Binds Me"), released the year after his remains were discovered under a Leicester car park in 2012, features an image of Richard based on the facial reconstruction that shows us what Richard looked like.

If you're not a Ricardian (yet) you will learn much about Richard from these stories put to beautiful music.

 I just purchased Loyaulte Me Lie from Amazon and will undoubtedly purchase more from this multi-talented group of musicians, who, incidentally, donate profits to a UK scoliosis charity.

 

Meet My Friend and Fellow Ricardian, Joan Szechtman, Author of Time Travels and More to Come...

Every Ricardian (those of us interested—and usually fascinated—with Richard III) has a story about how they ‘discovered’ Richard. I “found” him in a book on the wrong shelf of the Cambridge Library, up in the stacks. I joined the Richard III Society, and the rest is “history”! This was 1992. Several years later, several dedicated Ricardians formed a New England Chapter of the Society, where I met Joan. We became fast friends, as kindred souls; not only did we write novels featuring Richard, but we wrote time travels in which Richard comes to modern times—even before we met.

Meet Joan, read about her time travel trilogy, and what’s on the drawing board.

About Joan

Tell us a little about yourself.

After retiring from a career in Computer Science and Data Communications, I accidentally reinvented myself as a writer because I read a book—THE SUNNE IN SPLENDOUR by Sharon Kay Penman. I found Richard III’s story so compelling that  I did a deep dive into his history. I just published my third and final book, STRANGE TIMES, about Richard III in the 21^st century.

While learning about the real Richard III, I found the Richard III Society and joined the American Branch. About six years after joining the society, I became the editor of the semi-annual magazine, RICARDIAN REGISTER, and the semi-annual newsletter, RICARDIAN CHRONICLE.

I like to read a variety of genres and styles. In no particular order, an incomplete list of my reading ranges from science fiction, science, humor, historical fiction, and biography.

Your trilogy is about Richard III in the 21^st Century. Why did you bring him forward in time?

Once I discovered the real man was not Shakespeare’s arch-villain I loved to hate, I began to wonder about him as a person and imagined sitting across from him at dinner. What would he tell me about his nephews—the infamous princes in the Tower, his family, and his friends and enemies.

One of the facts deeply affecting me about Richard III was his age—thirty-two—when he was killed in his final battle. I felt his story wasn’t finished and I wanted to examine his character in a modern light, without forcing our modern sensibilities onto his fifteenth-century actions. To do this, I had to let him speak for himself.

What were your conclusions about his nephews?

Despite the rumors the princes had met an evil end and Tudor’s willingness to parlay these rumors to his advantage, extant documentation and contemporary reports show only that the boys disappeared. Setting aside the lack of documentation, I also took into consideration the behaviors of both Richard III and Henry VII. Then, it was standard operating procedure to display bodies to “prove” that their reigns were without credible challenge. Despite the way Henry had Richard’s body mistreated immediately after the battle, he nevertheless had it put on display to show that he was now the undisputed king. I have to think that if Henry had killed the princes or knew where their bodies were, he would have displayed them and blamed Richard for their deaths. If Richard had had them killed, he could have easily first blamed Welles for their deaths during the botched attempt to “free” them from the tower, and then later, Buckingham, when Richard had him executed for treason.

Richard had far less reason to want the princes dead than did Henry. Through “Titulus Regius” parliament declared Richard the rightful king and bastardized all of Edward IV’s children. As bastards, the princes could not inherit any title. Henry VII had his parliament revoke “Titulus Regius” which enabled his marriage to Edward IV’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth Woodville. If the princes were alive, they now had more claim to the crown now that their impediment had been removed. In fact, based on how he handled the man he called Perkin Warbeck, I think he was more than a little afraid that Warbeck was really Richard of York, the younger of Edward IV’s two sons. Interestingly, Warbeck claimed to have been in Edward Brampton’s household in Portugal. Now Brampton was a Portuguese Jew who converted soon after Edward IV first became king and served both Edward and Richard. Among the many awards that Richard gave Brampton, he knighted him in 1484—the first monarch to knight a converted Jew. As much as Richard may have liked the guy, I think there had to have been an extraordinary reason for him to grant Brampton knighthood. I think a strong reason was that Richard had entrusted Richard of York’s care to Brampton.

