The Plantagenets by Dan Jones: Book Launch

Dan Jones: Game of Thrones

To one of London's hidden delights, the St John Museum in Clerkenwell, for the launch of Dan Jones' new book, The Plantagenets. The room was vast and airy, stained glass windows catching the late sunlight, and gilded with armorial bearings. Below the room was the museum, which detailed the fascinating history of the Order of St John, from almost a thousand years ago to its work across the globe today. An appropriate place, then, for a launch of a book that discusses one of England's most important dynasties. It's like Game of Thrones, but real, said the editor. Game of Jones?

Many historians were present, including Ben Wilson, who now has a beard; also the actor Tom Hiddleston, who is much, much taller in real life than he is on film. Does that make sense? I didn't pluck up the courage to go and talk to him, though, alas. The politician Kwasi Kwarteng was there - he said that he'd read the book in six hours straight. That's how good it is. Also present was Richard Godwin, the Evening Standard columnist and noted bon vivant whom I bump into more than anybody else in the world. Much fun was had by all, and I even went to the St John restaurant afterwards and feasted, mediaevally, on bone marrow. Yum.