

Slightly Foxed
Slightly Foxed: The Real Reader's Quarterly
The independent-minded book review magazine that combines good looks, good writing and a personal approach. Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. Good-humoured, unpretentious and a bit eccentric, it’s more like a well-read friend than a literary magazine.
Come behind the scenes with the staff of Slightly Foxed to learn what makes this unusual literary magazine tick, meet some of its varied friends and contributors, and hear their personal recommendations for favourite and often forgotten books that have helped, haunted, informed or entertained them.
For more information about Slightly Foxed visit: foxedquarterly.com
Come behind the scenes with the staff of Slightly Foxed to learn what makes this unusual literary magazine tick, meet some of its varied friends and contributors, and hear their personal recommendations for favourite and often forgotten books that have helped, haunted, informed or entertained them.
For more information about Slightly Foxed visit: foxedquarterly.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 15, 2020 • 39min
15: Reading Resolutions
As we turn the page to a new decade, we’ve made some New Year resolutions. John Mitchinson and Andy Miller of Backlisted Podcast join the Slightly Foxed Editors to bring new life to old books, leading us off the beaten track with wide-ranging reading recommendations. From Frank O’Connor’s letters, Selina Hastings’s lives and Barbara Tuchman’s histories to the poetry of John Berryman, Gayl Jones’s Corregidora and Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, they journey through genres to revive literary curiosity. And in this month’s reading from the magazine’s archives, Richard Platt makes a convincing case for The Quincunx by Charles Palliser, falling under its curse of sleepless nights.
Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 49 seconds)
Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
- To War with Whitaker, Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly. Slightly Foxed Edition No. 50, published 1 March 2020 (1:21)
- The Year of Reading Dangerously, Andy Miller (3:32)
- A Distant Mirror, Barbara Tuchman (6:05)
- Who Dares Wins: Britain, 1979-1982 and The Great British Dream Factory, Dominic Sandbrook (8:08)
- Corregidora, Gayl Jones (9:33)
- Independence Day, Richard Ford (12:28)
- The Happiness of Getting it Down Right: Letters of Frank O’Connor and William Maxwell is out of print (14:12)
- A Tale of Love and Darkness, Amos Oz (16:34)
- Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson (18:45)
- Selina Hastings has written biographies of Somerset Maugham, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh and Rosamond Lehmann (22:43)
- 77 Dream Songs, John Berryman is out of print (25:32)
- Diving into the Wreck, Adrienne Rich (27:45)
- The Quincunx, Charles Palliser (32:08)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- A World of Words, Annabel Walker on Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness in Issue 37 (16:34)
- Grave Expectations, Richard Platt on Charles Palliser, The Quincunx in Issue 60 (32:08)
Other Links
- The Slightly Foxed mug (now sold out) displayed the quote: ‘Charles Lamb once told Coleridge he was especially fond of books containing traces of buttered muffins.’ Please do get in touch with suggestions for a quote (up to 20 words) for a forthcoming mug design: office@foxedquarterly.com (2:21)
- Backlisted, the literary podcast giving new life to old books, presented by John Mitchinson and Andy Miller (3:22)
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Reading music: Songs Without Words - No.12 in F Sharp Minor, Op.30 by Felix Mendelssohn
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Dec 15, 2019 • 37min
14: The Vital Spark
What sparks a lifelong love of reading? Francis Spufford, author of The Child that Books Built, and Emily Drabble of the children’s reading charity BookTrust, delve into bookshelves past and present with the Slightly Foxed Editors to understand the alchemy that ignites the spark. From books as seductive objects, the haphazardness of alphabetical organization and disappearing libraries to the joys of cover-to-cover reading and books being doorways to new worlds, the conversation reveals what a passion for reading can bring to our lives. In this month’s dip into the magazine’s archives Ysenda Maxtone Graham gives tried and tested tips for reading aloud, grappling with Tolkien pronunciations along the way, and there’s the usual round-up of recommendations for reading off the beaten track.
Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 36 minutes; 57 seconds)
Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
- Golden Hill, Francis Spufford (2:23)
- The Child that Books Built, Francis Spufford (2:50)
- The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien (3:58)
- The Jinny books by Patricia Leitch are out of print (4:46)
- Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome (5:36)
- High Rise Mystery, Sharna Jackson (16:35)
- Burglar Bill, Janet & Allan Ahlberg (19:50)
- So Much, Trish Cooke, illus. Helen Oxenbury (20:04)
- The Boy in the Black Suit, Jason Reynolds (32:45)
- The Cazalet Chronicles, Elizabeth Jane Howard (33:27)
- The Gate of Air, James Buchan is out of print (34:16)
- Wave Me Goodbye: Stories of the Second World War, ed. Anne Boston (35:21)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- Laura, Louisa and Me, Daisy Hay on her childhood reading and The Child that Books Built in Issue 31 (2:50)
- Three in a Bed, Ysenda Maxtone Graham on reading aloud in Issue 40 (25.18)
Other Links
- BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity. They are dedicated to getting children reading, and each year they reach 3.9 million children across the UK with books, resources and support to help develop a love of reading (3:00)
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Reading music: The Bluff Trail by Chad Crouch, from Album Field Report Vol 1, made available as Creative Commons thanks to www.freemusicarchive.org
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Nov 15, 2019 • 39min
13: Nature & Story
In the parochial lies the universal, or does it? Join us on a trip to the British countryside as we plough into the matter of nature, landscape and the rural world in literature to find out more. Together with Juliet Blaxland, author of Wainwright Prize shortlisted The Easternmost House, and Jay Armstrong of Elementum Journal, the Slightly Foxed Editors and host Philippa share tales of living on the edge of eroding cliffs, pioneering bird photographers, ancient arboreal giants, guerrilla rewilding and favourite loam and lovechild comfort reads. In this month’s forage through the magazine’s archives, we go down to the Folly Brook to explore a vanishing world with ‘BB’ and his little grey men and, to finish, there are the usual wide-ranging recommendations for books to take your reading off the beaten track.
Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 52 seconds)
Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
- Slightly Foxed Issue 64 (2:01)
- The Easternmost House, Juliet Blaxland (4:58)
- Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons (11.13)
- Curlew Moon, Mary Colwell (15:45)
- Food for Free, Richard Mabey (16:14)
- Wilding, Isabella Tree (19:18)
- Addlands, Tom Bullough (21:49)
- All Among the Barley, Melissa Harrison (22:29)
- The Little Grey Men, BB (31:44)
- Pollard, Laura Beatty is out of print (33:34)
- When the Tree Falls, Jane Clarke (34:40)
- Plot 29, Allan Jenkins (35:09)
- The Outermost House, Henry Beston (36:06)
- The House of Elrig & Ring of Bright Water, Gavin Maxwell (36:39)
- Reynolds Stone: A Memoir, Humphry Stone (37:25)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles
- Troublesome Ghosts, Paul Evans on Mary Webb, Precious Bane in Issue 10 (10.52)
- Poste-Freudian Therapy, Michele Hanson on Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm in Issue 10 (11.13)
- Beside the Folly Brook, Helena Drysdale on BB, The Little Grey Men & Down the Bright Stream in Issue 55 (25:40)
Other Links
- Elementum Journal: A journal of nature & story (7:16)
- Sotheran’s Rare Books and Prints, London (2:58)
- The Fox’s Prophecy, a poem by D. W. Nash (36:58)
- The Wainwright Book Prize: Celebrating the best in nature writing
The image for this episode features ‘Vasalisa’s Garden’ by Olivia Lomenech Gill. This artwork appeared on the cover of Slightly Foxed Issue 51
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Oct 15, 2019 • 41min
12: Slightly Foxed – But Still Desirable
Gail, Hazel and host Philippa enter the world of second-hand bookselling with Chris Saunders of Henry Sotheran’s, the world’s oldest antiquarian bookshop. From folios to quartos, half-binding to cockling, foxing to forgery, they tackle trade terminology and share tales of rarities and curiosities. The conversation ranges far and wide in the typical Slightly Foxed manner – from Parisian romances and the libraries of English country houses to outsized ornithological specimens and books of unusual provenance. In this month’s wander through the magazine’s archives Nigel Anthony recounts the tale of a bookseller’s quest for bibliophilic bliss in a sleepy corner of the Cotswolds, and there’s the usual round-up of recommended reading from off the beaten track.
Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 40 minutes; 36 seconds)
Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
Going Solo, Roald Dahl (2:00)
The Natural History of Selborne, Gilbert White (4:32)
Slightly Foxed – But Still Desirable, Ronald Searle is out of print (7:27)
The Great Game, Peter Hopkirk is out of print (11:13)
Birds of America, John James Audobon (21:00)
Earthworms and Their Allies, Frank E. Beddard is out of print (32:43)
On Chapel Sands, Laura Cumming (34:47)
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman (35:51)
The Berlin Novels: Mr Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin, Christopher Isherwood (36:59)
As It Was and World Without End, Helen Thomas are out of print (38:22)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles
Turning a Page, Glyn Frewer on second-hand bookselling in Issue 42 (26:34)
Other Links
The Slightly Foxed Podcast was selected as one of the Sunday Times Top 100 Podcasts to Love (2:19)
Sotheran’s Rare Books and Prints, London (3:09)
Gilbert White’s House and Gardens, Hampshire (4:28)
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Reading music from filmmusic.io
‘Touching Moments Five – Circle’ by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (creativecommons.org)
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Sep 15, 2019 • 40min
11: Orkney’s Prospero
Gail, Hazel and host Philippa are transported to Orkney as they explore the life and works of the poet and novelist George Mackay Brown OBE. Together with his biographer Maggie Fergusson and Colin Waters of the Scottish Poetry Library, they bring to light a writer who was at once a solitary soul and a raconteur, a lover and a drinker, a member of the Edinburgh literati yet fame-shy. From the oft-recited ‘Hamnavoe’ to the Booker-nominated ‘Beside the Ocean of Time’ Mackay Brown’s work sings of his island roots, interweaving life and social history with myth and legend. In this month’s travels through the magazine’s archives, Christopher Robbins and Rory Murphy tackle the high falutin literary rap of ‘Finnegans Wake’, and there are the usual wide-ranging recommendations for reading off the beaten track too.
Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 39 minutes; 59 seconds)
Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman novels: The Eagle of the Ninth and The Silver Branch (1:30)
Slightly Foxed Issue 63 (2:17)
The Scots Kitchen, F. M. McNeill (2:39)
The Balkan Trilogy, Olivia Manning (2:56)
Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers (3:01)
Boy and Going Solo, Roald Dahl (3:13)
Attrib, Eley Williams (5:15)
Cousin Rosamund, the third title in Rebecca West’s Saga of the Century trilogy, is out of print (5:53)
The Outrun, Amy Liptrot (6:04)
George Mackay Brown: The Life, Maggie Fergusson is out of print (7:21)
Greenvoe, George Mackay Brown (19:20)
Following a Lark: Poems, George Mackay Brown is out of print (21:05)
Beside the Ocean of Time, George Mackay Brown (21:15)
Finnegans Wake, James Joyce (24:54)
Jeremy, Hugh Walpole is out of print (33:31)
Slow Horses and Joe Country, Mick Herron (34:57)
Leaving Alexandria, Richard Holloway (36:21)
Noctuary, Niall Campbell (37:28)
Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump, David Shields (37:51)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles
Porridge and the Shorter Catechism, Morag MacInnes on F. M. McNeill, The Scots Kitchen, Issue 63 (2:36)
Hauntings, Michèle Roberts on Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, Issue 63 (3:01)
Sound Nonsense, Christopher Robbins on James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, Issue 22 (25:03)
Other Links
The Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh (7:23)
‘Hamnavoe’ by George Mackay Brown is available to read in full on The Poetry Archive (12:58)
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Farewell to Stromness by Peter Maxwell Davies
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Aug 15, 2019 • 39min
10: From Page to Stage
Just who are literary festivals for and why do we love them so much? Gail, Steph and host Philippa go backstage with Anne Oxborough of the well-established Ways With Words and Michael Pugh of recent start-up the Llangwm Literary Festival to find out more. From the delights of surprise-hit speakers, post-show river swims, vodka-fuelled poetry sessions and the rise of fancy food stalls to the horrors of airborne green rooms, bacon-roll bust-ups and rail replacement buses, the conversation ranges far and wide in the usual Slightly Foxed way. In this month’s audio-adventure through the magazine’s archives the writer and performer A. F. Harrold goes speed-dating with Iris Murdoch at Cheltenham Literature Festival and, to finish, there’s the usual round-up of recommended reading from off the beaten track.
Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 42 seconds)
Books Mentioned
Slightly Foxed Issue 63 (2:27)
Boy, Roald Dahl (2:32)
The Eagle of the Ninth and The Silver Branch, Rosemary Sutcliff (2:37)
Corduroy, Adrian Bell (2:42)
The Salt Path, Raynor Winn (15:52)
This Is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay (24:05)
Julian of Norwich: A Very Brief History, Janina Ramirez (25:11)
The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch (27:07)
Take Nothing with You, Patrick Gayle (33:23)
The British in India, David Gilmour (34:50)
The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker (35:44)
Travels in a Dervish Cloak, Isambard Wilkinson (36:40)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles
A Date with Iris, A. F. Harrold on the novels of Iris Murdoch, Issue 25
Other Links
Oxford Literary Festival (1:00)
Sea Fever Literary Festival, Wells-next-the-Sea (1:08)
The Festival of Book Clubs, a one-day annual festival in Hook in the autumn (3:38)
Slightly Foxed Autumn Launch at One Tree Books, Petersfield. Tuesday 10 September, 6.30–8 p.m. (4:15)
Ways With Words: Festivals of Words and Ideas, Dartington, Keswick and Southwold (5:05)
Llangwm Literary Festival, Pembrokeshire (6:18)
Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye (18:01)
Cheltenham Literature Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival (18:08)
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Jul 15, 2019 • 36min
9: Well-Cultivated Words
Gail, Hazel and host Philippa dig into the subject of garden writing with the journalist and social historian Ursula Buchan and Matt Collins, nature writer and Head Gardener at London’s Garden Museum. The conversation meanders convivially in the usual Slightly Foxed manner, via daredevil plant-hunters, early wild gardening advocates such as Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson and Vita Sackville-West, and the passing passions and fashions of garden design, with a peek over the hedge at Christopher Lloyd’s Great Dixter along the way. And there’s the usual round-up of the latest bookish harvest from the Slightly Foxed office and plenty of recommendations for reading off the beaten track too.
The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 35 minutes; 50 seconds)
Books Mentioned
We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.
84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff. Plain Foxed Edition published 1 September 2019, available to order now (2:24)
Corduroy, Adrian Bell. Plain Foxed Edition published 1 August 2019, available to order now (2:30)
Wood and Garden, Gertrude Jekyll is out of print (11:33)
The Wild Garden, William Robinson (11:34)
The English Flower Garden, William Robinson is out of print (11:38)
We Made a Garden, Margery Fish (13:27)
A Green and Pleasant Land, Ursula Buchan (15:23)
Graham Stuart Thomas titles are out of print (17:04)
Dear Friend and Gardener: Letters on Life and Gardening, Beth Chatto & Christopher Lloyd is out of print (18:46)
Forest: Walking among Trees, Matt Collins. With photographs by Roo Lewis (19:20)
Meetings with Remarkable Trees, Thomas Packenham (19:48)
Trees, Hugh Johnson (19:52)
The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben
Oriental Vegetables, Joy Larkcom is out of print but both The Salad Garden and Grow Your Own Vegetables are available (21:37)
The English Gardener, William Cobbett is out of print (22:06)
The Well-Tempered Garden and In My Garden, Christopher Lloyd (22:49)
The Diary of a Bookseller, Shaun Bythell (31:25)
Where the Hornbeam Grows, Beth Lynch (32:05)
Old Glory, Jonathan Raban (32:33)
So I Have Thought of You: The Letters of Penelope Fitzgerald, Ed. Terence Dooley is out of print (32:54)
Wilding, Isabella Tree (33:44)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles & Illustrations
An article on Beth Chatto, The Dry Garden will be published in a forthcoming issue of Slightly Foxed (18:11)
A Well-tempered Gardener, Michael Leapman on the garden writings of Christopher Lloyd, Issue 59 (22:49)
Other Links
Ursula Buchan is an award-winning journalist, social historian and garden writer (3:50)
Matt Collins is a nature writer, and Head Gardener at the Garden Museum in Lambeth, London (6:02)
David Douglas (25 June 1799–12 July 1834) was a Scottish botanist, best known as the namesake of the Douglas-fir (10:08)
Hortus, a gardening journal (20:08)
All back issues of Slightly Foxed are available to browse and buy here (30:20)
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Sound effects:
An English Country Garden in July by Keith Selmes
Bees and bumblebees foraging by odilonmarcenaro
Thanks to www.freesound.org CC licence, attribution
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Jun 15, 2019 • 39min
8: Leaving that Place called Home
Hazel, Jennie and host Philippa explore the art of travel writing with the acclaimed author and biographer Sara Wheeler, and Barnaby Rogerson of the well-loved independent publisher Eland Books. Buckle-up and join us on an audio adventure that takes in a coach trip around England, an Antarctic sojourn, a hairy incident involving a Victorian lady and her trusty tweed skirt and a journey across Russia in the footprints of its literary greats, with nods to Bruce Chatwin, Isabella Bird, Norman Lewis, Martha Gellhorn and Patrick Leigh Fermor along the way. And to bring us back down to earth, there’s the usual round-up of news from back home in Hoxton Square and plenty of recommendations for reading off the beaten track.
