Mathew Lyons
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mathewlyons.bsky.social
Mathew Lyons
@mathewlyons.bsky.social
Writer, historian. FRHistS. Recent work: History Today, The Spectator, Slightly Foxed, New Humanist, Engelsberg Ideas.
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
‘Why can’t the existing railway station be given a gentle and historically sensitive upgrade without the addition of an architecturally redundant tower block?’ – Charles Saumarez Smith explains why plans to redevelop Liverpool Street station are an architectural train wreck
Liverpool Street station is on schedule to be an architectural train wreck
Plans for a widely opposed redevelopment of London Liverpool Street have been approved – why, asks Charles Saumarez Smith, when there is a better, less costly alternative?
buff.ly
February 12, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Kindle edition currently 99p. www.amazon.co.uk/Anglo-Saxons...
February 5, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Had an email scam through the other day addressing me as Damon Runyon – given the circles he moved in, not a man you'd want to impersonate.
February 11, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
The book club scam has taken an exciting new leap forward. I got one today from a "curated literary platform and newsletter" that, unusually, offered a link to its website. I'm in edits, so obviously I took the opportunity to procrastinate. /1
February 11, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Heaven forbid anyone should be surprised, delighted, or otherwise impassioned, by something unexpected.

So much mainstream book publishing works on this model too. How many books are positioned as 'for fans of [author X]' or 'if you liked [author X], you'll like this'?
A former book critic at Washington Post Book World wrote about last week's cuts, and while the whole thing is worth reading, the end cuts through the bullshit of algorithm/click-driven generated content to articulate the need for actual criticism and culture.

www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
February 10, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Is it a coincidence that I’ve started mine just at the time @backlisted.bsky.social is suspending operations?

Yes.

Although if you’re missing the wonderful Backlisted you could always replace it with Six Things, with which it has – and I cannot stress this enough – absolutely nothing in common.
February 10, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
We're approaching the two month mark for our next live show:
📖The Book of Sir Thomas More: Piece by Piece📖
🎟️Two months to go, but not many tickets left - especially after a little flurry of sales today.🎟️
A deep dive into the play, the manuscript, the sources.
www.ticketsource.co.uk/beyondshakes...
February 9, 2026 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
HistFest is back!

We’re thrilled to share details of HistFest 2026. From Ancient Greek naval commanders and Egyptian queens to the history of motherhood and LGBTQ+ social histories – this year, we bring you a raft of fascinating histories and speakers.

Book now! histfest.org/histfest-2026/
January 21, 2026 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
One lesson of the Epstein emails is the total intellectual vacuousness of the international business elite

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Jeffrey Epstein circle’s ‘big ideas’ were vacuous guff
Emails show that despite hooking up the rich, the powerful and intellectuals, the philosophising was utterly banal
www.thetimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Really enjoyed watching this conversation!
Charlie Chaplin’s childhood roles on stage!

He was ‘Billy’, Sherlock Holmes’s pageboy, in the West End.

Then - in his rollercoaster life - he was back in the South London workhouse, and his poor mum in the asylum.

Watch the whole show here:

lucyworsley.substack.com 😃
February 10, 2026 at 7:30 AM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
🚨Record response to our campaign for Liverpool Street station.

🙏Thank you to all that have objected so far. Today is the last day to have your say

www.building.co.uk/news/record-...
Record response to Network Rail’s Liverpool Street overhaul as number of people opposing or supporting plan nears 5,000
Controversial scheme due to be heard by City's plannning committee tomorrow afternoon
www.building.co.uk
February 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
New on the Writer’s Bookshelf this morning: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the wonderful @jacriding.bsky.social.
The writer's bookshelf: Jacqueline Riding
Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…
open.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:40 AM
The TLS diary column picked up on my Substack post about the John Carey / George Barker contretemps.
February 9, 2026 at 11:00 AM
The TLS diary column picked up on my Substack post about the John Carey / George Barker contretemps.
February 9, 2026 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
This was great fun: The Moomins, Thomas Hardy, Midsomer Murders… what’s not to love?! Many thanks to the fab @mathewlyons.bsky.social

#HardStreets @profilebooks.bsky.social
February 9, 2026 at 8:39 AM
New on the Writer’s Bookshelf this morning: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the wonderful @jacriding.bsky.social.
The writer's bookshelf: Jacqueline Riding
Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…
open.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:40 AM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
"Eighty-two years after his execution by the Gestapo on June 16, 1944, the Jewish historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch will be inducted into the Pantheon on June 23... His family requested that 'the far right, in all its forms, be excluded from any participation in the ceremony.'"
February 8, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Very grateful to @andrewmale.bsky.social for highlighting some of the early 30-line television content featured in 'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain', and so pleased at the interest (and even sales!) this is stirring up.
It is also, utterly delightful. Exhibit A, this detail about an early “themed” TV broadcast in 1931. The Televisor, by the way, was an early TV receiver which showed images in portrait format. I’m imagining early TV as a century-old version of TikTok.
February 8, 2026 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
If you're popping to Carlisle for this exhibition, why not go on the 7th March to coincide with me talking about gladiators? Can't wait to see the this wonderful exhibition one last time...
Tickets avaiable here:
tullie.org.uk/events/roman...
February 8, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
well there’s an instant switch
Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser after user feedback revealed many who wanted an AI-free browser experience.
New Mozilla Firefox version to allow AI features to be blocked
Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser.
www.siliconrepublic.com
February 8, 2026 at 10:22 AM
I've been reading & rereading @ravoon.bsky.social's debut Dirt Rich the last couple of weeks. It's the best new collection I've read in a very long time. It reclaims the techniques of Auden and MacNeice for the 21st century, while mining layers of memory – personal. familial, social – …
February 7, 2026 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue”
The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue”
'The three volumes of Green's Dictionary of Slang demonstrate the sheer scope of a lifetime of research by Jonathon Green, the leading slang lexicographer of our time. A remarkable collection of this ...
www.openculture.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Our co-florist @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social has written a guest post for @northseapoets.bsky.social on Auden and 'Imaginary Friends' northseapoets.substack.com/p/audens-ima...
Auden's 'Imaginary Friends'
NSP Guest Post! Andrew Neilson on how the literati cope as Rome falls
northseapoets.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Mathew Lyons
Poetry & history of family & place! ONLY CHANCE to hear my workshop after 5 yrs research for 'Village'.I'll read varied poems from my 10(!) books. & you can read a poem at friendly Open Mic! Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms, Cheltenham,Glos, Sun 8 Feb, 7 pm, £5 waged, £3 unwaged
SEARCH FOR BUZZWORDS BLOGSPOT
February 6, 2026 at 11:12 AM