Mathew Lyons
@mathewlyons.bsky.social
Writer, historian. FRHistS. Recent work: History Today, The Spectator, Slightly Foxed, New Humanist, Engelsberg Ideas.
Magical evening last night watching Duke Special in Hoxton. We didn’t know his work at all but we fell in love with it all the same. I mean, songs about Bede & Modigliani. A song based on a Michael Longley poem. Another on the Velveteen Rabbit. Three Kurt Weill songs. Fabulous.
November 28, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Magical evening last night watching Duke Special in Hoxton. We didn’t know his work at all but we fell in love with it all the same. I mean, songs about Bede & Modigliani. A song based on a Michael Longley poem. Another on the Velveteen Rabbit. Three Kurt Weill songs. Fabulous.
My pick of the history and non-fiction books in November. (With one historical novel too!)
Part one is here. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/sixteen-bo...
Part one is here. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/sixteen-bo...
Sixteen books to look out for in November (part one)
Upcoming history and non-fiction titles that have caught my eye
mathewlyons.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:54 AM
My pick of the history and non-fiction books in November. (With one historical novel too!)
Part one is here. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/sixteen-bo...
Part one is here. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/sixteen-bo...
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Here's our Telenovela publication day newsletter - full of glad tidings!
www.galleybeggar.co.uk/campaigns/vi...
www.galleybeggar.co.uk/campaigns/vi...
Two things to celebrate
Happy publication day to this wonderful writer:
www.galleybeggar.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Here's our Telenovela publication day newsletter - full of glad tidings!
www.galleybeggar.co.uk/campaigns/vi...
www.galleybeggar.co.uk/campaigns/vi...
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Roland Barthes on why getting up early is never as good as it is meant to be:
November 27, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Roland Barthes on why getting up early is never as good as it is meant to be:
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
One of the most infuriating (amid hot competition) things about discussion of closing music departments is the plea 'oh but we love extra-curricular things like orchestras'. It's a wilfully ignorant reduction of what academic music depts do. High level performance is 1 component within ...
November 27, 2025 at 10:29 AM
One of the most infuriating (amid hot competition) things about discussion of closing music departments is the plea 'oh but we love extra-curricular things like orchestras'. It's a wilfully ignorant reduction of what academic music depts do. High level performance is 1 component within ...
If any bibliophiles out there fancy bankrupting themselves, Yale University Press has a half-price sale this month. yalebooks.co.uk
Home - Yale University Press London
Welcome to the Yale University Press London home page: explore our books, meet our authors, find out about our publishing mission.
yalebooks.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:16 AM
If any bibliophiles out there fancy bankrupting themselves, Yale University Press has a half-price sale this month. yalebooks.co.uk
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Delighted that Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life is an @economist.com book of the year. www.economist.com/culture/2025...
The best books of 2025
Gladiators and dictators, wolves and Beatles feature in our list this year
www.economist.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Delighted that Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life is an @economist.com book of the year. www.economist.com/culture/2025...
Oh, this looks amazing!
Just out!
As @sarahsemple.bsky.social says, '544 pages and 190 images of pure sculptural joy!'
A fantastic cast list and a tremendous achievement @ascorpus.bsky.social.
boydellandbrewer.com/book/early-m...
As @sarahsemple.bsky.social says, '544 pages and 190 images of pure sculptural joy!'
A fantastic cast list and a tremendous achievement @ascorpus.bsky.social.
boydellandbrewer.com/book/early-m...
November 26, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Oh, this looks amazing!
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
This upcoming @swsilents.bsky.social Gloria Swanson event is a treat - a triple treat in fact with two films and Meg Morley on piano. Book here: ti.to/film-noir-uk...
November 26, 2025 at 10:09 PM
This upcoming @swsilents.bsky.social Gloria Swanson event is a treat - a triple treat in fact with two films and Meg Morley on piano. Book here: ti.to/film-noir-uk...
