History, Etc: The First Draft

Thanks to all the subscribers who submitted questions in response to my last post . Here is everything I can tell you about my new book, CASTLES, published in October (UK) and November (US) this year. Including: * Info on signed, dedicated copies * US vs UK editions * Special editions * What’s in the book, which castles are covered * What I think a castle is * And more This Substack is where I’ll...

Here it is… the most in-depth interview I’ve done about my Essex Dogs trilogy. The brilliant Genevieve Gaunt hosted this conversation. You will be able to listen to the full interview as bonus content on the Lion Hearts audiobook , which comes out on July 31st. That’s read by Ben Miles. You can order it here . Other editions! * The Broken Binding limited, signed, numbered edition of Lion Hearts ....

Thanks to everyone who asked questions about my new book, Lion Hearts , which is out on July 31st (and Sept 25th in the US). You’re all great. Here are the answers. As explained in the video: I thought I’d also round up everything else you might want to know about Lion Hearts … how to get signed copies, artwork with a 50% discount, tickets for live dates, and more. Consider this the ‘everything’ e...

Thanks to all the subscribers for posting questions - please join up to ask next time… also for more fun, full access to all the articles in the archive, and every new post. New book Lion Hearts is coming soon! The Essex Dogs trilogy is coming to an end… UK pre-order (July 31st release) US pre-order (September 25th release) Podcast new season Season 7 of This Is History: A Dynasty To Die For launc...

If you’d like to post a question next month, please subscribe! Have a great weekend… Dan x This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danjones.substack.com/subscribe

Here’s something nice for the weekend. My narration of Henry V has been shortlisted for Book of the Year (Audiobook, Non Fiction) in the British Book Awards 2025 . I know many of you have listened to the book in this format - thanks! If you haven’t, here’s a little sample of it. You can listen to Henry V now on all major audiobook platforms, including Spotify and Audible . This is a public episode...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit danjones.substack.com I’m asked a lot what I’m reading, or what I’m looking forward to reading. Here is a look at my current stack. All of these books are available now for order or pre-order via your favourite bookseller. Video above. More details on each below. I’ll make one of these posts every month or so to round up what I’m readin...

Well, I thought I would experiment with filming the monthly Q&A answers live this time. The good news is quite a few people joined and I think (hope?) enjoyed it. (The quality of the video seems to have been quite poor, so apologies for that. I think a specific wifi issue with today, though.) Anyway, a million thanks to all who posted questions. Please do subscribe if you want to ask questions nex...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit danjones.substack.com Thank you everyone who watched this evening’s live broadcast with Lucy Worsley . Here’s the full conversation for anyone who wants to re-watch. Enjoy! Dan x

Loved the questions as always. For reasons which should become obvious I had to upload this in two parts. Hope this isn’t too annoying (for you). Part one above. Part two below. Do please subscribe if you’d like to be part of January’s Q&A! Merry Christmas to you all… Dan x This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danjone...

This week Substack hosted an evening of live festive readings in Clerkenwell, London. It was very jolly to be among several hundred readers some of the best Substack writers out there, including Nick Hornby, India Knight, Pandora Sykes and the extraordinary Hanif Kureishi. I read from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: the bit about King Arthur’s court getting ready for Christmas. The modern English...

Plenty more dog content, too. dan This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danjones.substack.com/subscribe

Recorded this month’s Q&A video at the very delightful Silverton Park Stables , which I borrowed from the Landmark Trust for the weekend. The Landmark Trust are amazing and kind of unique - you can stay in historic buildings they have preserved, all over the UK. In this case the historic building I called home for the weekend is the old stable block of a nineteenth-century country pile that was bu...

Thanks to everyone who posted questions for this month’s Q&A! Remember, if you want to post for next month’s (when the time comes), you can subscribe here: Apologies for the huskiness. I need to gargle a tincture. Dan This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danjones.substack.com/subscribe

Book tour continues. Here, thanks to Intelligence Squared, is the full recording of my recent event in London with Kate Williams. We discuss Henry V and my book for an hour, after which there are a further 30m of audience questions. There are lots more great Intelligence Squared events taking place this autumn. Here’s a link to their full programme . This is a public episode. If you'd like to disc...

These open Q&A posts are fast becoming my favourite thing about this Substack newletter. I love the variety and occasional obscurity of the questions. Thank you to everyone who asked something. I hope I managed to answer them to your vague satisfaction, or at least give you food for thought. If you want to submit a question for the September Q&A, please consider becoming a paid subscriber - that’s...

Here you are my lovely friends - thanks to everyone who submitted questions for this month’s mailbag. Same again in a few weeks time! If you want to ask a question - or read every post here on History, Etc, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Some useful links mentioned in the video… * Helen Castor’s new book The Eagle and the Hart is top of my summer reading pile. * The new season of This...

Sorry it took a while! Enjoy the show. Dan x This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danjones.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks to everyone who asked questions this month - if you want to contribute to next month’s Q&A, just hit the subscribe button… Dan x This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danjones.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you all for the excellent questions for this month’s video Q&A. I feel like this is all working nicely. Let’s do it again next month? If you want to ask a question next time, just hit this button. Details below on ordering signed books (UK only) and a forthcoming talk in the USA below. dan x SIGNED AND DEDICATED BOOKS ANNOUNCEMENT I will post about this separately, but I mentioned that in th...

As promised, here is the final instalment of answers to the Q&A/ask me anything post from last week. There were so many great questions, and another whole batch came in when I posted the first video last Friday. (You can catch up with that here .) So I hope you enjoy this second part of the episode. Also, it seems like this video Q&A format has been successful, so from January I will make it a reg...

Here we go! The first video episode of First Draft, the open-season, ask me anything, Q&A section of this Substack. And crumbs, you guys asked so many amazing questions that I could only get through half of them… I will do a part 2/2 next week, because I want to give them all the consideration they deserve. If you want to add more questions to the pile, post them in the comments below, and I’ll tr...

Okay, so Substack have been adding lots of (theoretically) cool new functions and features in recent months. The latest one is video. I thought we could give it a go. If you’ve watched the short video message above, you know what to do. Go do it! If you haven’t, here’s what to do: post ‘ask me anything’ style questions in the comments. Later in the week I’ll make a video post answering them. And w...

Thanks to everyone who posted questions on yesterday’s Ask Me Anything comment thread! (You can review the questions here .) It was a lot of fun answering them. Off now to Bath for the last event on this year’s book tour. See some of you there! dan x PS I mentioned an 1850s disco towards the end of this recording. Here’s the evidence… or part of it. Photo cropped to protect the innocent… This is a...

Thanks everyone for your contributions to the AMA post last Friday. Here is a round-up of as many questions as I could fit into a solid hour. Fun! Now, what would you like next? dan x History, Etc is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or...