I’m a New Zealand writer with over thirty years hands-on professional experience as a published author and in publishing. My main interests are in the sciences – physics, particularly, though I’m deeply curious about a lot of stuff, especially the human condition. I have qualifications in writing, music and anthropology among other fields, and hold multiple post-graduate degrees in history. I’m also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society at University College, London. I write a lot. My published writing, sold on merit, includes over 550 articles, academic papers, reviews, novellas and short stories, and over 50 books on topics ranging from travel guides to biography, engineering, military and social history. I’ve been published principally by Penguin Random House.
This week’s obscure English word is ucalegon. It means a neighbour whose house has burned down or is on fire. The word is an eponym from ancient Greek, and refers to Ucalegon, an inhabitant of Troy whose house suffered this fate. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments using this word. Copyright … More The obscure word of the week is ucalegon
The world seems to be teetering on the precipice of a cliff right now. Just this week the Russo-Ukranian war has escalated to a new and dangerous level, Russian people are fleeing their own country, there appears to be war ‘by other means’ being waged against NATO – evidenced by the destruction of the gas … More Armageddon is just a few steps away
This week’s obscure English word is obnixley. It means to do something strenuously or energetically. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2022
I had to get some assistance this week with my website hosting – various bits and pieces of maintenance had to be done, including migrating it to a different server because the one it was on didn’t host the right software. It was quite a saga. The company I deal with operates a help desk … More How to deal with website hosting, part 486,309
This week’s obscure English word is obrotund. It essentially means something that is oblate, ie: something round but flattened at top and bottom. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2022
I write full-time for a living. It’s not easy. The usual way to make a small fortune from writing is to start with a large one. Book sales are important, every one of them. Last week I discovered persons unknown have pirated one of my naval histories – nine times, in fact. They’re being sold … More Piracy, navies and my books
This week’s obscure English word is eugonic. It means something that grows readily in an artificial medium, such as bacteria. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2022
The passing of Queen Elizabeth II after 70 years on the throne is extraordinary in some ways. Certainly she could not go on forever; but few alive today remember a time when she was not Queen of England – and, incidentally, Queen of New Zealand among a few other places – and she was one … More The end of an era: Queen Elizabeth II
This week’s obscure English word is pomace. It means the residue left after apples have been crushed to extract their juice, derived from French ‘pommade’ around the sixteenth century, itself a derivation of the Latin word ‘pomum’ (apple). I have to wonder about potatoes now. After all, the French call a the humble spud a … More The obscure word of the week is pomace
It is 83 years this weekend since Europe crashed into war, beginning a global struggle that did not end until 1945 and which resulted in estimated deaths topping 75 million, many of them civilians. The Second World War was the largest conflict yet seen in the history of humanity, the most lethal, and the most … More The world at war – again
Matthew Wright 
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