Hi! Right now you may be confused because I sent an email out yesterday announcing a few hours left to go on this launch... which hadn't started yet.This is because my assistant who normally does these things was away, so I scheduled all the launch emails myself, and hit the wrong button on the last one of them.Sorry. And, this is why I have an assistant!Now, on with the launch... At the end of June I went to Kansas… and came back with footage of a whole lot of my interpretation of Fiore’s Il...
15 days ago • 2 min read
Hi! as this goes out I’m on my way to Stansted airport to fly to Berlin for the Swords of the Renaissance event, where I’m teaching three classes: Improve your Rapier fencing; Lessons from the Abrazare; and a short “break-out session” on fencing with the rapier and dagger. Should be lots of fun! I’ve attended the last two of these events, and am really looking forward to this one. Between the family trip to London and dashing off to Germany, I’ve been finishing up the video editing for the...
20 days ago • 4 min read
Hi, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The Dardi article I posted about this morning- Michael Chidester, Josh Wiest, and David Biggs all got in touch to let me know that the institution and author apparently don't exist. It's almost certainly a hoax of some kind. Though why anyone would post such a thing on Academia.edu I have no idea. I've deleted the post wherever I can find it, and posted retractions. These things happen- but next time I'll check more carefully before posting stuff. Sorry...
25 days ago • 1 min read
Hi! On Swordpeople.com yesterday my friend and colleague David Biggs let us know that Italian academics lead by Professor Dottore Giovanni Rossi have found what appear to be parts of a book on swordsmanship by Filippo Dardi himself. Dardi is widely credited as being the founder or precursor of the Bolognese School of swordsmanship, and it's hard to imagine a more exciting discovery. The 11 fragments of parchment were found being used to pad the binding of a 19th century book. What the hell...
25 days ago • 1 min read
Hi! I’m back from one family holiday (wife, kids, and mother in Corbelles, near Barcelona) and about to head off for a family reunion weeklong extravaganza in London. One highlight of which will be taking my nieces and nephews around the Wallace Collection. I don’t know if it’ll be a highlight for them or not, but for me, certainly! So in the interim I’ve been beavering away at the new Dagger course, adding over 70 video clips- literally every dagger play in Il Fior di Battaglia is now there...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi! I hope this finds you well. I'm at home between trips, and the lovely Katie who normally formats and schedules my newsletters is away on a much-deserved holiday, so please excuse any irregularities as I create this announcement all by myself! This is just to let you know that my new book, Get Them Moving: how to teach historical martial arts is now available at the swordschool shop. It will go live on other platforms (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc etc.) in a few months, but you can get it...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi! I’m writing this well ahead of time, because only a few days after getting home from the USA, we’re off to Barcelona on our family holiday. I should be home when you get this, but I’m not planning to write any emails while I’m away! Madison Madness Last week I caught you up to the Madison seminars on July 6th and 7th. Monday the 8th was batshit crazy. I went to The House on the Rock, about an hour West of Madison, with my friend Alexandra. The place with the carousel made famous by Neil...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi! I’m writing this in Minneapolis St Paul airport, waiting for a delayed flight to Chicago to connect to my flight home. This three-week trip has been extremely eventful, so much so that I’m going to split telling you about it over a couple of emails. After a magnificent week with Jessica Finley (as you no doubt recall from the last missive), I went to see my friend Jason James, currently stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. Just getting “on post” (as these military types call it) involved a...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi! And greetings from stormy Kansas. I arrived on Wednesday night after a more eventful than is ideal trip. There was a medical emergency on the plane (I’m the wrong kind of doctor to be useful there, but the right kind of doctor literally ran across a row of seats to get to the action); then there was a queue at passport control that took over 2 hours, while I had an hour and 40 minutes to catch my connecting flight; which was fortunately delayed just long enough that I made it, though my...
3 months ago • 3 min read