Mathew Lyons

Very soon I will be

✨available for work✨

If you’re interested in who I am and what it is I do/have done then here’s a little introduction thread about myself and my work.

@leighstanford.bsky.social ?? xx

Elvis Presley backstage at the Ed Sullivan show, signing autographs for fans. Standing behind him is Joyce Grenfell.

The boy Presley, backstage at dress rehearsals for The Ed Sullivan Show, 28th October 1956. Yes, that IS Joyce Grenfell standing just behind him.

"Elvis... don't do that"

Review: ‘Proto’ by Laura Spinney Proto by Laura Spinney was one of two well-publicised books about the Indo-Europeans that appeared in 2025, the other being J. P. Mallory’s The Indo-Europeans Rediscovered. According to Amazon, bot…

I reviewed ‘Proto’ by @laurainparis.bsky.social. In short, excellent; but I remain deeply unconvinced by any attempted reconstructions of shared or Proto-Indo-European religion and mythology drfrancisyoung.com/2026/01/26/r...

The writer's bookshelf: Adrian Tinniswood Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…

New on the writer’s bookshelf: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the great Adrian Tinniswood.

Nottingham alabaster: objects of strangeness, mystery and devotion How the English Reformation tried to obliterate a unique medieval artform

And finally my essay on the lost medieval art of Nottingham alabaster – and how the Reformation tried to destroy it. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/nottingham...

The critic cornered The day the late John Carey went too far

Then the day the late John Carey made the mistake of attacking Elizabeth Smart and George Barker in a Sunday Times review. (Do read the comments from two of George's children! They've made this the most-read piece on my Substack.)
mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-critic...

Some weekend reading from me! First up, a wonderful edition of the Writer's Bookshelf with the great @cathamclarke.bsky.social mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

One for @alexlarman.bsky.social, surely?

It was such a privilege and a pleasure to do this interview for Mathew Lyons - and to explore his brilliant Substack. I highly recommend a visit!

Thanks so much, Catherine!

Nottingham alabaster: objects of strangeness, mystery and devotion How the English Reformation tried to obliterate a unique medieval artform

And finally my essay on the lost medieval art of Nottingham alabaster – and how the Reformation tried to destroy it. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/nottingham...

The critic cornered The day the late John Carey went too far

Then the day the late John Carey made the mistake of attacking Elizabeth Smart and George Barker in a Sunday Times review. (Do read the comments from two of George's children! They've made this the most-read piece on my Substack.)
mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-critic...

Some weekend reading from me! First up, a wonderful edition of the Writer's Bookshelf with the great @cathamclarke.bsky.social mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

From Pericles to Davos The Athenian statesman Pericles’ Funeral Oration is an organic unity, its authority derived from the speaker’s strength of vision. This stands in complete contrast to today’s political figures, who ci...

🏺 This is why we need more classicists!

Read this excellent essay by @armanddangour.bsky.social for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social

#ClassicsBluesky#Skystorians #AncientBluesky #History 🗃️

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/fro...

Nottingham alabaster: objects of strangeness, mystery and devotion How the English Reformation tried to obliterate a unique medieval artform

The life, death and slow resurrection of a medieval English artform.

Genuinely think there are cognitive benefits to having a bookshelf where you inadvertently see books you read and remember the importance (or not) of the contents periodically.

A reel of EMML microfilm containing photographs of a 13th-century manuscript (EMML 1832) in the collection of Ḥayq Esṭifānos Monastery in Wallo Province, Ethiopia.

A close-up view of a miniature opening the Gospel of Luke, digitized from the same microfilm copy (image 1) of the manuscript (EMML 1832).

From 1973 to 1994, the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library (EMML) project photographed 9,000+ manuscripts in Ethiopia. The microfilm copies sent to HMML are now fully available online—digitized over the past 20 years. Wayne Torborg tells the story behind this milestone: https://bit.ly/4bslCAH

Background photo of the sea, with the caption 'On Erasing Voices'

On erasing voices: a thread. I’ve been hugely lucky with reviews for #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems, but the TLS reviewer doesn’t like it (apparently I write like ChatGPT) 😂💀 But I want to reply here to what I think is the review's double erasure of some of the most marginalised voices and stories. 1/5

The Medieval Drone Society, by Laura Cannell 8 track album

Welcome to my first release of 2026!
THE MEDIEVAL DRONE SOCIETY - Laura Cannell
brawlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-medieval-drone-society
I've been feeling sleepless since the turn of the year, but making this has helped me to find my way through the dark winter days.

Gift us with long cloaks & adrenaline: on reading and its consolations With unexpected bonus content courtesy of Cardinal Rinuccini

Today I have written about Berryman, Cardinal Rinuccini and the consolations of reading.

Nottingham alabaster: objects of strangeness, mystery and devotion How the English Reformation tried to obliterate a unique medieval artform

Unravelling the mysteries of the lost English medieval art of Nottingham alabaster.

I saw Barry Chuckle queuing for a taxi at Paddington about ten years ago. I instinctively looked at the taxi driver too because part of me just assumed it would be Paul.

In the 1870s & 1880s, Lincolnshire farmworkers formed trade unions...& won wage rises, before defeat in slumps & lockouts. Here is a blend of faith & patient hope for change in a 'Hymn of Labour', in a rare book by Rex Russell, which also exposes the use of women & children as cheap farm labour.

Repro isn't great – at all – but it includes this lovely Hirschfeld

I really enjoyed her autobiography.

I don't remember that, unfortunately. But those two together are an absolute joy. I only wish they'd made more films.

Spring in Park Lane is delightful! I didn't know it was such a box-office draw.

This is a wonderful piece, with comments to die for!

Thanks Lissa! And yes, the comments. What a treat!