Author and former BBC correspondent Martin Bell is giving a talk for the National Army Museum tonight at 8pm, hosted by the Army & Navy Club (SW1Y 5JN), on his new book, The End of Empire – The Cyprus Emergency: A Soldier’s Story.

Martin Bell was a soldier in the Suffolk Regiment in Cyprus from 1957 to 1959. In The End of Empire he draws on letters that he wrote home, and on formerly Top Secret documents, to give a unique account of the Army experience and campaign against the EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) rebels. Over a 34-year career, Bell reported on wars from Vietnam to Angola and the Middle East to El Salvador.

For further details and booking information, visit the Celebrity Speakers page on the NAM website.

Author Viv Newman, will be taking part in a very special signing event on the occasion of the 30,000th sounding of the Last Post at the Menin Gate on Thursday, 9 July. The signing will take place at the British Grenadier Bookshop, part of Salient Tours, as part of the commemoration of this momentous occasion.

The town of Ypres will mark the anniversary by sharing their daily tribute to the dead of the First World War with a global audience. People will be invited to gather at participating fire stations worldwide to follow live broadcasts of the event. More details are available via Centenary News.

Dr Newman will be signing copies of We Also Served and Nursing Through Shot and Shell, both of which feature on her website, www.FirstWorldWarWomen.co.uk.

This photographic archive contains some 125 stunning images of the battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, many unfamiliar, some very rare. They constitute an archive that is pretty much without equal in publications in the West. This selection of rare images from R A Burt’s archive, represents a remarkable portrayal of these ships.

The period covered is from the launch of Japan’s first real contemporary battleship, Yashima, built by Armstrong’s on the Tyne, until the final destruction of her fleet in the Pacific in 1945. During that time Japan built up the third largest navy in the world and, before the First World War, it was Britain that armed her at sea. All her dreadnoughts saw action the the Second World War, and of all these numerous ships only Nagato survived the conflict. She was to become a target in the Bikini A-bomb tests in 1946.

Javier Gomez, a highly talented figure painter of long experience and excellent reputation, shares the secrets of his success in this accessible ‘how-to’ guide to painting miniatures. He takes the reader step-by-step through the entire process, from choice of materials and preparation of the miniatures to basing and even advice on photographing the finished item. Techniques such as dry-brushing, ink-washing, shading and highlighting are all explained clearly with the help of step-by-step photographs and colour charts. Specific case studies tackle a variety of useful subjects across all periods, such as mixing realistic flesh tones for different races; painting horses; guns and limbers; Medieval heraldry; Napoleonic uniforms; WW2 and modern camouflage patterns. Javier also clearly explains how these techniques and processes can be applied to all the major wargaming scales, from 40mm down to 6mm.

Whatever historical period and whatever scale the reader is interested in, this book is an invaluable source of practical advice and inspiration.