A brief history of the cat-flap
The cat flap was invented by Duke Ercole d’Este in the late fifteenth century. Now they’re everywhere.Read more
Writing and readability
How do the criticisms and suggestions of robo-editor Yoast relate to ‘writing’ more generally? The case of Gray’s ‘Smoking Diaries’.Read more
Ratsbane! or: How to poison an Elizabethan (part 1)
‘Arsenic’ is sometimes called ‘the king of poisons’. But already in the sixteenth-century ‘arsenic’ was available in several different forms, each more or less suited to the job in hand. This article looks at the main alternatives, and the problems that a tyro poisoner might have with sourcing and administering their preferred choice. [The featured…Read more
Review: Simon Gray, The Smoking Diaries
An utterly wonderful cogitation upon life, love, family, disease, infidelity, friendship, writing and aging. Gray (1930-2008) was a prolific and highly esteemed playwright and novelist. He was never a household name like his friend Harold Pinter, but then who was? The Smoking Diaries (2004) (and its sequels The Year of the Jouncer (2006) and The…Read more
The Medici and Florence in the 16th century
My historical novel ‘Galileo’s Revenge’ is set in sixteenth-century Florence, ruled by the Medici Dukes of Tuscany. Originally a family of merchants and bankers, the Medici dominated the government and culture of FlorenceRead more
Of Bezoar, and Bezoarticke medicines
In my novel ‘Galileo’s Revenge’, our hero Galileo Galilei has to solve the suspicious death of Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici (1541-87). In the course of his investigation, Galileo turns to the work of French barber-surgeon Ambroise Paré (c.1510-90), especially the treatise on poisons.Read more
Review: Julian Rathbone, The Last English King
Julian Rathbone’s, The Last English King (1997), is one of the most memorable historical crime stories that I’ve ever read – assuming, that is, that you count pillage, rape, murder and indeed genocide as crimes. ‘The last English King’ of the title is, of course, King Harold (c.1022-1066), aka Harold Godwinson. Harold was killed at…Read more
Review: Penelope Fitzgerald, The Blue Flower
Penelope Fitzgerald, The Blue Flower (1995). A truly wonderful book, based on a true story. It is probably the best work of historical fiction ever written. Full stop. Although, superficially, I must admit, the story is almost Mills & Boon. Germany in the 1790s, the French Revolution rumbling in the background. Friedrich von Hardenberg (1772-1801),…Read more
Fynes Moryson, 3: Where to stay and what to eat in Padua
Fynes Moryson (1566-1630) needed to find board and lodging for the winter. The young English gentleman, a near contemporary of Galileo (and Shakespeare), had left England on Mayday, 1591. (See my first Fynes Moryson blog, A rough guide to Shakespeare’s Europe.) After two years of travel around northern Europe, he had crossed the Alps into Italy on Hallow’een, 1593, and headed straight for the Venetian university city of Padua.Read more
Fynes Moryson arrives in Italy
Fynes Moryson (1566-1630) was a well-connected young gentleman from the East of England. In 1591 he left England to travel around Europe. For the next two and a half years he travelled through the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Prussia, Poland and Bohemia.Read more