Fascinating thread, I wasn't aware of his painting skills at all.

The last (¼) bottle of champagne that Churchill drank, in front of his paints & brushes, at a fabulous new exhibition of his paintings opening at the #WallaceCollection tomorrow. - Paintings inc…

Vera’s life ‘moves at the speed of a comet… A one-off if ever there was one’! I can hugely recommend #MirandaSeymour’s fabulous bio of #VeraGedroits, Princess, revolutionary, war-time surgeon, feminist, lover… I read it in 2 sittings. Congratulations on the launch of #IVera this evening Miranda!

Vera’s life ‘moves at the speed of a comet… A one-off if ever there was one’! I can hugely recommend #MirandaSeymour’s fabulous bio of #VeraGedroits, Princess, revolutionary, war-time surgeon, feminist, lover… I read it in 2 sittings. Congratulations on the launch of #IVera this evening Miranda!

The last (¼) bottle of champagne that Churchill drank, in front of his paints & brushes, at a fabulous new exhibition of his paintings opening at the #WallaceCollection tomorrow. - Paintings inc…

107 years ago today, a woman stood up in the Royal Albert Hall, defying an angry crowd who’d brought rotten fruit to throw at her & her sister, & called out - her voice rising with her passion: ‘Surely it’s impossible for us to watch children starve to death, without making an effort to save them.’

Great to have a written article produced into an audio essay - engelsbergideas.com/portraits/ag...

Pride & joy! Sun & rain, pastries & degrees, ends & beginnings…

Pride & joy! Sun & rain, pastries & degrees, ends & beginnings…

Huge congratulations to #ClaireHubbardHall on being awarded the prestigious #PollyHorrigan prize which recognises female scholarship in intelligence & security, @kcsi.uk Claire’s insightful book explores the history of women in British intelligence. (Also thrilled that #AgentZo was a runner up!)

Huge congratulations to #ClaireHubbardHall on being awarded the prestigious #PollyHorrigan prize which recognises female scholarship in intelligence & security, @kcsi.uk Claire’s insightful book explores the history of women in British intelligence. (Also thrilled that #AgentZo was a runner up!)

Just LOVED this beautiful old thing (1953 Hooper bodied Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, 1 of only 18 produced) parked outside the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts’ Club @rrecltd in Paulerspury…

Just LOVED this beautiful old thing (1953 Hooper bodied Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, 1 of only 18 produced) parked outside the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts’ Club @rrecltd in Paulerspury…

Caught hard at work this weekend as usual… well that book won’t write itself…

Who doesn’t love walking through #London at night after a party?

Very sorry to miss the annual SOE F (French) Section memorial event in #Valençay. Here are 2 late greats at the ceremony, #MarcelJaurantSinger, resistance radio operator, & SOE’s #NoreenRiols, reading out the names of their colleagues who did not return.

Her true story is told in my book #TheSpyWhoLoved. This bronze bust of her by award-winning sculptor @ianwolter.bsky.social can be seen in London’s Polish Club #OgniskoPolskie .

BOTD 1908. #KrystynaSkarbek aka #ChristineGranville single-handedly secured the defection of a Nazi German garrison on a strategic pass in the Alps… then saved 3 men from execution. None of which is why #Churchill called her his ‘favourite spy’ - that was for something else…

BOTD 1908. #KrystynaSkarbek aka #ChristineGranville single-handedly secured the defection of a Nazi German garrison on a strategic pass in the Alps… then saved 3 men from execution. None of which is why #Churchill called her his ‘favourite spy’ - that was for something else…

Singing for my supper tonight… at the beautiful #UniversityWomensClub . Wonderful to talk about 2WW heroine #ElżbietaZawacka aka #AgentZo in such a stunning setting… & did I mention the secret room behind one bookcase in the library?

I love a book launch :) Congratulations to #VictorSebestyen on the launch of #WeimarGermany… As someone said, it’s ’worryingly resonant. All our politicians should read it.’ Great to see #JaneThynne #GilesMilton & #KatjaHoyer among other friends

Tempting… Wonderful to be invited for the launch of #OperationMincemeat teas at the #OldWarOffice - now Raffles London…

Tempting… Wonderful to be invited for the launch of #OperationMincemeat teas at the #OldWarOffice - now Raffles London…

'Deeply researched, this page-turning history enriches without glorifying. Important and overdue' @claremulley.bsky.social #EagleDays by Victoria Taylor @spitfirefilly.bsky.social#EagleDays Pre-order now: https://geni.us/EagleDaysPBorgsoc

I’ll be speaking with @debbieland.bsky.social in Milton Keynes on 12 May… Do join us :)

I was very pleased to speak up for the many female special agents who serve, on last night’s #Spymasters, ep 4, on Sky Arts / Now. Sadly it’s not a channel I get, so if anyone caught it, let me know what you thought :)

I had SO much fun with #jamesbond sequel novelist #charliehigson recording Audible’s #TheSpyWho… pod on #KrystynaSkarbek aka #ChristineGranville, Britain’s first female agent of WW2, & the subject of my book #TheSpyWhoLoved. Available now on @wonderymedia.bsky.social & wherever you get your pods :)

Lovely sunny London with my mum. Thank you kind stranger for stopping to take the pic!

