Tony Boullemier was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1945 and trained there
as a journalist before joining the Daily Express in Fleet Street.
In 1975, together with his wife Marie and partners, he started his own
newspaper group in Northampton and was its managing director for 14 years.
The company was publishing 15 titles when it sold out to an international
publisher in 1988.
In 1990 Tony set up as a consultant and began producing corporate magazines.
He switched to writing in 2003 – first an historical novel Leonie and the last
Napoleon – and recently The Little Book of Monarchs.
His lifelong fascination with history was first encouraged by his parents,
followed by some inspiring teachers at Newcastle Royal Grammar School.
And his studies never end. He has visited some 50 European battlefields, many
with Holts Tours and some led by the late TV historian Professor Richard
Holmes. And for nearly 20 years he attended lectures by the late medieval expert
and author David Baldwin – the man who in 1986 wrote that the remains of Richard III would be unearthed by an excavator beneath a car park in Leicester.
“History is all around us,” says Tony. “It explains why we are what we are. And how we came to be here.”
Tony, married with two children, lives in Northamptonshire and spends his spare time following sporting interests that include cricket, football, golf and skiing.
Click to enlarge.
All illustrations are by another resident of Northamptonshire, Adrian Teal.
He cut his caricaturing teeth in Spitting Image's workshop under Roger Law
and Peter Fluck and his political cartoons have appeared in the Sunday Telegraph,
The Sun, Daily Mail, TimeOut, Times Educational Supplement and The Scotsman.
He has also worked for the QI Annuals and History Today.
He has both written and illustrated an acclaimed book called The Gin Lane Gazette (www.unbound.co.uk/books/22 ) - an enjoyable bawdy romp through
London life in the 1700s.
Adrian designed the giant celebrity heads on ITV gameshow ‘Bigheads’ where
12 members of the public wear them to do combat in physical competitions
billed as ‘It’s a Knockout’ meets ‘Spitting Image.’
Another venture was a 6 ft by 9 ft canvas entitled The Great Seal, It depicts
Benjamin Franklin (whose ancestors hailed from Adrian’s Northamptonshire village),
George Washington, and Bob Heft, who designed the definitive Stars & Stripes.
This is on display in the U.S.A. and you can view it and buy a copy at www.adrianteal.com
Click to enlarge.