Me and my centurion

I have always been a bit wary of stunts at book launches, or anything else for that matter. But I have to say that I rather enjoyed what my publishers, Profile, did to launch my SPQR. First of all, there was an extremely friendly centurion keeping a watch over the proceeding at the Society of Antiquaries, and guarding the front door. (That's him above with me and Andrew Franklin.)

And they had also printed a spoof Roman (tabloid) newspaper for people to take away, all rather expertly filled with stories taken from the book itself. Here is just one highlight (in response to Caracalla's citizenship edict of 212 AD):

But the following night, at Waterstones Piccadilly, they went one better.

 

In marvellous bit of street theatre, rarely seen in Piccadilly, a dramatisation of the first part of Cicero's first Catilinarian speech was staged -- much to the amusement of passers by. In the picture, you can see the burly Cicero, taking the unfortunate Catiline (desperately protesting his innocence) by the scruff of the neck.

And it was these guys for company, plus a couple more Roman soldiers, that we kicked of the first official day of sales, with a discussion (guided by Peter Stothard) on what 'SPQR' really means, why Rome matters, how you write its history -- and so on.

A jolly good time was had by all. And if you missed it, there's another London event next week at the Royal Geographical Society on Wednesday 28th at 7.00 pm.

So far, so good.