Ian retired as Professor of Military History from the University of Kent (UK) in 2015. Previously Ian held chairs in both the UK and the US, including the Horner Chair in Military Theory at the US Marine Corps University, Quantico, Virginia as well as being Visiting Professor at the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. He was also on the academic staff of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst for 15 years.

Ian has an international reputation for his work on the First World War and on the history of the British Army. On cruise ships, however, he speaks more widely on modern and contemporary history. He began speaking on ocean and river cruises in 2000, and has worked principally for Swan Hellenic, Hebridean, Saga’s Spirit of Adventure, Great Rail Journeys and, most recently, for Viking. Since conflicts have occurred in most parts of the globe, he has travelled in the Baltic, Black Sea, Mediterranean, the Americas, the Far East, and Australasia.

Ian is also an accredited lecturer for the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS) in the UK, and has led battlefield tours to France, Gallipoli and, especially, to South Africa.

Talks have included:

Grey Tide and Sullen Coast: Britain and the North Sea [History and Culture]
Hollywood, History and Horned Helmets [The Vikings at the Movies]
Hitler’s Bus: Norway 1940 [Military History]
Battles on Ice: The Teutonic Knights [History and Culture]

Red Shirt: The Story of Garibaldi [History]
The Sieges of Malta [History]
Byron’s War: The Greek War of Independence [History and Culture]
Gallipoli: A Lost Opportunity? [History]
Greek Tragedy: Greece and the Second World War [History]
El Cid: Fact, Fiction and Film [History, Culture and Movies]
Ataturk and the Foundation of Modern Turkey [History]
History Reborn: The Fall of Yugoslavia [History]

Raffles and Rajahs: Singapore and Sarawak [History of Two Historical Figures]
Roads to Mandalay [Britain and Burma]
Hong Kong: Britain’s Imperial Outpost [Military History]
The New Zealand Wars [Military History]
Martinis and Assegais: The Zulu War [Military History and Culture]

The Real Pirates of the Caribbean [History, Culture and Movies]
Uncle Sam’s Backyard [History of US in the Caribbean and Central America]
Castro and the Cuban Revolution [History]
Rhett Butler’s War: Britain, Blockade and the Confederacy [History]
Unmasking Zorro: Hollywood, History and Hispanics
England and the New World [History of Exploration]
The Struggle for North America [Britain versus France]
Rounding the Horn [History and Culture]
The Forty Niners and the Making of America [History]

The Stream of Time: Myth, History and the Rhine [History and Myth]
Vienna: Imperial City [History and Culture]
The Hungarian Uprising [History]

To date (2017) 47 ocean or river cruises.

In 2016, for example,
February 2016 Minerva: Chilean Fjords
March 2016 Minerva: Cuban and Caribbean Medley
August 2016 Minerva: Celtic Traditions
Oct 2016 Minerva: Hellenic Odyssey

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.