Wolverhampton Literature Festival: Express & Star journalist to reveal all in talk
Peter Rhodes has been working with words ever since starting out as a journalist in 1969.
His time with the Express & Star has seen him travel the world and report on some of the most dramatic and historic events of the past 30 years.
In his own words, it has been the 'best of times.' A particular interest in warfare and soldiers culminated in his book, For a Shilling a Day – a fascinating collection of interviews he has conducted with soldiers while working with this newspaper.
And their accounts of the front line will be the subject of Peter's appearance at the Wolverhampton Literary Festival, which starts this Friday.
After working as a reporter in Warwickshire and Yorkshire, Peter joined the Express & Star in 1985 as its chief feature writer and columnist.
He said: "My career spent working with words has exceeded anything I dreamed of or could have imagined when I entered journalism in 1969.
"It has taken me around the world, into some fabulous cities and desperate war zones. It has allowed me to observe and comment on some of the memorable events of our time from the Princess Diana funeral to the first Gulf War, Sarajevo and the aftermath of the Falklands."
Throughout his time writing for local and regional newspapers, it has been military pieces which have really grabbed Peter's enthusiasm.
And it is For a Shilling a Day – published in 2010 – which is the achievement he is most proud of.
Speaking ahead of his appearance for the literary festival, Peter added: "I will be talking about some of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians I interviewed for the Express & Star over the past 30 years whose recollections of warfare begin with the Relief of Khartoum, in 1885 and continue through the two World Wars to the ongoing deployment to Afghanistan."
l Peter will be at Wolverhampton Art Gallery at 11am this Sunday. Entry to the event is free.
