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Alex Johnson

@shedworking.bsky.social
236 followers 37 following 1.6K posts

Writer of non-fiction books (latest: The Philosophy of Sheds). Online editor Fine Books magazine, columnist at Idler. Coined term "shedworking". Half-decent snooker player. Watford FC season ticket holder. thewritinghut.substack.com

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 2h
Other work by the Ladybird artists Llangollen Valley Artist: SR Badmin
A view over a green, lightly- wooded valley at Sunset or dawn 
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 14h
There’s a Ladybird book for every occasion. “In 1850 there were quite a number of Football Clubs. Each club drew up its own rules at a special meeting. The rules were not the same for every club” From ‘The Story of Football’ Artist: Jack Matthew (Man City)
By the light of yellow gas lamps, a group of men with impressive sideburns sit down at a mahogany table, ready to write notes with quill pens 
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Fr Chase 🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁 @kalanthropos.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
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Fine Books & Collections @finebooks.bsky.social · 17h
Cat-Themed Books by Poe, Colette, and Warhol to Auction www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...
finebooksmagazine.com
Cat-Themed Books by Poe, Colette, and Warhol to Auction
A four-part sale series featuring one of the most significant private collections of cat-related books and art ever assembled begins tomorrow at Bonhams.The Sandy Lerner Collection from American busin...
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BLPublishing @blpublishing.bsky.social · 20h
Elizabeth Drury has combed through Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language to compile a new dictionary of forgotten, curious, hilarious and – occasionally – quite useful words. Hotcockles and Twittletwattle is available now online and in-store. #samueljohnson #blpublishing
Book cover of Hotcockles and Twittletwattle
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Mark Watson @watsoncomedian.bsky.social · 19h
An enormous sendoff this morning for Simon Trewin. He was a giant of the publishing industry but the tributes were all about his empathy, curiosity and deep interest in other people, and the way he'd brought so many people in the (packed) church together. It's how anyone would want to be remembered.
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Samuel Pepys @samuelpepys.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It fell to thunder, lighten, and rain so violently that my house was all afloat, and I in all the rain up to the gutters, and there dabbled in the rain and wet half an hour, enough to have killed a man.
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Samuel Pepys @samuelpepys.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
To carry several heavy things with my wife up and down stairs, in order to our going to lie above, and Will to come down to the Wardrobe, and that put me into a violent sweat, so I had a fire made.
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Harry Spillane @harryspillane.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Great to see 'Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible' in such great company within @finebooks.bsky.social September roundup of new books
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
That England-Spain game was marvellous.
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Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
As always, I'm keen to hear from potential contributors. You just need i) to love short stories ii) to be able to narrow that love down to 12 (TWELVE!) stories and iii) be able to write about what they mean to you. DMs open. Don't be shy!
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Fine Books & Collections @finebooks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
History of Bookselling, Selling the Bible, and A Librarian’s Memoir: September Books Roundup www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...
finebooksmagazine.com
History of Bookselling, Selling the Bible, and A Librarian’s Memoir: September Books Roundup
Our regular look at the new books that have recently caught the eye of our print and online editors this month.Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible by Harry Spill...
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Samuel Pepys @samuelpepys.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
To my office, whither by and by came my brother John, who is to go to Cambridge tomorrow, and I did give him a most severe reprimand for his bad account he gives me of his studies.
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Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A reminder for book designers. The job of a spine is to be noticable, interesting and legible in a bookshop. The job of a cover is to be identifiable when someone cool is reading the book further down the carriage from you the tube.
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Samuel Pepys @samuelpepys.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
By and by comes my wife by coach well home, and having got a good fowl ready for supper against her coming, we eat heartily, and so with great content and ease to our own bed, there nothing appearing so to our content as to be at our own home, after being abroad awhile.
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Samuel Pepys @samuelpepys.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
After a word or two to my father and mother, my wife and I mounted, and we rode to Bigglesworth by the help of a couple of countrymen, that led us through the very long and dangerous waters, because of the ditches on each side, though it begun to be very dark.