The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 39 minutes; 01 seconds)
Books Mentioned
Slightly Foxed Issue 62 (2:05)
The Fountain Overflows, Volume I of Rebecca West’s ‘Saga of the Century’ (2:36)
Something Wholesale, Eric Newby (4:20)
Love and War in the Apennines, Eric Newby (4:24)
Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, Sara Wheeler (8:00)
A Dragon Apparent, Norman Lewis (11:49)
In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin. Sara Wheeler abbreviates the opening line, which reads in full: ‘In my grandmother’s dining-room there was a glass-fronted cabinet and in the cabinet was a piece of skin.’ (18:39)
Growing: Seven Years in Ceylon and The Village in the Jungle, Leonard Woolf (19:50)
Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck (20:35)
Semi Invisible Man: The Life of Norman Lewis, Julian Evans (21:09)
Naples ‘44, Norman Lewis (21:31)
Passage to Juneau, Jonathan Raban (22:24)
Mud and Stars, Sara Wheeler, published 4 July 2019 (23:27)
The Saddest Pleasure, Moritz Thomsen (24:29)
A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water, Patrick Leigh Fermor (25:16)
Arabs, Tim Mackintosh-Smith (33:32)
Lost in Translation, Eva Hoffman (34:31)
A Woman in the Polar Night, Christiane Ritter is currently out of print. The edition with an introduction by Sara Wheeler will be published by Pushkin Press in November 2019 (35:52)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles & Illustrations
Mood Music, Rebecca Willis on Rebecca West’s ‘Saga of the Century’, Issue 62 (2:22)
Ire and Irritability, Pauline Melville on Sense and Sensibility, Issue 62 (2:56)
Travelling Fearlessly, Maggie Fergusson interviews Colin Thubron in Issue 58 (20:26)
A Great Adventure, Andy Merrills on Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water, Issue 38 (25:24)
In Search of Home, Sue Gee on Lost in Translation in Issue 55 (34:31)
Other Links
The Slightly Foxed Podcast website page of episodes and reviews (1:00)
Independent Bookshop Week 2019, 15-22 June. Follow #IndieBookshopWeek and @booksaremybag online (3:38)
Eland Books (11:39)
Katy MacMillan-Scott, Adventures for Harriet: Travelling from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul (31:45)
Lodestars Anthology, selected issues available to buy from Slightly Foxed here (37:41)
Rucksack Magazine (37:58)
Music and sound effects
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Reading music: Lost Memories courtesy of FreeSfx.co.uk
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

May 15, 2019 • 39min
7: A Window on the World
Gail, Steph and Anna go behind the scenes with booksellers Brett Wolstencroft of Daunt Books and Kathleen Smith of Topping & Co. Bath to talk about the reality and romance of life running two of the country’s finest bookshops. Andrew Hawkins recounts the tale of a London publisher who tried his hand at repping and ended up in a spot of bother with a drunken poet in Fife, and there’s the usual round-up of recommended reading and news from Hoxton Square.
