Last week I returned from the United States, where I had been attending some events associated with the loan of the 1765 Stamp Act to the New York Historical Society’s grand reopening exhibition, Revolution! I then extended the trip to include Washington DC in order visit the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Archives and the Capitol Visitor Center […]
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Cover Story
OUP has now had its editorial and sales meeting and has produced this thrilling cover for my book. I’m really delighted with it, as it is almost the same as the image I’ve had in my head all along. Book covers are often a source of friction between publishers and authors but I couldn’t be more […]
Parliament Buildings of the World: No 2 – Lithuania
This post is perhaps a tad geeky, but since the all-time most popular entry on this blog turns out to be my musings on the restored Reichstag in Berlin, I now offer you some thoughts on the Seimas in Vilnius, Lithuania. (This could be the start of a glossy coffee table book, Great Parliament Buildings I Have Known. Or maybe not.) Anyway, Parliament buildings are […]
Remember, Remember, the Old Palace of Westminster
Because of the 1834 fire which burnt it down, many people don’t realise that there was a Houses of Parliament on site at Westminster – the old Palace – before Barry and Pugin designed the current one. Still fewer know what it looked like. That’s led to some startling anachronisms when illustrating historic Parliamentary events, particularly in relation to the […]
Gainful Employment
Here is a little bit more about my day job (quite a lot of people seem interested in this!) which – along with my colleagues – is a great source of inspiration, posted by the lovely Peter Hay on his blog. Also, you can view my contribution to Parliament Week on YouTube, where I talk about some of my favourite […]
Brother of the more famous John
Tate Britain is currently showing a wonderful exhibition called Apocalypse – on the work of John Martin, who specialised in huge and wildly popular paintings of biblical and ancient world disasters. I highly recommend it. During my research John Martin hovered on the edge of my reading, because I became very interested in his equally notorious and insane brother […]