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Watched the ludicrous final episode of the second series of Ludwig last night. First series was great, but this second one is absolute pants.
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Jonathan Gibbs @jonathangibbs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Today programme about to platform someone advocating for ‘AI rights’. Off it goes. If AIs have rights then they should also be subject to the rule of law. If so, they are by their creators’ own admissions guilty of massive levels of theft, and so can go straight to jail and enjoy their rights there.
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
@greenidris.bsky.social maybe of interest
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Nick Higham @highamnews.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Blimey. Lost Raviliouses found klaxon…! Eric Ravilious drawings rescued from skip emerge 40 years later www.thetimes.com/article/2a62...
thetimes.com
Eric Ravilious drawings rescued from skip emerge 40 years later
The previously unknown works feature some of the artist’s favourite motifs, including cricketers and canoodling couples, and are to be published in a book
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I do not want my Radio 3 presenters to introduce pieces of music by describing them as "blissed out".
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Dr Kathryn Ferry @seasideferry.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Best find at today's collector's fair - a postcard of the short-lived #monorail at #rhyl. It only ran for a few weeks in 1980 - read more at theleisurehistorian.com/rhyl-monorail/
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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:
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Mike Parker @mikeparker.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Ooh. My forthcoming book (out February) seems to have escaped into the wild. I’m so excited to be getting this one out there. harpercollins.co.uk/products/mid...
The cover of a book, Mid Land by Mike Parker
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
@gpwigglesworth.bsky.social fancy this?
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Bobby | DJ BobaFatt @bobafatt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Remember when Nigel Farage was more than happy to publicly big up the IRA for £74. The fuck you think he'll do for £72 million..
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Samuel Pepys @samuelpepys.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The truth is I do find him a much more cunning fellow than I ever took him for, nay in his very drink he has his wits about him.
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BLPublishing @blpublishing.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A mouth-watering feast of crime fiction, including stories of mushroom murders, brown bread spread with bacillus botulinus, and tales in which the identity of killers is proved by a purchase of fillet steak or an inexpert knowledge of fine wines. Eat Drink and Be Murdered is out today.
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Peter and Jane (1965) original reference photo and finished artwork Artist: John Berry
Photograph of a boy and a girl in a back garden posing with a jug and a toy rabbit Artwork from the book ‘things we like’ in the Peter And Jane reading scheme. The rabbit is now a pet.
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
@readersheds.co.uk www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Glowworms shine again in North Yorkshire after larvae reared in garden shed
Volunteer ‘glow-getters’ overseeing reintroduction of endangered beetles at Nosterfield nature reserve
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Dr Kathryn Ferry @seasideferry.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
My first time staying at The Grand Hotel... It hasn't managed to maintain its original reputation for grandeur but I think it's important to put your money where your mouth is. Seaside resorts need inward investment and Scarborough needs The Grand - can you imagine South Bay without it?
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trouteyes @trouteyes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Have you seen my snooker table, Doris? No farmer Griffiths. I haven't seen any snooker tables at all this morning.
Old painting. Man and enormous rectangular sheep
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I've got a back copy of The Iris Murdoch Review on my desk which I'm leaving nonchalantly in full view.
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Die Gordie @gordiek.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
@sathnam.bsky.social - has there ever been a truer observation put to paper?
A highlighted quote from Sathnam Sanghera’s book reads, “I sometimes think that a career in writing is just a fetish for stationary that has got out of control, […].”