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Two days to go! If you're near Cambridge, drop by our book launch to chat with the writers and editors, knock back a tot of rum or wine, and listen to some very weird poems.
Details: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...
Details: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...
November 26, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Two days to go! If you're near Cambridge, drop by our book launch to chat with the writers and editors, knock back a tot of rum or wine, and listen to some very weird poems.
Details: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...
Details: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
#Cambridge people… I’ll be signing copies of #AgentZo, the dramatic story of the only woman to parachute into Nazi-occupied Poland, at @waterstones.bsky.social , 1-3pm, Sat 13 Dec.
Please come & say hello!
Please come & say hello!
November 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
#Cambridge people… I’ll be signing copies of #AgentZo, the dramatic story of the only woman to parachute into Nazi-occupied Poland, at @waterstones.bsky.social , 1-3pm, Sat 13 Dec.
Please come & say hello!
Please come & say hello!
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
BREAKING: A fresh approach to upgrading Liverpool St Stn unveiled today.
We welcome John McAslan + Partners ‘valuable contribution’ to debate on changes at UK’s busiest station. It shows how upgrades could be achieved without disruption to passengers.
Learn more👉 bit.ly/4lxYlyu
We welcome John McAslan + Partners ‘valuable contribution’ to debate on changes at UK’s busiest station. It shows how upgrades could be achieved without disruption to passengers.
Learn more👉 bit.ly/4lxYlyu
November 26, 2025 at 10:39 AM
BREAKING: A fresh approach to upgrading Liverpool St Stn unveiled today.
We welcome John McAslan + Partners ‘valuable contribution’ to debate on changes at UK’s busiest station. It shows how upgrades could be achieved without disruption to passengers.
Learn more👉 bit.ly/4lxYlyu
We welcome John McAslan + Partners ‘valuable contribution’ to debate on changes at UK’s busiest station. It shows how upgrades could be achieved without disruption to passengers.
Learn more👉 bit.ly/4lxYlyu
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
November 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Take a minute.
November 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Take a minute.
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
OMG. The Guardian have confused Kenneth Clark, presenter of the 1969 series 'Civilisation' with Tory ex-MP & former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke in their review of the new BBC series 'Civilisations:Rise & Fall'
November 25, 2025 at 12:29 AM
OMG. The Guardian have confused Kenneth Clark, presenter of the 1969 series 'Civilisation' with Tory ex-MP & former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke in their review of the new BBC series 'Civilisations:Rise & Fall'
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Enormously proud of this series. If history is your thing, do give it a listen, like and/or share!
It's January 1649 and Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is about to be put on trial for treason...
The penultimate episode of UPRISING: THE CIVIL WARS is out now. Produced by HistFest Productions for @historyextra.bsky.social
🎧 play.megaphone.fm/quvuyhkqs66t...
The penultimate episode of UPRISING: THE CIVIL WARS is out now. Produced by HistFest Productions for @historyextra.bsky.social
🎧 play.megaphone.fm/quvuyhkqs66t...
November 25, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Enormously proud of this series. If history is your thing, do give it a listen, like and/or share!
I remember being terribly impressed as a kid by a Gene Krupa movie where he drums a love letter from an ex- to pieces on his tom-tom. (Or some other drum. Who knows? I was eight or so.)
22. Favorite Musical Performance in a Film Noir
Everything about this is GOLD, from the set-up, to the direction, to the energy that you can feel resonate from the celluloid, to Elisha Cook Jr.'s expression which is frankly, unsettling.
#NoirvemberChallenge #Noirvember #FilmNoir
Phantom Lady (1944)
Everything about this is GOLD, from the set-up, to the direction, to the energy that you can feel resonate from the celluloid, to Elisha Cook Jr.'s expression which is frankly, unsettling.
#NoirvemberChallenge #Noirvember #FilmNoir
Phantom Lady (1944)
You Like Jive? 1944 Phantom Lady Jazz Drum Solo Robert Siodmak Ella Raines Elisha Cook Jr. Film Noir
YouTube video by BS
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I remember being terribly impressed as a kid by a Gene Krupa movie where he drums a love letter from an ex- to pieces on his tom-tom. (Or some other drum. Who knows? I was eight or so.)
