It wasn’t until I was two drafts into The Midnight Guardians that I realised I was missing something vitally important to British folklore – giants! They’re integral to our national stories, particularly English ones. The story goes that Brutus of Troy came to Britannia and fought “the descendants of Albion” – a number of giants that lived in Cornwall – fought one called Gogmagog and defeated him. I love the idea that the inhabitants of Britain used to be enormous, mean smelly giants that kept fighting each other, and gave us the rivers and mountains and stone circles that we know today. It made me think about the giant story that I was raised on – the BFG! Those giant names alone are worth the entry fee: Bloodbottler, Bonecruncher, Fleshlumpeater… In The Midnight Guardians, there are two giants called Gog and Magog, which is a reference to the two statues that were destroyed in the raid of 28th December 1940 – they’re the protectors of the City of London, and their effigies are still carried in the Lord Mayor’s Show each year.