Landale, James 1968-

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Landale, James 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968.

ADDRESSES:

Office—BBC News, BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London W12 7RJ, England.

CAREER:

Times, London, England, 1993-2003, became assistant foreign editor; British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News 24, London, chief political correspondent, 2003—.

WRITINGS:

The Last Duel: A True Story of Death and Honour, Canongate (New York, NY), 2005, published in England as Duel: A True Story of Death and Honour.

Landale's Cautionary Tales: Comic Verse for the 21st Century, Canongate (London, England), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

British journalist James Landale is the author of The Last Duel: A True Story of Death and Honour, published in England as Duel: A True Story of Death and Honour. The book is a history of the duel, and one in particular, between linen merchant David Landale, an ancestor of the author, and banker and decommissioned army officer George Morgan, a bully who provoked the duel by striking Landale on the back with an umbrella. Landale had angered Morgan by moving his bank accounts to another bank after Morgan refused him a loan to help with cash flow problems and then disclosed his version of Landale's finances to his creditors. Landale, who had reported the banker's conduct to Morgan's superiors in Edinburgh, challenged Morgan, both men chose seconds, and the duel, which occurred in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland on August 23, 1826, was the last to take place in that country. "Explanatory and dramatic, Landale's tale doesn't release its readers until the final page," commented Gilbert Taylor in Booklist. Landale prevailed, preserving his honor and his reputation, and was tried and acquitted.

Other notable duels are offered, including one between two ladies who fought over the right to the affections of a duke. A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that Landale "entertains with a host of anecdotes and colorful characters." A Kirkus Reviews contributor concluded that Landale "interweaves into this personal narrative a riveting history of dueling."

Landale is also the author of Landale's Cautionary Tales: Comic Verse for the 21st Century, a book of warnings in the vein of Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales for Children. "Cautionary tales" are those in which the subject ignores a warning about a certain behavior and comes to a bad end. While Belloc's children were burned to death for telling lies and died alone for not keeping their rooms tidy, Landale's are warned about playing computer games and shoplifting. Leo Wood reviewed the book for Skinny magazine online, noting: "There is a Roald Dahl-esque delight in poetry that gives foul little children their just desserts, so deliciously politically incorrect in this day and age."