Froglets is the name of a white weatherboarded cottage high on the
Greensand Ridge near Toys Hill in Kent. It is surrounded by woodland still
showing the scars of the greatest storm ever to hit the south-east. This
unlikely setting is also the headquarters of Froglets Publications which made a
massive and almost legendary impact on the book business through its enormously
successful title In The Wake of The Hurricane which was written by Bob
Ogley and published by him and his partner Fern Flynn after being rejected by
Hodder and Stoughton.
Like the great storm of October 1987, the company is just over 22 years old but in that time
Froglets has published 32 titles. Six were regional books about the storm, of which
two found their way into the British top-ten paperback list — the national
edition enjoying a run there for 28 successive weeks.
During that time there were warm tributes from people all over England including Margaret
and Dennis Thatcher. The Observer described Froglets as a publishing phenomenon,
The Times voted the company as one of their "winners of 1988" and the Independent,
Guardian, Mail and Express all enjoyed Froglets' "sensational victory over
a condescending publisher."
This real cottage company has continued to publish "best-sellers" — most of
them written by Bob. For Froglets, the Great Storm is now one hundred and eight
thousand pounds away. That's how much this "publishing phenomenon" has raised for charity!
Those of you who have older computers should drag the arrow down on the top right hand side
of this page in order to access all the title pages. Thank you.
70th anniversary
My book, Kent at War, is enjoying a great revival as we approach the 70th anniversary of
such momentous events as the Dunkirk evacuation, the formation of the Local Defence Volunteers (Home Guard) and
the Battle of Britain.
The book contains more than 200 photographs, most of them from the Kent Messenger's extraordinary archives
and they still stir powerful emotions. Those showing bomb damage, crashed aircraft and lost pilots may shock
and upset but many will be humbled by the photographs of courage and resilience displayed by so many people.
I would like to pay a tribute to the cameramen who saw history as it was being made and recorded it for future
generations (such as out children and grandchildren) to see.
The book is available from us. Please contact Froglets Publications and we will send one by return.
The picture on the left comes from Kent at War, and shows Winston Churchill and Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay poring
over the plans for the Dunkirk evacuation.
Charity dinner
I will be the guest speaker at a special charity dinner in Westerham Golf Club on Wednesday 20 April when I will
be talking about the Spirit of Invicta — the story of the county of Kent in the 20th century.
It will be a great thrill for me to meet a few of my friends at the event — those who look at this website,
read my books and my columns in the Kentish Times, Gravesend Reporter and
Sevenoaks Chronicle.
The dinner is being organised by Sevenoaks Rotary Club but is open to the public. There will be a three-course meal
and wine and the tickets will be about £18. Confirmation of this later. The event will be supporting Kent Air
Ambulance and Water Aid in Africa.
Please ring myself or Fern at Froglets (01959 562972) if you would like to come.
Cold comfort
The recent snow, and the upheaval it created in so many lives, is reviving memories of our memorable winters which,
of course, are all faithfully recorded in The Kent Weather Book.
I don't have to travel to London and I haven't caught many aeroplanes recently, or found myself in a horrendous queue
on a snowbound M25, so I am one of the lucky ones.
Just before Christmas I went alone for a walk in the Toys Hill woodlands and was a witness to a scene I may never see
again in my lifetime. Snow, almost certainly the heaviest fall since January 1987, had turned the trees into great white
vaulted cathedrals with a light and shade of inexhaustible variety. In the more open area the snow on the ground was
perfectly beautiful and, under the warm sunlight of a cloudless day, the curves a sublime perfection.
There was no one around. No people, no dogs, no sound of cars or aeroplanes and only the occasional bird, desperately
seeking food. As Elizabeth Chase wrote in her diary in the mid-19th century, "Our drowned and desolate world lies dumb and
white in a trance of snow".
Yet somewhere beyond the wonderful white architecture of Toys Hill a different, yet familiar, story was about to unfold.
By Monday evening the hill on which I live was closed, blocked by a dozen cars which had skidded into each other. My
daughter was on the M25 and had been for several hours. Charing Cross station was closed. So was Eurostar and, elsewhere,
people were falling over on the ice. Even the gritter was stuck. There was chaos everywhere.
And yet here, within a few yards of my home, was a wonderland. More to the point, a December wonderland. How rare is
that? "Considerably", says my friend Ian Currie, meteorologist and co-author of The Kent Weather Book. "December
is changeable with a succession of weather systems bringing alternating fine and wet spells. Snow before Christmas? It's
more likely in April."
Latest news
Bob has a regular weekly page in the Bromley Times (and the Kentish Times Series), the Gravesend
and Dartford Reporter and the Sevenoaks Chronicle. Most of his articles reflect local lore and legend collected
during his 50-year career as a journalist. However, he also encourages readers to write their own reminiscences.
In the Wake of the Hurricane (national edition) has been reprinted by popular demand — see latest titles
The Kent Weather Book has been updated to include the years up to 2007 — see
latest titles
There is now a list of Bob's forthcoming talks on the Bob Ogley page.
We were in danger of running out of copies of Kent at War but I am delighted to report that it has
been reprinted in time for Christmas and, of course, the famous anniversaries fast approaching.
This illustrated history of the second world war relives the drama, the heroism and the horrors as they unfolded in
Kent — a county in which many people were nearer to occupied Europe than they were to their own capital city. All
the great events are here: mobilisation, the evacuation, the phoney war, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Blitz,
the fighter sweeps, D-Day, the flying bombs, the rockets and VE Day in May 1945.
The book is a hybrid between journalism and history and contains more than 200 photographs.
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