Why a book I believed was finished became another sixteen-year investigation into Sheffield's darkest nights
When 'Sheffield's Date With Hitler' was first published in 2010, I'd spent just over a year researching one of the darkest chapters in our city's history. I honestly believed I'd told Sheffield's Blitz story as completely as I possibly could.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Not long after the book came out, the phone started ringing.
Survivors who had never spoken publicly about their experiences wanted to tell me their stories. Families uncovered photographs that had remained hidden for decades. Previously unseen archive film emerged. I was able to obtain original German military intelligence maps showing how Sheffield had been studied before the Luftwaffe launched its attacks.
Piece by piece, the story continued to grow.
Every discovery created another dilemma.
Each time something new surfaced I found myself asking the same question.
Do I leave it in the archive... Or do I continue the journey?
For a while I convinced myself the discoveries could wait.
Then another survivor would contact me.
Or another photograph would emerge.
Or another remarkable piece of archive material would appear.
Eventually I accepted something I hadn't expected.
The book I'd thought had completed my mission had actually become the beginning of another chapter.
A race against time
One of the most emotional parts of the last sixteen years has been recording the memories of Sheffield's surviving Blitz Kids.
Many had never spoken publicly before.
Some have sadly passed away since those interviews.
I'm incredibly grateful they trusted me with their memories.
Perhaps the most personal interview of all was with my own dad, now 89, who lived through the Sheffield Blitz as a little boy.
Recording those conversations reinforced something that became impossible to ignore.
Living memory doesn't wait.
If we don't preserve these stories now, they disappear forever.
This isn't simply another edition.
People often ask whether this is just an updated version of the original book.
It isn't.
The 85th Anniversary Collector's Edition became an opportunity to bring together everything I'd discovered since the first edition was published.
That includes:
- newly expanded research
- original German military intelligence maps
- more than four hours of archive film
- interviews with Sheffield's surviving Blitz Kids
- Sheffield Blitz walking experience and exclusive companion notes
- exclusive digital archive material and more.
More importantly, it allows people to immerse themselves in Sheffield's wartime story in a way that simply wasn't possible sixteen years ago.
I don't want people simply to read my conclusions.
One thing I've learnt over the years is that history becomes far more meaningful when people explore it for themselves.
That's why I wanted this project to provide more than a book.
I wanted readers to study the original evidence.
Compare the German military maps with where the bombs actually fell.
Watch the archive film.
Walk the streets where history unfolded.
Then perhaps discover something about their own family's story that they never knew before.
Sixteen years later...
When I finished writing Sheffield's Date With Hitler, I genuinely believed my work was done.
Looking back, I realise it had only just begun.
If you'd like to explore everything I've uncovered over the last sixteen years, you can find out more about the Sheffield's Date With Hitler – 85th Anniversary Collector's Edition here.