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Ice cream in the rain Artist: Harry Wingfield (1965) #bankholiday
Two children without coats, bravely wait in a heavy rain shower to attract the attention of an ice cream man in his van
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Andrew Wilcox (Wilco) @readersheds.co.uk · 28/08/2026
UK Men’s Sheds Awards 2026 Nominations Now Open menssheds.org.uk/events/uk-me... They have just started to talka bout a Men's Shed in my town of Penarth - maybe they will be nominated next year!
menssheds.org.uk
UK Men's Sheds Awards 2026 - UKMSA Men's Sheds Association
UK Men's Sheds Awards, including Shed of the Year, celebrate the people, projects and partnerships that make Sheds vital to UK communities
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The Victorian Society @thevicsoc.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Remembering Sir John Betjeman, Poet Laureate + co-founder of the Vic Soc, born #onthisday in 1906. With a long career in writing + broadcasting, he was a passionate advocate for Victorian architecture & campaigned for the conservation of historic buildings. 🧵 📷Jim Linwood CC BY 2.0
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Robin Baker @robinalexbaker.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
In the late 1960s Puffin Books produced a series of films about some of their key authors. Here's the animated sequence that introduced them. The series included profiles of Alan Garner, Joan Aiken, Leon Garfield and Michael Bond.
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GPWigglesworth @gpwigglesworth.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Leeds types! Join me at the @oldwoollen.bsky.social Nov 1st for a book quiz! Part of Farsley Lit Fest run by @trumanbooks.bsky.social 😁 trumanbooks.co.uk/event/book-l...
trumanbooks.co.uk
The Book Lover's Quiz Night •
Old Woollen and Farsley Lit Fest regular Gary Wigglesworth (The Book Lover’s Quiz Book) returns to host our annual quiz. This is a literary quiz with a difference. Rather than basic sets of questions, The Book Lover’s Quiz Live mirrors the format of Gary’s quiz books. So, there are lots of multiple-choice questions, some amusing answers, …
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Very sorry to hear of the death of artist Yayoi Kusama who I wrote about in my recent-ish book Studios of Their Own. Here's illustrator James Oses' take on her workplace from the book.
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Book Covers @bookcoverlove.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
The last two weeks!
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
AI rotters are buying tens of millions of books and destroying them. This is the best piece on the issue I’ve read about it by an expert rare bookseller. Absolute must-read. downtownbrown.substack.com/p/five-falla...
downtownbrown.substack.com
All the Books in the World
Five Fallacies about AI and Book Scanning
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Mr Benn @thebowlerhatman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I spoke to David McKee's son about this exhibition last night. This is the McKee family archive and hasn't been exhibited before, so it's well worth seeing... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
As if by magic, Mr Benn appears in exhibition of late author's characters
An exhibition showcases the work and popular characters of late children's author and artist David McKee.
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Very sorry to hear about photographer Elliott Franks. Never met him, but like any sub working on arts stories in the last couple of decades I handled, and admired, a huge amount of his work.
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Am in Spain. It’s quite warm.
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Rejoice in the return of the rains with my recent book 100 Words for Rain
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Andrew Wilcox (Wilco) @readersheds.co.uk · 15/08/2026
Shed coverage: Place where you can be you: Britain’s sheds evolve into sanctuaries of steam, pubs and nostalgia from Malay Mail (Malaysia’s oldest newspaper established in 1896) www.malaymail.com/news/life/20...
malaymail.com
Place where you can be you: Britain’s sheds evolve into sanctuaries of steam, pubs and nostalgia
LONDON, Aug 14 — “Welcome to the Shanty Shed”, shouted steam ship enthusiast Peter McLaughlin over the din of pistons lunging back and forth as clouds of white vapour...
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
After years of overwork and ill health, Charles Darwin moved to Down House in Kent where he settled into a rather more idle routine and discovered that sometimes the best way to get more done is to stop doing so much - me on the great man in the latest issue of the Idler magazine.
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘Mulberry near Lewes’ Artist: SR Badmin
An exquisitely finely detailed pen and ink illustration showing an ancient Mulberry tree - collapsed, twisted and gnarled, growing among other trees and vegetation. The small focal point is a human figure: a mother nursing her baby on a fallen branch
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Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Nice story about the importance of sheds to a happy life featuring me and my latest book The Philosophy of Sheds. You can try it in English here www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ar... or in French here www.laprovence.com/article/fran...
laprovence.com
Royaume-Uni: loin de la remise à outils, des abris de jardin convertis en "petits paradis"
Royaume-Uni: loin de la remise à outils, des abris de jardin convertis en "petits paradis"
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