Really pleased to have a poem in the latest issue of Drawn to the Light. You can read it online here.
News: Royal Historical Society
I'm delighted to have been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. As someone outside the academy, it means a lot. Huge thanks are due to the society's president, Emma Griffin, for her support and encouragement. It would never have occurred to me that I might be eligible.
Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn
Cloud islands, they are called. The peaks of the Usumbara Mountains in Tanzania rise so high that fogs form on their slopes where the cool mountain air meets warmer currents rising off the sea. The climate has created a unique ecosystem, as real islands do, and much of the wildlife is unique to the area.... Continue Reading →
The Musical Human by Michael Spitzer; The Life of Music by Nicholas Kenyon
The first note known to have sounded on Earth was an E natural. It was produced some 165 million years ago by a katydid, a kind of cricket, rubbing its wings together – a fact deduced by scientists from the insect’s remains, preserved in amber. Consider too the love life of the mosquito. When a male... Continue Reading →
News: Not Just The Tudors
A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure and privilege of talking about the Dissolution of the Monasteries to Suzannah Lipscomb for her fantastic new podcast series #NotJustTheTudors. Do have a listen! The link is here.
Poetry news: The Atrium
I have a new poem called The Doctrine of Triangles up on Atrium Poetry this morning.
Poetry news: Ink, Sweat and Tears
I have a poem – The Kiso Road – up on Ink, Sweat and Tears. It was inspired by reading William Scott Wilson's wonderful Walking the Kiso Road: A Modern-Day Exploration of Old Japan.
Poetry news: The Lake
I have a poem – Lisa in the Garden at Mendocino – in the October issue of The Lake. You can read it online here.
Poetry news: Dust
I have a poem – The Thing With Broken People – in the September 2020 Portrait issue of Dust magazine.
Poetry news: Dawn Treader
I have a poem – The Oyster, Love – in the summer issue of Dawn Treader magazine. You can read it online here.
Living through lockdown: Julian of Norwich, TS Eliot and the life-shaped hole in our hearts
For those who don't feel inclined to watch the film I made for A Bit Lit on life during lockdown, here's a rough transcript. My name is Mathew Lyons, and I am a freelance writer and historian. In practice, that means I am lucky enough to mostly work from home. Sometimes I work on the... Continue Reading →
The life-shaped hole in our hearts: lockdown, solace and cultural memory
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to contribute a brief film to the A Bit Lit YouTube channel, created by Andy Kesson and others as a forum for thoughts on literature, history and culture during lockdown. So here I am, talking about freedom and confinement, about emotional and spiritual spaces, about monasticism and... Continue Reading →
The 1603 trial of Walter Ralegh
It is a curious fact that when Sir Walter Ralegh was finally executed – on 29 October 1618 – he had been legally dead for 15 years. Even by 17th-century standards, that was unusual. But then, not many people face the death penalty twice in court – particularly when found guilty the first time, as... Continue Reading →
Ralegh: The Treason Trial
Before its run in the Sam Wanamaker Theatre beginning 24 November, Oliver Chris’ staging of Sir Walter Ralegh’s treason trial had several performances in the Great Hall in Winchester, where the trial itself was held on 17 November 1603. Ralegh had been Elizabeth I’s favourite. But he had no standing with James I, and when... Continue Reading →
Raising money for Alzheimer’s research
Just a quick post to say that I am doing the Dry January thing to raise money for research into Alzheimer's. As some of you may know, my father developed the disease late in life. Having seen its effect first hand, and having helped nursed my father through his last weeks and months, this is... Continue Reading →
Wilton History Festival: the Countess of Pembroke and her circle
Just a brief post to say I will be speaking at Wilton History Festival on 17 September about the literary circle around Mary Sidney and the power of patronage. For those who don't know, Mary Sidney was the younger sister Philip Sidney and is the Countess of Pembroke for whom he wrote the Arcadia. However,... Continue Reading →
Me and Debbie McGee – or, Life and Death in West Ruislip
I know what you’re thinking. What does Debbie McGee, diminutive relict of the late pint-sized prestidigitator Paul Daniels, have to do with anything? And, more specifically, what does she have to do with me? Just a few weeks ago, I’d have wondered the same thing. And then she turned up at the auction of my... Continue Reading →
Re-mapping the world: grief and its aftermath
I want to think of it like this: that learning to live with death is the last gift our parents have for us. When we were spring, they were already summer. Now their year is over we can see the full extent of life's horizon before us for the first time. We have a chance... Continue Reading →
My Dad’s obituary in The Guardian
My father died on May 22, three days after his 90th birthday. I'm sure I will write more about him and his passing, but in the meantime, here is the obituary David Hencke wrote for The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/14/john-lyons-obituary
Memory and identity: a personal history
My father is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. He will be 90 this year. He grew up close by the docks in Beckton, East London, which are now long gone. He remembers seeing the first wave of German bombers flying over London on September 7, 1940. He was stationed in the Pacific when he... Continue Reading →
Mathew Lyons 