Excellent episodes on Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol' on Journey Through Time podcast with @sarahchurchwell.bsky.social and @davidolusoga.bsky.social . 3rd episode to come on New Year's Day. How Did Charles Dickens Save Christmas? youtu.be/kiGU5qGgBsY?... via @YouTube youtu.be/JbpGAejmOps?...

Views around Mary Tavy, and of Brentor Church

Excellent review of my ‘Goethe: A Life in Ideas’ by Daniel Johnson in The Critic thecritic.co.uk/issues/novem... “Bell’s brilliant biography does full justice to this greatest of German Dichter und Denker”

My series ‘Intimate Histories’ about how history is not some abstract thing that happened to someone else, but personal to all of us is now available on BBC Sounds. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/serie...

Film: A conversation on Goethe with A.N. Wilson www.history.org.uk/primary/reso...

SMLC research seminars are in full swing! After Kate Astbury's fascinating talk on Napoleonic theatre @100days1815.bsky.social, this last week has seen @stefanoserafini.bsky.social on the gothic in Italy and as we speak the first 'Falling Skies' seminar! Watch this space for more events coming soon!

If anyone is in Berlin next week, come along to my book presentation (or stream in): www.max-lingner-stiftung.de/programm-mlh...

Seen as we are 'battling for souls' again, I still think this (that I wrote in 2021) holds up pretty well www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

It exists! Still pondering the cover but... it exists! press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

On 20 November, I'm giving a lunchtime lecture at the V&A about my book Shoes and the Georgian Man. It's free, do come along! #skystorians @bloomsburyfashion.bsky.social @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social www.vam.ac.uk/event/xd9XBD...

V. exciting to see new Marie Antoinette research by @catrionaseth.bsky.social in the news: hugely looking forward to reading the new book about her portraits www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The building in which Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Library, was born.

St Sidwell's Community Centre in Exeter - four churches once stood on this site just outside the old East Gate of the city. A former village in its own right on an important trading route into/out of the city

St Sidwell's Community Centre in Exeter - four churches once stood on this site just outside the old East Gate of the city. A former village in its own right on an important trading route into/out of the city

Exeter Cathedral in the October sun (early evening)

Only 8 days to wait until the publication of this baby

In 1700, France was the powerhouse of Europe: 25 million people, one in five Europeans, and almost 1 in 25 people on Earth were French. Its armies, culture and language shaped the world. 🇫🇷 1/5

Today in 1715 one of the towering figures of history, Louis XIV, died. His 72 year reign remains the longest verified reign in world history, beating our Elizabeth II by under 2 years. He enlarged France ...... and broke it. His last few years were marked by personal & dynastic tragedy 👇

Discussion and some close reading of Rilke's poetry via @oxfordgermannet.bsky.social. Featuring Prof Charlie Louth, @joannaraisbeck.bsky.social ‬, @karen-leeder.bsky.social, Prof Katrin Kohl, among others: youtube.com/@OxGerNet Linked to sixth-form essay competition: ogn.ox.ac.uk/ogn.ox.ac.uk...

Dare you join us this autumn and come face to face with terror in Darkness & Light?

Lucky enough to have a peek at some letters from one of Marie Antoinette’s elder sisters this week: Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, or ‘Charlotte’ in her personal life These letters were written in autumn 1793, shortly before she found out that Marie Antoinette had been guillotined #18c

Postgraduate researchers at the University of Exeter are among the most satisfied in the UK, according to the latest Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES). The University is ranked 11th overall in UK, with an overall satisfaction score of 86.3%.

Thomas More: A Life is out in Canada and the US on the 1 July. You can pre-order now! www.simonandschuster.com/books/Thomas... Thomas More | Book by Joanne Paul | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

New Blog Read the final blog in our 'Democratic Identity' series | Anne Heyer, 'Searching for “Demokratin”? The Curious Case of Women Democrats in Early Nineteenth-Century Germany' You can now read all the posts in this series on our website ⬇️ intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk/article/sear...

Interview with Prof Ritchie Robertson on the Enlightenment and the relationship between private vices and public benefits. Discussion of Adam Smith, David Hume, Kant, and Hobbes, among others... youtu.be/zNG0wq34_Nk?...

