Historian of the obscure
Gareth Edwards (“John Bull”) is a historian, writer and streamer who specialises in history that falls through the gaps. From the quirks of international law that lead to the Knights Hospitaler possessing one of the largest airforces in Europe after WW2, or the secret Foreign Office scheme that allowed 40,000 Jews to escape Nazi Germany, John specialises in telling these stories concisely, but accurately and without hyperbole, for general audiences.
Although best known for his historical content on Twitter and Mastodon, John’s work stretches across a wide variety of platforms. He is a regular Twitch streamer of grand strategy games as GariusTheBrit, using them as an opportunity to talk real history, geopolitics and logistics, and an occasional YouTuber of both short-form history and How-To game guides. His long read histories on Medium cover everything from the history of Robin of Sherwood, to the ‘accidental’ circumnavigation of the world by the Pacific Clipper during WW2. He is also the author of The Brexit Tapes, a satirical history of the Brexit process.
In addition to a background in military history and logistics, John is a respected digital strategist who has written and taught on crisis management and the benefits of quiet leadership in the tech industry. He is also the creator of the theory of ‘Trust Thermoclines’, which looks at how firms of all sizes suddenly lose market share from a dominant position.
He is currently working on his next history book, Doing The Right Thing: Nine ordinary people (and one cat) who did the right thing, when it would have been easier not to.
John has a cat called Napoleon, who he incorrectly believes that he owns.
Elsewhere on the web
The Unexpected Journey
In 1942, the Pacific air routes remained the domain of Pan-Am’s Clipper services, giant seaplanes that took passengers from LA as far as Australia.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, this left Captain Bob Ford and the civilian crew of Pan Am flight 18602 facing a seemingly impossible task. Caught the wrong side of Hawaii they only had one way to get home: they would have to circumnavigate the world.