What device did you use to effect time travel and what limitations did you employ?

Having something of a scientific background, I decided to “invent” a time travel machine and to follow the physical laws as closely as possible. Therefore, one could not just go back into the past or come forward into the future without an equal exchange of mass/energy (the law of conservation of mass/energy). Additionally, without the equal exchange, the time displaced mass would soon disintegrate. So, for my Ricardian team to bring Richard III forward at the moment he would have been killed in battle, they had to exchange an object of equal mass with him fully armored. It also meant that a person or object could not travel through time and remain without being damaged to the point of death.

A second limitation to time travel is the position of a particular object—such as the planet—in the universe. Because the universe is expanding at increasing speed, every object is hurtling through space. The calculations to go to a specific point on the earth either back or forward in time would be quite complicated and have to account for trillions of miles displacement.

Since STRANGE TIMES is the third book of the trilogy, please tell us a little about the first two.

THIS TIME starts moments before Richard III loses to Henry Tudor on the field of Redemore near Leicester, England on August 22, 1485. In THIS TIME, a team of Ricardians substitutes an armor-clad corpse for the king and brings Richard into Portland, Oregon. He awakens August 21, 2004 to an alien world where even the English he speaks is different.

The story follows two parallel paths: the present where Richard must learn how to adjust to not only the technological advancements but also the more difficult cultural differences; and looking back at the past to solve some of the mysteries that have haunted and maligned his image for over 500 years.

The second book, LOYALTY BINDS ME, continues Richard III's story. Richard has married a divorcee, adopted her two daughters, and with the help of his new wife, has been able to rescue his son Edward, who had predeceased him in the 15th-century. Richard has lived in the twenty-first century for two years, and his son has been with him for the past year. At the start of the novel, they have just arrived in London, when Richard is brought in by the Metropolitan Police for questioning about the alleged murder of Richard III's nephews in 1483. Richard must now find a way to clear his name and protect his family while concealing his true identity.

STRANGE TIMES starts immediately after Richard and family return to Portland, Oregon.

What are your thoughts on historical accuracy?

I think it is important to respect the lives and histories of those who have gone before us. Therefore, I try to stay as close to the known history as possible, given that not all references are themselves accurate and in some instances are in conflict with other respected sources. In addition, there are often gaps of knowledge, where important details are unknown. So, as a novelist, I try to learn and understand as much as I’m able about certain events and actors and fill in those gaps based on my understanding of the material I have absorbed.

Part of my research goes to formulating what may have motivated a character to behave the way he or she had in real life to find a way of letting me into that character’s head.

How has the discovery of Richard’s Remains affected this trilogy?

While I was able to follow Richard’s 15^th century history as reported, only adding my own speculation where there was no extant or conflicting documentation, the same could not be said for his 21^st century history. The remains were found at a unique time, where the remains could be confirmed as his through DNA and isotopic tests, which without employing a massive deus ex machina, could not be reconciled with what would have been found in the remains of the body that was substituted for Richard.

Many time-travel novels ignore language differences, but you didn’t. Yet, Richard was able to adjust rapidly to modern English.

Richard was probably fluent in three or four languages, and although today’s English would have at first sounded foreign to him, I felt that there were enough similarities—based on my reading of THE PASTON LETTERS, for example—between Early Modern English and today’s English that he would have been able to understand a lot of what he heard fairly quickly. I also provided a linguist that was able to help him over the inevitable speed bumps.

Do you have other projects in mind?

Yes. I have a paranormal languishing on my back burner about Catherine Howard’s spirit invading a young woman who is studying American History at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. She’s an intern at Agecroft Hall, a late 15^th century manor. Thomas C. Williams Jr., a wealthy Richmond entrepreneur, transported timber by stone to his twenty-three acre estate overlooking the James River. The modified reconstruction was completed in 1928 and is now in the U. S. National Register of Historic Places.

Two other projects that are in more nascent states of development are a science fiction story and an anecdotal family history with lots of photos.

How can readers find out more about you?

Visit my website and find me on Facebook. My books are available at the usual suspects including Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, where you can read samples.

