Book Reviews
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Philippa Langley spoke at The Oldie Literary Lunch in London at the iconic Liberal Club in Whitehall on 15 July. There were three speakers on the day, all speaking after lunch, and they had ten minutes each. The other speakers with her were author and historian, Lucy Moore and author and TV presenter, David Hepworth.…
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Maria Grazia Leotta is a staunch Ricardian and she timed her first work of fiction in English to coincide with the Anniversary of Richard’s tragic death. Although this is her first solo English work, she has previously contributed to short story anthologies and had poems published. Not only that but she is also the author…
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I’ve written before about stage versions of Josephine Tey’s wonderful novel The Daughter of Times, and now I’m delighted to say that the production at the Charing Cross Theatre has opened: “….This new play, based on Josephine Tey’s acclaimed crime novel, opens tonight [24 July 2025] at the Charing Cross Theatre and will run for…
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On 2 April this year I posted about a stage version of Tey’s wonderful The Daughter of Time, see https://murreyandblue.co.uk/2025/04/02/the-daughter-of-time-see-the-play-of-the-book/. It was showing at the Knutsford Little Theatre from the end of April to the beginning of May. Now a play-of-the-book has reached a London venue, the Charing Cross Theatre, and will be showing from…
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I was lucky enough to see this talk (click here for link) on Friday 9th May, in Lavenham. Philippa is so calm and knowledgeable. She answers queries politely and logically, even one asking her about the notorious Tracy Boorman ‘documentary’ (desperate fantasy more like!). She addresses this notorious documentary in the new edition of her…
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“The Pretender” takes the same-old attitude to Richard III….
Oh dear… “….The year is 1483 and England is in peril. The much-despised Richard III [who has murdered the boys in the Tower] is not long for the throne, and the man who will become Henry VII stands poised to snatch the crown for himself. But for twelve-year-old John Collan [to be Lambert Simnel, the…
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Ricardians know Josephine Tey’s 1951 novel The Daughter of Time too well by now for me to go into its plot too deeply. Suffice it that this was a landmark publication for the reputation of Richard III, whose name is cleared brilliantly by Tey’s hero, Alan Grant, a Scotland Yard police inspector who is laid…
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Unwarranted praise for the first Lancastrian usurper….!
14th century England, absolute ruler, Agnes Lancecrona, Anne of Bohemia, Anne of Bohemia’s letter, constitutional monarch, Helen Castor, Henry IV, Isabella of Valois queen of Richard II, John of Gaunt, Kristen L Geaman, Lords Appellant, Peasants’ Revolt 1381, Richard II, Richard III, Sir Simon Burley, usurpation, Wenceslas IVPlease have patience with me now, because I’m about to remount yesterday’s hobby horse, but as it concerns the arrival of the usurping House of Lancaster on the throne of England, it’s relevant to Ricardians—by that I mean we supporters of Richard III. There are other Ricardians too, of course, and they are loyal to…