Monthly Archives: May 2014
I am made Queen of Everything (but just for a week)
If you’re a female commuter in the London area, chances are that you might occasionally pick up the free Stylist magazine – after all, the excellent Lucy Mangan has a column in it. Recently I was ‘Queen of Everything’, the interview slot at the back. It might be a little confusing because I spend a
Continue ReadingWe try to win our colonies back, with a royal progress round the US.
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook then you’ll know that I have recently made a whirlwind tour of America. I was giving a number of lectures to supporters of the Royal Oak Foundation, which is the American organization that exists to support the British National Trust. I’ve been on their lecture tours before,
Continue ReadingWhere are all the female trolls? From the horrid to the heartwarming…
It’s really quite striking that the nasty emails I receive (usually about my voice, it seems) are all from men. Come on, ladies! You need to make up for lost ground here. The male trolls are way ahead of you. Usually I just press delete, but occasionally I call a troll out, and even more
Continue ReadingA recipe for some highly destructive Georgian sugar-plums
If you’re watching The First Georgians tonight (9pm, BBC Four), look out for the bit where I get to destroy a sugar model of the city of Carlisle by bombarding it with sugar plums! This week my colleague Christopher Boreham, our researcher on this series, has kindly written a post for you to explain how
Continue ReadingPoor Queen Caroline and her horrible death…
This week on The First Georgians (Thursday, 9pm, BBC Four) we are covering the life and the horrible death of the wonderful queen Caroline. So here’s an extract from my book Courtiers. It’s part of the chapter about Caroline’s death, which was absolutely my favourite to write. You can also see a video of me reading
Continue ReadingWhy I like Victorian murderesses
This week, I’m happy to say, my book about the history of detective fiction is out in paperback. A bargain, if I may say so myself, at £9.99 (or even less from the Evil Empire). To get you in the mood, I’m posting an extract from one of my favourite chapters, which is about Victorian
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