‘Under credited and out of sight,’ I was delighted to review #NatalieLivingstone ‘s revelatory new book #TheNurembergWomen, for the Spectator, on the unsung witnesses of & participants in the Nuremberg trials…

‘Under credited and out of sight,’ I was delighted to review #NatalieLivingstone ‘s revelatory new book #TheNurembergWomen, for the Spectator, on the unsung witnesses of & participants in the Nuremberg trials…

Fascinating piece about the founder of Save the Children. #histbookchat

I loved writing this piece about one of the most influential but least appreciated women in British history!

My mum, looking rightly proud of her crimson amaryllis. At 95, she still has green fingers 🌿

My mum, looking rightly proud of her crimson amaryllis. At 95, she still has green fingers 🌿

Behind the scenes at beautiful #ButtonHouse! Wonderful to join the authors at #WestHorsleyPlace annual #HistoryDay today, all #Ghosts banished by the sunshine… I think! Sharing the stage with John Macabe, I spoke mainly abt #AgentZo

Behind the scenes at beautiful #ButtonHouse! Wonderful to join the authors at #WestHorsleyPlace annual #HistoryDay today, all #Ghosts banished by the sunshine… I think! Sharing the stage with John Macabe, I spoke mainly abt #AgentZo

Perfect to bump into Candy Adkins, daughte of #2WW #ATA pilot #JackieMoggridge at a CambridgeArtsTheatre showing of #spitfiregirls this eve! The programme Candy is holding up is a riff on the famous wartime #PicturePost cover that showed her mum.

Huge congratulations to inspirational #WW2 resistance soldier #WandaTraczykStawskiej on her 99th birthday! Wanda was just 17 when she served courageously in the #WarsawUprising, under the codename Pączek (Donut) against the brutal Nazi German occupiers. 📸 c. Marek Szczepa

I’m over the moon to learn that my history of my remarkable, sometimes scandalous, local independent library #TheLibraryBook, has been #HighlyCommended by the national local history awards :) What lovely Easter news!

Happy Easter all… here’s our cake of the season 🐇🐥🥚🌼

I’m over the moon to learn that my history of my remarkable, sometimes scandalous, local independent library #TheLibraryBook, has been #HighlyCommended by the national local history awards :) What lovely Easter news!

Just out of HMP Thameside where I was talking abt my books for the library grp. Great turnout & really interesting Qs… This is such a good project; I was delighted to support it. Thanks to Neil the librarian, & all the guys who came along, turned the slides, asked Qs & showed me their own writing.

Just out of HMP Thameside where I was talking abt my books for the library grp. Great turnout & really interesting Qs… This is such a good project; I was delighted to support it. Thanks to Neil the librarian, & all the guys who came along, turned the slides, asked Qs & showed me their own writing.

Farewell #Glasgow, a city that knows how to do a brooding #necropolis. ☠️☠️

Up in #Glasgow to see the university with my youngest tomorrow… wonderful to see #AgentZo in @waterstonesglasgow - now all signed :) Thanks for the offer of a coffee: #friendliestcity !

I’m delighted to have contributed to #Spymasters, the new series on @skyarts.bsky.social starting on Tuesday, 31 March 2026 at 9 pm… although in fact my contribution is only in episode 4, on Tuesday 21 April!

I had no idea @glasgow.ac.uk was so beautiful, all Victorian cloisters, fritillaries & a great modern maths building… Plus a restored 2.3 ton #Spitfire suspended over giraffes & hippos in the Kelvingrove museum - something for everyone!

Up in #Glasgow to see the university with my youngest tomorrow… wonderful to see #AgentZo in @waterstonesglasgow - now all signed :) Thanks for the offer of a coffee: #friendliestcity !

Wonderful that @faberbooks.bsky.social are releasing an updated editn #AnitaLaskerWallfisch’s memoirs, #InheritTheTruth. Now 101, Anita is the last survivor of the enforced women’s orchestra of Auschwitz, which we shld all know about. (See also the excellent grp history by @annesebba.bsky.social)