I'm a Kiwi, mate.

I figured, given his temperament and the track record of the Dukes of York, that it was more likely he'd be knocked off first.

I should have said lineage, that's really what I meant. Poor choice of words.

HM Queen Elizabeth II. In one year and 209 days, she was surpass Victoria and become the longest-reigning monarch in British history, as well as the longest-reigning queen in European history. I believe she will pretty much roll over and expire once she's met this ultimate milestone, and I'll find that hard to take.…

The ridiculous hype at the time had a lot to do with it - cultural cringe etc etc - but you're dead right about those ghastly stereotypes.

How could they ever improve on Robin of Sherwood, he asked plaintively.

We come to praise Caesar, not bury him.

Ad Hommenim.

My all-time fave is the Bette Davis one. She exudes an incredible sexuality and I fell in love with her right there. Sometimes she's flirting with 'Richard' (as she calls him) but mostly it's a really frank discussion where Bette talks wisely on a whole range of subjects.

The writers describe that little moment as probably the "cruelest" cameo in The Simpsons.

How to make something awesome even more awesome : finish it with Grinderman.

The fleeing royals bit was a reference to the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion ("the Fifteen"), where James Stuart, t'Auld Pretender, tried and failed to reclaim the British throne his father James II, had lost.

Everyone is so ruddy and burnt. I like that. You can feel the inescapable heat.

Superhero comic books. For twenty years I was an avid fan. Then something slowly changed, and I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with them. I began to realize just how fucking repetitive and unimaginative they could be, and I was getting endlessly disappointed by the continual misogyny and heedless…

I absolutely loved this, but I'm unsurprised by the review. You'll either love it or hate it. For my part, I found the whole thing to be a incredible headtrip, tapping into the dark heart of English occultism. It invoked the "soft place", the magic locked inside blood and dirt, the ancient evil of malign fae and…

I love Doyle's work. He's a master at dissecting and reinventing the tropes of Irish culture. Better than anyone, he knows how it wields history like a cudgel and he has no time for its hypocrisies. His Last Roundup trilogy was one of the best reads I've ever had, and a cracker example of how to do historical…

crap

Don't forget sexy whore, sexier whore, and sexiest whore.

Those little touches are what makes this so cool for me. It's one thing to have endless swashing and buckling, but another to get a slice-of-life in this would-be utopia.

"Hands-on position required"