What started as a labour of love through the first lockdown for HMS Victory guide Tony Noon, has become a reality as a faithful and accurate telling of the Victory experience from a guide’s point of view has been published.
The Essential Visual HMS Victory takes readers through a visual feast of the famous warship with facts, figures and anecdotes gleaned by Tony who has spent over 5000 hours onboard. A share of the cover price will be donated to the National Museum of the Royal Navy, who own and manage the ship.
Tony Noon has been a guide on the ship for over five years giving guided tours to tourists, Royal Navy and special interest groups and answering questions raised by some of the 300,000 plus visitors, from home and abroad, who board the ship at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard every year.
The book is laid out as a visitor would tour the ship, from top deck downwards and touches on some of the more commonly asked questions asked daily of the guides, such as “weren't they shorter in those days?” and “how did they go to the toilet?”
Tony Noon says: “Being a guide on one of the world’s most famous warships which is steeped in history, is a real treat. When the ship was forced to close due to Covid-19 pandemic it gave me the perfect opportunity to relive the tour step by step.
“One thing I highly recommend to anyone considering visiting, is to speak to the deeply knowledgeable guides onboard. You can never fail to learn something new by talking to them.
“Huge thanks go to these guides and all the staff at the National Museum of the Royal Navy who, over the last five years, have drummed more facts and figures into my head than I can possibly remember, and who continue to keep me enthused over the marvel of Georgian engineering that is HMS Victory.”
The Essential Visual HMS Victory is available via the National Museum of the Royal Navy’s website https://shop.nmrn.org.uk/index.php/the-essential-visual-hms-victory.html For every copy sold, a donation will be made to the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, to go towards the preservation of HMS Victory and the naval history they protect.
Originally published by Island City Living.