The Counterfeiting of Robert Gray

An extract from Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration, out this week in paperback.

Aug Stone 9/13/25 Aug Stone 9/13/25

Rachel On The Rooftops

Aug Stone returns to the music scene with a new single.

Timothy E Popple 9/7/25 Timothy E Popple 9/7/25

Good (Animal-Named) Pubs Near Cathedrals

A partial list for after Evensong.

ASH Smyth 8/31/25 ASH Smyth 8/31/25

News At A Glance #40

Homeless actors, breeding programmes, Humpty-Dumpty, and anxious readers. The Emigre’s latest round-up of world news.

Philip Ardagh 8/5/25 Philip Ardagh 8/5/25

Stella Rimington BA DG DCB PhD (but not KGB) RIP

Philip Ardagh on a memorable evening spent in the company of the late spy chief.

Richard Simon 5/9/25 Richard Simon 5/9/25

Time Taken to Walk a Thousand Miles to the Tempo of 500 Miles

All measurements given in miles (mi) for public convenience.

ASH Smyth 4/23/25 ASH Smyth 4/23/25

JMW Turner: An Alternative View

ASH Smyth takes a leaf out of JMW Turner’s sketchbook.

Ronnie MacLennan Baird 3/11/25 Ronnie MacLennan Baird 3/11/25

A Terminal Case

Ronnie MacLennan Baird watches the world go by.

Richard Simon 3/3/25 Richard Simon 3/3/25

Daggers at the Font

An outtake from Thomia: The Entangled Histories of Lanka & Her Greatest Public School, out today.

RS Burnett 2/13/25 RS Burnett 2/13/25

Total Whiteout

ASH Smyth talks to RS Burnett about his Antarctic thriller debut, and the long road to publication.

ASH Smyth 2/10/25 ASH Smyth 2/10/25

In Memoriam: Willie Loughlin

ASH Smyth ‘remembers’ the Singing Laundryman.

Philip Womack 2/7/25 Philip Womack 2/7/25

On Will-fullness

Why are we so desperate to believe that William Shakespeare wasn’t William Shakespeare?

Peter Foggitt 1/15/25 Peter Foggitt 1/15/25

Il Zoofiliaco (The Zoophiliac)

A recently discovered opera by G.F. Handel.

Martin Rowson 12/18/24 Martin Rowson 12/18/24

Where Was I?

Martin Rowson on the original unfilmable (and indeed unreadable) ‘anti-novel’, Tristram Shandy.

Nathan Koblintz 12/10/24 Nathan Koblintz 12/10/24

Knopper gall, ZX Spectrum

‘The gall sprawls like a thought bubble coming out of the acorn head.’ A new poem by Nathan Koblintz.

Jon Courtenay Grimwood 11/21/24 Jon Courtenay Grimwood 11/21/24

Some Jelly Fish Are Immortal

A new poem by Jon Courtenay Grimwood.

Becky Clark 11/19/24 Becky Clark 11/19/24

How To Make People Like You In 90 Seconds... and Hate You Forever

How to push for more, beam more… or just carry on being your cheese-eating self.

The Yeti 10/31/24 The Yeti 10/31/24

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! Yeti With A Machete

Three exclusive scenes from the indie horror/adventure movie the world needs to see!

ASH Smyth 10/13/24 ASH Smyth 10/13/24

Cougar Adventure

In affectionate remembrance of Willard Price, 28.7.1887—14.10.1983

Nathan Koblintz 8/31/24 Nathan Koblintz 8/31/24

Twelve Sinhala Sayings Rendered into English

ඉබි පිහාටු : Nathan Koblintz indulges in the proverbial.