David Arscott is an author, local historian and publisher from Sussex.
He has written more than 40 books about Sussex, as well as several volumes of the Salariya Book Company's Very Peculiar History series and a number of works of fiction. His 1984 novel The Frozen City has been translated into Japanese. His first venture into political satire, Lady Thatcher's Wink, was published in 2016. As an author, his books are largely held in libraries worldwide. As an author, he has been collected by libraries worldwide.
Arscott worked as a journalist from 1959, first with the Investors Chronicle and the Evening Standard in London and then for the English language paper The Daily Journal in Caracas, Venezuela. Returning to England, he reported for the Dorset Evening Echo. After taking an English degree at Hertford College, Oxford, he joined BBC Radio Brighton as a news producer, switching to general programme production and presentation shortly before the station expanded to become BBC Radio Sussex.
His publishing company, Pomegranate Press, founded in 1992, until recently offered a self-publishing service to other authors. It initially specialised in books with a Sussex theme but later expanded to include the Pomegranate Practicals nutshell guides, fiction and a range of non-fiction titles.
He is also involved in media training with Curtin and Co, working with colleagues in the UK and abroad to coach individuals and groups in improving their skills in front of the microphone and the camera.
David Arscott lives in Lewes, UK.
Bibliography
Sussex books
Hidden Sussex (with Warden Swinfen) (BBC Radio Sussex) 1984
People of Hidden Sussex (with Warden Swinfen)(BBC Radio Sussex) 1985
Hidden Sussex Day by Day (with Warden Swinfen) (BBC Radio Sussex) 1987
Hidden Sussex The Towns (with Warden Swinfen) (BBC Radio Sussex) 1990
Explore Sussex (Countryside Books) 1986
The Sussex Story (Pomegranate Press) 1992
Living Sussex (Pomegranate Press) 1994
Curiosities of East Sussex (SB Publications) 1991
Hastings and the 1066 Country (SB Publications) 1993
Curiosities of West Sussex (SB Publications) 1993
A Sussex Quiz Book (SB Publications) 1993
Tales from the Parish Pump (SB Publications) 1994
Sussex, the County in Colour (Dovecote Press) 1995
A Second Sussex Quiz Book (SB Publications) 1995
Dead and Buried in Sussex (SB Publications) 1997
Sussex Privies (Countryside Books) 1998
What the Vicar Saw (Pomegranate Press) 1999
The Sussex Millennium Book (Pomegranate Press) 1999
The Sussex Gardens Book (Pomegranate Press) 2000
A Century of Brighton & Hove (Sutton Publishing) 2000
Eastbourne Past & Present (Sutton Publishing) 2001
Horsham Past & Present (Sutton Publishing) 2002
Brighton in the News (Sutton Publishing) 2002
Amberley Castle (Dovecote Press) 2002
A Century of Eastbourne (Sutton Publishing) 2002
Chailey Heritage (SB Publications) 2003
East Sussex Events (Phillimore) 2003
The Sussex Bedside Book (Dovecote Press) 2003
Our Lewes (Sutton Publishing) 2004
Sussex: a Colour Portrait (Countryside Books 2004
Lewes Then & Now vol. 2 (with Bill Young) (SB Publications) 2004
The Neat & Nippy Guide to Lewes (SB Publications) 2006
Wunt be Druv: a salute to the Sussex dialect (Countryside Books) 2006
A Sussex Kipling (Pomegranate Press) 2007
A Tour Along the Sussex Coast (Snake River Press) 2008
Brighton: a Very Peculiar History (Salariya) 2009
The Sussex Pub Quiz Book (Pomegranate Press) 2010
The Little Book of Sussex (History Press) 2011
Horsham Then & Now (History Press) 2011
Floreat Lewys: 500 Years of Lewes Old Grammar School (Pomegranate Press) 2012
Brighton, a Very Peculiar History Quiz Book (Salariya) 2012
Very Peculiar Histories (Salariya)
The Blitz, 2009
Rations, 2010
The World Cup, 2010
The Olympics, 2011
60 Years a Queen, 2011
Golf, 2011
The Sixties, 2012
Sex, 2012
England vol. I, 2013
Oxford, 2013
Wine, 2015
Fiction
The Frozen City (with David Marl) (Allen & Unwin) 1984
A Flight of Bright Birds (with David Marl) (Allen & Unwin) 1985
Cultic Cyphers from Celtic Cyprus (7,5) (Pomegranate Press) 2002
Maracas in Caracas: short stories from England and the Americas (Pomegranate Press) 2005