New Review of Traveling Light

http://yougottareadreviews.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-traveling-light-by-diana-rubino.html

Reviewed by Martha E.
In the present, Leigh Halliday sleeps in the bed once owned by King Richard III, and wakes up in Richard's bed, but in Richard's time, 1485.In 1485, Guy Blakamour, trusted knight of King Richard, believes Leigh is Sandrissa, the wife he'd never met, having arrived for the wedding planned by the king.Leigh knows that Guy was recorded in history as having been executed for treason and drowning his first wife. She discovers that Guy's 'treason' and 'drowning' of his wife was a setup by a Welsh clan who's hated Guy's family for centuries. She puts her life on the line to clear his name and attempts to return home--with Guy, whom she's grown to love.Review: This is a nice Time Travel filled with rich detail of the historic time period. The characters are very likeable with interesting conflicts. Leigh is a modern, educated young woman who is struggling to recover from the pain associated with the death of her husband. Suddenly she finds herself in Medieval England married by proxy, with the groom looking forward to consummating the marriage! Based on what she has read about her “husband”, Guy, she is distrustful and wary. Although there is no denying that he is a really good looking knight and she is drawn to him.Guy is really a very honorable man and faithful to King Richard. Guy has lost all those he has loved - his parents, a brother and sister and his first wife and son. He blames a curse by the Llanwddyns, who have long been feuding with his family. He was willing to marry Sandrissa to gain lands and men, as ordered by his King. He hadn’t planned to wait to consummate the union until the actual church wedding, but he finds he is willing to compromise and try to woo the lovely, intelligent lady he finds in the king’s bed! The story focuses on Leigh’s efforts to avoid consummating the marriage and getting back to her own time. She is able to earn money in an interesting enterprise. When that money is taken, she realizes she must stay and help Guy, whom she has begun to love. Finally she realizes how to get back and she tries to convince Guy to walk away from a losing battle and go with her instead.The story moved along well with interesting glimpses of the medieval lifestyle in dress, customs, surroundings and brutal intrigues and politics. However, because of the blurb, I kept anticipating Leigh trying to save Guy and getting him to return to the future with her. I kept waiting and waiting and that didn’t happen till very near the end of the book so it was a bit of a distraction! Also, there were parts of the story that seemed rushed and missing some depth that could have been there. But all in all it was an engaging read. I recommend that you get the book, ignore the blurb (or don’t get distracted by it like I did) and enjoy the story!

Time Travel Released Today!

Dear Kindred Souls,
My time travel romance, Traveling Light, was released today with Eternal Press. It is on sale in paperback at Amazon. Here's a short blurb:
In the present, historic preservation architect Leigh Halliday makes a daring move--she sleeps in the bed once owned by King Richard III, and wakes up in Richard's bed, but in Richard's time, 1485.
In 1485, Guy Blakamour, trusted knight of King Richard, believes Leigh is Sandrissa, the wife he'd never met, having arrived for the wedding planned by the king.
Leigh has more than the obvious reason for wanting to return home to her own time--she knows that Guy Blakamour was recorded in history as having been executed for treason and drowning his first wife. When she realizes she can't return home, and probably never will, she finds out that Guy's 'treason' and 'drowning' of his wife was a setup by a Welsh clan who's hated Guy's family for centuries. She puts her life on the line to clear his name and attempts to return home--with Guy, whom she's grown to love. But he won't go with her to the future until he's fought beside King Richard in battle--the battle she knows Richard perished in. But did Guy survive the battle? She has no way of knowing--so she must get Guy out of the fifteenth century. One more trip to the King's Bed, but she returns to the future--without him. She believes he's lost to her forever, until a call from the police two days later brings miraculous news--someone has turned up, claiming to be a knight from the fifteenth century!
Guy has returned to her, and together they prove that true love can transcend time.
What makes this story unique is that I’ve created a scientific explanation for traveling through time, without hitting the reader over the head with technical explanations. Simply put, the ley lines that cross England can transport a person through the time continuum—no one knows for sure why. But this blend of supernatural and scientific makes this story plausible, and fires up our imaginations about the mysteries of the universe.