I graduated from Sheffield Hallam University in English Literature and Linguistics in the early 1990s, enrolled on post-grad before moving across to New Media after being introduced by friends in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering to the magic and opportunities of the World Wide Web in ’95. After being taken on by an agency in Sheffield, I worked on several popular music ezines and dot coms before returning to my two great loves of literature and history. I live in the Central Highlands of Scotland where I continue to dodge success with surprising consistency.

I was recently asked to provide research and fact-checking for an 8 episode podcast from Blanchard House on the real-life inspiration for Jay Gatsby. The series, American Dreamer, Who Was the Real Jay Gatsby?, is narrated by New York Times journalist Joe Nocera and former Sunday Times/BBC podcast producer Poppy Damon.

If you have an Amazon Prime account you can listen the podcast for free’ Just search for American Dreamer Jay Gatsby on your Amazon Music app or click here

I also researched the eight-part series, Extrasensory, from AppleTV+ hosted by Will Sharpe of the Netflix show, White Lotus. The series is among the nominations for Best Documentary Award at the Awards for Excellence in Audio 2025.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/extrasensory/id1769027640

Contact?

If you’d like to chat about of these posts or have new information that might be useful you can email alan@monocledmutineer.co.uk.
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