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Writing historical fiction? @sanjida.kay and I have taught 1000s of writers: join us for a masterclass! 7-8.30 pm GMT Wed 26 November. Through the lens of our own fiction we'll explore what makes historical fiction resonate. research vs storytelling, characters, voice & pitfalls: luma.com/0m0ddh4y
November 24, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Writing historical fiction? @sanjida.kay and I have taught 1000s of writers: join us for a masterclass! 7-8.30 pm GMT Wed 26 November. Through the lens of our own fiction we'll explore what makes historical fiction resonate. research vs storytelling, characters, voice & pitfalls: luma.com/0m0ddh4y
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
VERY honoured to be featured as part of this long-running series put together by the enviably erudite and admirably public-spirited Mathew Lyons!
New on the Writer’s Bookshelf: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the wonderful @derekturner.bsky.social. Featuring Sir Thomas Browne, Elizabeth Bowen and all manner of highways and by-ways.
The writer's bookshelf: Derek Turner
Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:31 AM
VERY honoured to be featured as part of this long-running series put together by the enviably erudite and admirably public-spirited Mathew Lyons!
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Longblog on John Clare's 1820s poem "The Mores": profadamroberts.substack.com/p/john-clare...
John Clare, ‘The Mores’ (1825)
Enclosed and Unenclosed
profadamroberts.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Longblog on John Clare's 1820s poem "The Mores": profadamroberts.substack.com/p/john-clare...
New on the Writer’s Bookshelf: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the wonderful @derekturner.bsky.social. Featuring Sir Thomas Browne, Elizabeth Bowen and all manner of highways and by-ways.
The writer's bookshelf: Derek Turner
Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:36 AM
New on the Writer’s Bookshelf: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the wonderful @derekturner.bsky.social. Featuring Sir Thomas Browne, Elizabeth Bowen and all manner of highways and by-ways.
I read Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? earlier this year and absolutely loved it.
Every year I stop myself from posting “now look here you lot, my books would make an excellent Christmas present” in October because it’s way too early, and then I forget until it’s way too late.
Hope I’ve hit the sweet spot this time.
levparikian.com/index.php/sh...
Hope I’ve hit the sweet spot this time.
levparikian.com/index.php/sh...
November 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM
I read Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? earlier this year and absolutely loved it.
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
The RHS Plant Collector Archive is a unique collection of papers associated with the 12 plant collectors and their journeys. For the first time they are now fully catalogued, digitised, and free for everyone to access #skystorians #gardenhistory #nineteenthcentury
collections.rhs.org.uk/view/343871
collections.rhs.org.uk/view/343871
RHS Plant Collector Archive - 19th century papers
collections.rhs.org.uk
November 23, 2025 at 10:38 AM
The RHS Plant Collector Archive is a unique collection of papers associated with the 12 plant collectors and their journeys. For the first time they are now fully catalogued, digitised, and free for everyone to access #skystorians #gardenhistory #nineteenthcentury
collections.rhs.org.uk/view/343871
collections.rhs.org.uk/view/343871
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Delighted that Upon A White Horse has made it into the Financial Times’s Books of 2025. The full list is in this weekend’s paper. Many thanks to Tom Robbins for choosing my book.
November 22, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Delighted that Upon A White Horse has made it into the Financial Times’s Books of 2025. The full list is in this weekend’s paper. Many thanks to Tom Robbins for choosing my book.
A lovely piece from @murielzagha.bsky.social on the glories of I Know Where I'm Going.
The cult of Powell & Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going!
I know where I’m going. I’m on the sleeper train chugging out of Euston and heading to Fort William. A wedding dress hangs on the wall in its transparent cover. I know from my printed itinerary that u...
www.spectator.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 1:12 PM
A lovely piece from @murielzagha.bsky.social on the glories of I Know Where I'm Going.