Thanks to the following, and apologies to all those I have inevitably missed out:
Alice Glover, who started all of this; Julian Dickson, the first person to think the thing was worth reading, and the only reason I carried on writing; my agent Jane Willis, for her wisdom, support and kindness; Naomi Colthurst for invaluable editorial advice in the very early stages; all the Chickens for their enthusiasm and faith in the project, but in particular Barry and Rachel, for taking a chance on me, and my editor Kesia, for getting all my Star Wars references and being more in tune with the book than I ever could have hoped for; Tuulevi, Sandra and Andrew, Titus and Carrie, who all let me write in their houses; readers and general supporters Joelle, Vic (sorry you nearly went blind), Ben, Anna, Emerald, Chris, Will L, the Bunhill Massive (Will D, Mary, Dave, Sarah) and the brothers Bowling for their thoughts, ideas and camaraderie; and Steph, the world’s greatest critic and proofreader, who read it more than anyone and was there in good times and bad.
Writers and other clever people who I have drawn upon for the historical side of things are too numerous to mention, but constant companions have been Catherine Arnold, Antonia Fraser, Ian Mortimer, Liza Picard and Anne Somerset. This book would have been impossible without their (much more scholarly) work.