Publications

In the shadow of Anzio Annie is a series of episodes that collectively form a story that took place at a villa south of Rome during the Spring of 1944, when a family home was occupied by a German army unit. The soldiers were in command of two enormous railway guns that were kept hidden in a tunnel beneath the house by day and brought out at night to be fired at Anzio some thirty-eight kilometres away in order the keep the Allied forces pinned down on the beachhead. From late January until the middle of May that year, the family, local farmers and soldiers co-existed in a strange world of stillness; a moment in time where one era had ended, another had yet to start and no one seemed in any particular rush to discern the shape of it.

Written by my late grandfather who witnessed these events taking place, and narrated by me, this audiobook is a personal and sentimental production of his story; one of survival, resilience and optimism in a wartime setting from a bygone era. A tale of occupation and air raids interspersed with moments of improvisation, absurdity, human connection and the need to save a herd of cows.

It is released through Findaway Voices, and is available on Spotify, Apple Books, Google Play and other distributors.

Giving a presentation looks easy until you try it. Advice like “use good body language” or “speak confidently” only works if you already know what that means for you. Follow a formula, and you get a standardised result.

Dancing in the Line of Fire shows that the real skill lies in discovering your own style. Drawing on decades of experience in theatre, stage management, and professional workshops, I guide you through a process that’s practical, personal, and, above all, human.

This book, now in its second edition, invites you to ask yourself: What works for me? What could I do differently? It’s full of ideas, stories, exercises, and reflections designed to help you explore, refine, and own your presenting style without copying anyone else.

Presenting is a journey, not a formula. Enjoy it, experiment, make mistakes, and get better. This book is for the people who want to do just that.

Prompted by a life-changing workplace accident and the ensuing psychological upset of what was to be a rather nasty six year legal battle, Maria and Piero Vitelli gave up their comfortable life in London and moved to an unmodernised smallholding in Herefordshire. In one of the most sparsely populated counties of England, they planned to put down new roots and start afresh.

Over the following four years their family gradually expanded with the arrival of two children, a brood of chickens, a flock of sheep and one dog. During the same time they started to tackle some of the challenges of rural life in the form of learning to light and extinguish fires, taming rampant vegetation and discovering just how hard it can be to hammer a nail into a piece of wood without injury. Slowly, and often with the help of red wine and a good sunset, they began to put the past behind them.

In an attempt to chronicle their progress from the outset for geographically distant friends and family, these whimsical, descriptive, often funny and sometimes moving one hundred and forty seven letters were written as a blog between July 2011 and May 2015 before being published later that year.