The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 30 seconds)
Books Mentioned
Slightly Foxed Issue 62, will be published on 1 June. Available to order now (5:34)
Shaun Bythell, The Diary of a Bookseller (30:12)
Jen Campbell, Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops (30:16)
A Plain Foxed Edition of 84, Charing Cross Road will be published in September 2019. Available to order now (30:22)
Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows (30:40)
Patrick O’Brian, Master & Commander and The Far Side of the World (31:46)
Andrew Miller, Now We Shall Be Entirely Free (32:36)
Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop and The Bloody Chamber (33.02)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles & Illustrations
Mike Petty’s article entitled ‘Up There on a Visit’ was published in Slightly Foxed Issue 8 (23:14)
Maggie Fergusson’s article on Helene Hanff, 84, Charing Cross Road was originally published in Slightly Foxed Issue 24, then republished in Issue 48. It appears as the preface to the Plain Foxed Edition of 84, Charing Cross Road (30:22)
Grant McIntyre’s three articles on Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels – ‘Friendship of Opposites’, ‘The House that Jack Built’ and ‘O’Brian’s World’ – were published sequentially in Slightly Foxed Issues 40, 42 and 44 (30:46)
Other Links
A full list of Slightly Foxed stockists can be found on our website: Stockists (1:09)
The Idler Festival, Hampstead, London, 12-14 July 2019 (3:28)
The Llangwm Literary Fesitval, Pembrokeshire, Wales, 9-11 August 2019 (3:34)
Ways with Words Festival, Dartington, Devon, 5-15 July 2019 (3:52)
The Slightly Foxed 2019 Readers’ Day will be held on Saturday 2 November at The Art Workers’ Guild in Bloomsbury, London. Tickets now available to Slightly Foxed magazine subscribers only. From £60 for a day ticket (4:10)
Daunt Books, Marylebone (6:34)
Topping & Company Booksellers of Bath (6:38)
Topping & Company Booksellers are opening a bookshop in Blenheim Place, Edinburgh in the summer of 2019 (16:55)
The image for Episode 7: A Window on the World features a photograph of Topping & Co. Bath courtesy of Miranda’s Notebook
Music & Sound Effects
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach
Reading music: ‘Roads that burned out boots’ by Jahzzar shared under a Creative Commons licence 3.0, via Free Music Archive. No changes were made.
Sound effects: auto engine and crowded bar thanks to FreeSfx.co.uk
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

Apr 15, 2019 • 38min
6: Well-Written Lives
Gail, Hazel, Jennie and host Philippa are joined at the table by eminent biographer Adam Sisman to discuss the delicate business of delving into the lives of others – warts and all or, sometimes, all warts no all. The actor Nigel Anthony lends his voice to Edward Lear’s surreal verbal contortions, unearthing the deep sorrow that hid beneath the nonsense.
The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 6 seconds)
Books Mentioned
Eric Newby, Love and War in the Apennines will be published as a Slightly Foxed Edition in clothbound hardback on 1 June. Now available to pre-order (1:50)
Adam Sisman, Hugh Trevor-Roper: The Biography, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please get in touch for details (8:30)
Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler (8:42)
Adam Sisman, John le Carré: The Biography is available from Bloomsbury (9:32)
Adam Sisman, The Professor and the Parson is published on 9 May, and will be available to order in the Summer 2019 Readers’ Catalogue and on the Slightly Foxed website (12:32)
Adam Sisman, Boswell’s Presumptuous Task, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please get in touch for details (14:16)
Richard Hillary, The Last Enemy. This Slightly Foxed Edition is also available in a bundle with Sebastian Faulks, The Fatal Englishman (17:11)
Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please get in touch for details (19:24)
Kingsley Amis, The Green Man, on which an article by William Palmer appears in Slightly Foxed Issue 20 (27:58)
My Grandfather & Father, Dear Father, by Denis Constanduros are available in a single edition or in a special Last Call Bundle together with the last copies of our earliest available limited-edition, The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley (28.25)
Bart van Es, The Cut Out Girl (29:30)
Tim Pears, The West Country Trilogy: The Horseman, The Wanderers and The Redeemed (31:00)
Related Slightly Foxed Articles & Illustrations
Adam Sisman’s article on Hugh Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler is published in Slightly Foxed Issue 61 (8:44)
William Palmer’s article on Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer was published in Slightly Foxed Issue 56 (19:24)
Read an extract from Chapter VIII of My Grandfather & Father, Dear Father by Denis Constanduros (28:41)
Other Links
Bart van Es won the 2018 Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize for The Cut Out Girl. The award party was held at Maggs Bros. Ltd (2:31)
The Slightly Foxed 2019 Readers’ Day will be held on Saturday 2 November at The Art Workers Guild in Bloomsbury, London. Tickets will go on sale late May/early June, to Slightly Foxed magazine subscribers only. From £60 for a day ticket (3:44)
The Slightly Foxed Spring 2019 Readers’ Catalogue is available to view and download. The Summer Catalogue will be available on 1 June (18:16)
Nigel Anthony stars in a Jarvis & Ayres Production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal for BBC Radio 3, released soon (25:55)
Music & Sound Effects
Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach Archive reading music: Erik Satie, Gymnopedie No 3 played by Kevin MacLeod, thanks to www.freemusicarchive.org
The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable