Pete Langman
@elegantfowl.bsky.social
Writer, editor, historian, cricketer and Parkinsonian. YOPD, OED, PhD. Co-author of Spycraft. petelangman.com
From this day hence, if any should ask of thee why no one buys your books, simply refer them to 1668, when a theologian commented thus on some blow hard or other 'The invincible Obscurity of his Writings will prevent his being over-popular.'
September 26, 2025 at 10:34 AM
From this day hence, if any should ask of thee why no one buys your books, simply refer them to 1668, when a theologian commented thus on some blow hard or other 'The invincible Obscurity of his Writings will prevent his being over-popular.'
Reposted by Pete Langman
You can get it from Westwood Books and there are even a couple of 1st Edition signed hardbacks that I had put aside but forgot if you search it on the site
Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration, Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman
New Paperback A fascinating exploration of the devious tricks and ingenious tools used by early modern spies—from ciphers to counterfeiting, invisible inks to assassination Early modern Europe was a...
www.westwoodbooks.co.uk
September 23, 2025 at 3:03 PM
You can get it from Westwood Books and there are even a couple of 1st Edition signed hardbacks that I had put aside but forgot if you search it on the site
Wanted: Spycraft from @YaleBooks has escaped from the Tower disguised as a paperback ... track it down at a bookseller near you today!
September 23, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Wanted: Spycraft from @YaleBooks has escaped from the Tower disguised as a paperback ... track it down at a bookseller near you today!
On the day the paperback edition of Spycraft @YaleBooks is released from close confinement in the Tower, here's an extract to whet the appetite ... www.the-emigre.com/column/the-c...
The Counterfeiting of Robert Gray — The Emigre
An extract from Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration, out this week in paperback.
www.the-emigre.com
September 23, 2025 at 7:23 AM
On the day the paperback edition of Spycraft @YaleBooks is released from close confinement in the Tower, here's an extract to whet the appetite ... www.the-emigre.com/column/the-c...
So ... is it a coincidence that EEBO only thinks I might be a robot when I'm summoning something by William Perkins?
September 9, 2025 at 9:47 AM
So ... is it a coincidence that EEBO only thinks I might be a robot when I'm summoning something by William Perkins?
Will the $3,000 per book Anthropic ruling lead to a plethora of authors complaing that their book wasn't stolen to train AI models? It is, after all, not the most lucrative of professions ... authoring, that is.
September 6, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Will the $3,000 per book Anthropic ruling lead to a plethora of authors complaing that their book wasn't stolen to train AI models? It is, after all, not the most lucrative of professions ... authoring, that is.
Reposted by Pete Langman
It’s publication day! 🥳 🎈 🍾
Women Who Ruled the World: 5000 Years of Female Monarchy published by @wearefootnote and available in all good booksellers.
#womenwhoruledtheworld #reigningqueen #femaleking #mybook #newbook #newhistory
Women Who Ruled the World: 5000 Years of Female Monarchy published by @wearefootnote and available in all good booksellers.
#womenwhoruledtheworld #reigningqueen #femaleking #mybook #newbook #newhistory
September 4, 2025 at 7:58 AM
It’s publication day! 🥳 🎈 🍾
Women Who Ruled the World: 5000 Years of Female Monarchy published by @wearefootnote and available in all good booksellers.
#womenwhoruledtheworld #reigningqueen #femaleking #mybook #newbook #newhistory
Women Who Ruled the World: 5000 Years of Female Monarchy published by @wearefootnote and available in all good booksellers.
#womenwhoruledtheworld #reigningqueen #femaleking #mybook #newbook #newhistory
Delightful to find the pinky, or little finger, described in beautifully practical fashion as the 'eare-finger' (1644)!
September 3, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Delightful to find the pinky, or little finger, described in beautifully practical fashion as the 'eare-finger' (1644)!
Here's what happened when I was forced to bat left-handed one-handed due to a shoulder injury ... with apologies to Chris Woakes! www.petelangman.com/lefty-langman/
Lefty Langman | pete langman
www.petelangman.com
August 9, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Here's what happened when I was forced to bat left-handed one-handed due to a shoulder injury ... with apologies to Chris Woakes! www.petelangman.com/lefty-langman/
Reposted by Pete Langman
As ex-unbounders turned author-publishers we applaud initiatives helping those affected by the fiasco, as we’ve been doing for 2 1/2 years, and are happy for anyone on this new lifeboat.
(1/2)
(1/2)
Will Atkinson, the former head of Atlantic Books, has set up a new publishing company, Wilton Square, to initially "provide a safe and secure home" for authors previously publishing by Unbound 👇
New publisher set up to 'provide a safe and secure home' for Unbound authors
Will Atkinson, the former head of Atlantic Books, has set up a new publishing company, Wilton Square, to initially "provide a safe and secure home" for authors previously publishing by Unbound.
ebx.sh
August 4, 2025 at 2:51 PM
As ex-unbounders turned author-publishers we applaud initiatives helping those affected by the fiasco, as we’ve been doing for 2 1/2 years, and are happy for anyone on this new lifeboat.
(1/2)
(1/2)
Reposted by Pete Langman
Reposted by Pete Langman
Some #Spycraft, for those lovely @harvingtonhall.bsky.social festivalgoers engelsbergideas.com/reviews/insi...
Inside the early modern spy’s toolkit
Meticulous archival research has shed light on the various tricks and tools used by spies in early modern England, uncovering a pivotal moment in the development of intelligence as an instrument of th...
engelsbergideas.com
July 27, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Some #Spycraft, for those lovely @harvingtonhall.bsky.social festivalgoers engelsbergideas.com/reviews/insi...
Great day @harvingtonhall.bsky.social talking all things Spycraft with @misswalsingham.bsky.social and Gunpowder Plottage with @enortonhistory.bsky.social and Prof Stephen Alford ...
July 26, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Great day @harvingtonhall.bsky.social talking all things Spycraft with @misswalsingham.bsky.social and Gunpowder Plottage with @enortonhistory.bsky.social and Prof Stephen Alford ...
Reposted by Pete Langman
He’s at it again! Hall Manager Phil is locking himself in a priest hole for 48hrs from Sunday 27th July with the a goal of raising £15,000 for Harvington Hall!
Help him hit his target: 🎯 donate.mydona.com/harvington-hall
Help him hit his target: 🎯 donate.mydona.com/harvington-hall
May 28, 2025 at 7:20 PM
He’s at it again! Hall Manager Phil is locking himself in a priest hole for 48hrs from Sunday 27th July with the a goal of raising £15,000 for Harvington Hall!
Help him hit his target: 🎯 donate.mydona.com/harvington-hall
Help him hit his target: 🎯 donate.mydona.com/harvington-hall
Hearing that modern refrain 'I work in AI' has led me to decide that my answer to the question 'what do you do' shall henceforth be 'I work in I'.
July 21, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Hearing that modern refrain 'I work in AI' has led me to decide that my answer to the question 'what do you do' shall henceforth be 'I work in I'.
Just in case you felt that there was some Spycraft missing from your Friday, here's us being mercilessly interrogated by Kat Marchant! youtu.be/sguHNyKjjns
Spycraft: Expert Interview
YouTube video by Reading the Past
youtu.be
July 11, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Just in case you felt that there was some Spycraft missing from your Friday, here's us being mercilessly interrogated by Kat Marchant! youtu.be/sguHNyKjjns
John 'Fingers' Fingleton's MCC jacket left on his customary seat at Lord's in tribute ...
July 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
John 'Fingers' Fingleton's MCC jacket left on his customary seat at Lord's in tribute ...
So, that was Ham to the Thief ... looked great, sounded pretty good (bar a few bits of poor sounditude), and the text was, well, edited ... the only question we had at the end was 'Why?' I doubt this question will ever be satisfactorily answered ...
