Annette Josephine Carson is a British non-fiction author specialising in history, biography and aviation, with a particular interest in King Richard III. Since 2002 she has also been an advocate for UK state pension parity for UK expatriates.
Early life
Born 1 September 1940 in Brighton, England, Carson is the only daughter of Harry Groombridge, musician and bandleader who died in 1960. She was educated at Mary Datchelor Girls’ School in London and the Royal College of Music where she studied violin with Alan Loveday. In 1960, she married US actor Robert Allen Carson (aka Paul Carson), marriage dissolved 1966.
Career
Aviation and aerobatics
In the 1980s Carson was British Delegate to the Aerobatics Commission (CIVA) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), and was elected Secretary of CIVA and Chairman of its Judging Sub-Committee. She served in organisational roles including Contest Director, British Team Manager and International Jury member. In 1984 she co-wrote (with Eric Müller) Flight Unlimited. In 1986 Carson published Flight Fantastic: The Illustrated History of Aerobatics, earning the FAI's Paul Tissandier Diploma. In 1998, Carson contributed articles to Encyclopaedia Britannica on Aerobatics and Stunt Flying. In September 2019 Carson published a new aviation biography Camel Pilot Supreme: Captain D V Armstrong DFC, with Pilot magazine critic Philip Whiteman called it "deeply researched, hugely informative".
Carson was awarded with the 2019 Thornton D. Hooper Award for Excellence in Aviation History by the readers of Over the Front, the journal of the League of World War 1 Aviation Historians.
PR and advertising
Carson was a booking agent during Jeff Beck's rise to fame with the Yardbirds, and during her 20-year career in the entertainment industry she worked at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), at Equity, and for Thames TV.
Carson subsequently freelanced while producing the biographical work Jeff Beck: Crazy Fingers, published in the US in 2001. Q-Magazine critic Michael Leonard called it "The finest and probably final word".
In 1989 Carson relocated to work in Johannesburg, South Africa as a copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather, Grey Response, D’Arcy Direct and Bates International, winning several local and international awards, including a 1991 SPADA (South Africa); a 1992 DMA International Gold Echo; and a 1997 DMA International Silver Echo.
Books on King Richard III
With a lifelong interest in King Richard III of England Carson published Richard III: The Maligned King (2008, 2009, 2013, 2017), a revisionist analysis of his reign based on non-Tudor sources. Carson concluded that the King's remains still lay under the Greyfriars Church in Leicester where he was originally buried and that the site ‘would now probably lie beneath the private car park of the Department of Social Services’ editions of 2008, 2009, pp. 269-270.
Her biographical work includes several books on King Richard III of England, and while she was still in South Africa the Looking For Richard Project was initiated in the UK and following her return in 2011 Carson was invited to join the Project as historical consultant. The Project's aim was to find the lost grave of Richard III and his mortal remains which meant excavating the same Social Services car park that Carson had written about. Of Richard III: The Maligned King, Philippa Langley, who had founded the Looking for Richard Project said that ‘It was the first book I had read to make this claim.’. As well as being historical consultant, Carson contributed to the Project's scripting and copywriting, and produced the International Appeal that saved the dig from a £10,000 shortfall.
In 2013 after revising The Maligned King Carson published Richard III: A Small Guide to the Great Debate. In 2014 members of the Looking For Richard Project collaborated to produce a report of their research, edited and published by Carson, entitled Finding Richard III: The Official Account of Research by the Retrieval and Reburial Project. In 2014 Carson was awarded Honorary Life Membership and is now a Fellow of the Richard III Society.
In 2015 Carson published her fourth Ricardian book, Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector and High Constable of England, with Ken Hillier saying in the Ricardian Bulletin: "A compelling narrative".