Don't know what people find so difficult about English pronunciation.... youtu.be/BrJv_wUEKko?...

Napoleonic-era caricatures still providing inspiration to today’s cartoonists

Currently indexing this. Sure am gonna miss it when it’s published.

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... Very excited about this, and deep thanks to the fantastic folk at Princeton for making it happen.

Fair play, Pilgrims, from a Grecian. Outstanding effort. @pafc.co.uk

Just a nice little porcelain cup, dated 1790 or 1791, bearing the motto of the short-lived constitutional monarchy in France: ‘Long live The Nation, the Law, the King’. The motto would be replaced in 1793 with ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’ (Cornell University Collection) #18c

The sun disappearing for the final time in January 2025 below Widemouth Bay, Cornwall

Like a pathetic exiled kinglet, turfed off his throne and lingering at the fringes of a foreign warlord’s court to provide a fig leaf for his aggression in return for victuals, wine and a warm cloak.

How devastating was the dissolution of the monasteries? How did the closure of 850 religious houses in four years affect ordinary people? The first part of our new series A World Torn Apart: The Dissolution of the Monasteries can now be streamed on History Hit. access.historyhit.com/a-world-torn...

A history of the French Revolution, as told by the Pip & Squeak 1938 Annual

Look at the utter breathtaking beauty of these ruins at Easby. They’ve inspired many artists, including Turner. But the story behind them is not pretty. NEW SERIES: it ‘A World Torn Apart: The Dissolution of the Monasteries’ coming very soon to History Hit TV.

I signed this petition to continue providing underprivileged children with Latin lessons. Please do the same. Save the Latin Excellence Programme - keep teaching Latin in state schools - Sign the Petition! www.change.org/p/save-the-l...

Need a quick bookish present for a history lover? This history of the 18th-century Byrons includes shipwreck, a murder trial, adultery, approximately 100 elopements (slight exaggeration), incest, & a pig called Mad Pauline Signed pback copies here 🎁🎄> www.foxlanebooks.co.uk/product-page... #18c

ONE WEEK TODAY! Join me and Mike Muncer @mikemuncer.bsky.social for a LIVE-STREAMED ep of The Ghost Story Book Club. We'll be discussing two Ghost Stories for Xmas films The Signalman and A View from a Hill. And we want YOUR input. Have you booked your place? www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-ghost-...

Exciting update! ‘Summoned to the Séance’ is out next Thursday 12th December! 👻 Find it at @britishlibrary.bsky.social @waterstones.bsky.social @whsmithofficial.bsky.social and many more: shop.bl.uk/products/sum...

So excited for our very first Gothic Christmas Panel! 🎄Not one to be missed! 🖤 Special guests @jendeavour.bsky.social, @foodforflo.bsky.social, @drdjohnston.bsky.social 🤩 📅Mon 9th Dec 🕔5pm–6.30pm (GMT) 📍Zoom DM/Email @gothicauob.bsky.social 🦇to join!

Earlier this week, the University launched the Sheldonian Series. The Sheldonian Series is a new programme of termly events aimed at promoting open discussion about the major topics of the day.

This Wednesday!

Really enjoyed this work on Edmund Burke by @rosscarroll.bsky.social A concise and rich analysis of Burke's political life and thought, which draws out several perennially important considerations for political conduct - 'When all about you are full of presumption [...] dare to be fearful'

📣 Carlyle Lectures in the History of Political Thought 2025 Eric Nelson (Harvard): For the Way Things Are: In Search of a Defensible Conservatism | Hilary Term, 5pm, Tuesdays Weeks 3-8 | more details coming soon...

Greatly looking forward to this ! 👇

Recent discussion on Kafka and his continuing relevance, hosted by Queen's College, Oxford. Featuring Prof Charlie Louth, Prof Karen Leeder, and Prof Barry Murnane, and Prof Ritchie Robertson. t.co/9XXe2GcOVS

A new biography on Goethe by the renowned author A.N. Wilson, who studies Goethe's multifaceted life through the prism of Faust. It was a pleasure to read the manuscript for this beautifully written and stimulating work. Certainly available in all good bookshops!