June 24, 2025 at 11:37 AM
So, that was Ham to the Thief ... looked great, sounded pretty good (bar a few bits of poor sounditude), and the text was, well, edited ... the only question we had at the end was 'Why?' I doubt this question will ever be satisfactorily answered ...
strange governmental wording over the proposed cuts to disability benefits: 'Our principled reforms will ensure those who can work should'. Should? Eh?
June 20, 2025 at 7:50 AM
strange governmental wording over the proposed cuts to disability benefits: 'Our principled reforms will ensure those who can work should'. Should? Eh?
The appointment of Blaise Metreweli as head of MI6 would come as no surprise to anyone who has read Invisible Agents and Spycraft by @misswalsingham.bsky.social - if you have yet to do so, maybe now's the time ... @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/7417...
The secret lives of MI6’s top female spies
For the first time ever, SIS officers reveal why women often make the best spies for our times
www.ft.com
June 16, 2025 at 8:11 AM
The appointment of Blaise Metreweli as head of MI6 would come as no surprise to anyone who has read Invisible Agents and Spycraft by @misswalsingham.bsky.social - if you have yet to do so, maybe now's the time ... @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/7417...
Surprise Surprise! with Scylla Black.
June 9, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Surprise Surprise! with Scylla Black.
I woke up this morning with a scar on my forehead. Does anyone know when the magical powers will kick in?
June 7, 2025 at 11:49 AM
I woke up this morning with a scar on my forehead. Does anyone know when the magical powers will kick in?
Were I forced to pitch an argument against audiobooks (beyond the ever-present dangers of being trapped in a pair of headphones with Stephen Fry), I'd submit but one word: punctuation. Or would it be '; punctuation', or ', punctuation'? '-punctuation'; '. Punctuation?'
June 7, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Were I forced to pitch an argument against audiobooks (beyond the ever-present dangers of being trapped in a pair of headphones with Stephen Fry), I'd submit but one word: punctuation. Or would it be '; punctuation', or ', punctuation'? '-punctuation'; '. Punctuation?'
I wonder how many pre-sales have been recorded for the fake Chicago newspaper novels? Perhaps another AI will write them ... is this AI nepotism at work?
May 21, 2025 at 6:49 AM
I wonder how many pre-sales have been recorded for the fake Chicago newspaper novels? Perhaps another AI will write them ... is this AI nepotism at work?
Reposted by Pete Langman
Don't miss this fantastic event at Oxford Castle on 21-22 June!
🎭 Become a trained soldier or a spy!
💥 Learn about what Oxford was like during the English Civil War!
🥁 Hear the thunder of drums of war & see the colours fly!
⚔️ Choose your side!
www.oxfordcastleandprison.co.uk/events/event...
🎭 Become a trained soldier or a spy!
💥 Learn about what Oxford was like during the English Civil War!
🥁 Hear the thunder of drums of war & see the colours fly!
⚔️ Choose your side!
www.oxfordcastleandprison.co.uk/events/event...
The Siege of Oxford at Oxford Castle & Prison - Oxford Castle & Prison
Step back to 1646 and witness Oxford's biggest civil war with friends and family for free. Decide to defend the royalists or join the parliamentarian spies!
www.oxfordcastleandprison.co.uk
May 18, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Don't miss this fantastic event at Oxford Castle on 21-22 June!
🎭 Become a trained soldier or a spy!
💥 Learn about what Oxford was like during the English Civil War!
🥁 Hear the thunder of drums of war & see the colours fly!
⚔️ Choose your side!
www.oxfordcastleandprison.co.uk/events/event...
🎭 Become a trained soldier or a spy!
💥 Learn about what Oxford was like during the English Civil War!
🥁 Hear the thunder of drums of war & see the colours fly!
⚔️ Choose your side!
www.oxfordcastleandprison.co.uk/events/event...