Living my best Disney life.

New gaff, same colour scheme!

Colourful patches were initially added to civilian smocks by Ansars as symbols of poverty and virtue, as demand increased so did the uniformity.

On the 2nd September 1898 this Ansar Jibbah was collected after the Battle of Omdurman, 127 years ago today!

Last museum lift selfie at NAM

Also a mention of our forthcoming exhibition 'Beyond Burma: Forgotten Armies' opening on the 16th of September. Thank you as ever to the excellent @terridendy.bsky.social for facilitating this behind the scenes look at our work. 📺🎥 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... 24.04 (link active for 24 hours)

Shakesy-P's birthplace, Tudor restoration and the best Tap Room name. Gorgeous weekend in Stratford upon Avon

YESSSS GIRLS! ⚽

My last Collections Hack @ NAM

Visited the Battle of Britain Memorial flight centre at RAF Coningsby today! The last working Lancaster Bomber in the UK. ❤️ The restored historic motifs showing the bombs dropped over Berlin (in red) and Italy (in🍦)

Myth and Reality now open @nam_london 6 weeks of intensive conservation by @plowden_smith one hefty lift up the stairs with @crozierfinearts and the huge painting of the Capitulation of Kars by Thomas Jones Barker has been hung and looks fabulous. Quite a bit fun for my last Namstall!

Love that we get to watch the Red Arrows perform from the doorstep

IWM has recently launched our India's War collecting project, aiming to improve our representation of the Indian experience of the Second World War within the museum’s collections. More details here: www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

Ok a conveyor belt for digitisation is just a game changer Smithsonian www.instagram.com/p/DLBFti_R80...

Reference book nook of dreams @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social

There's more colours than Army green in NAM collections 🌈

Farm shop and brewery Saturdays ❤️

The granny trolley has resurfaced for trips down to the allotment.

Army issue thigh highs

And I shall name him Def Leopard. Fun day of analysis reveals he's really into heavy metals.

The indestructible Adrien Carton de Wiart VC painted by William Orpen in 1919, seen today at the National Portrait Gallery, London. He threw his glass eye out of a taxi window after he was obliged to wear one for a War Office interview.

A favour to ask - if you've read Memory Bank: A Biography of Blythe House, would you be willing to give us a review? On Goodreads, Amazon, or wherever you buy your books, I'd be *super* grateful! www.amazon.co.uk/Memory-Bank-...

Finally finished resolving the documentation backlog on the ethno spears at the NAM. Lots of lessons learnt about how ethno objects are documented in military collections. Main takeaway it's probably not a Zulu assegai...

Paying respects to the pagan gods at #Ickwell May Day

Spending Saturday with a ghost

Well this is some nice news for a Wednesday morning! Philip Pullman announces The Rose Field, the final part of Lyra’s story www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

Great couple of days @royalarmouries.bsky.social #plunderconf who knew there were so many medieval terms for plunder!

3 year old thinks we should inspire marathon runners with a drawing of 'poo poo' #londonmarathon

How incredibly sad

Today find a screen with cartouches depicting soldiers of the 10th Hussars

Great day riding a Warrior tank down in Bovington! @tankmuseum.bsky.social

Sutton Hoo

Evening wandering the Abbey of St Edmunds ruins

Certainly makes living in Bedfordshire more exciting!

The joys of the sealed pattern collection. A standard pattern pin for the standard pattern badges 😂

The many joys of collections work, finding ways to squeeze through racking when your trapped behind mahoosive paintings 😅

My favourite museum view @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social

Out of office feels

📢 Recruiting now! Curator of Photography and Photographic Technology (maternity cover) 📸 Join my team at @mediamuseum.bsky.social and get stuck into caring for and sharing our brilliant collections. With @bradford2025.co.uk it's a wonderful time to be here ce0111li.webitrent.com/ce0111li_web...

Same.

When the #Dolly tribute act just hits...

I finally got round to joining @musethnogroup.bsky.social and have received my first journal! Working on a Saturday isn't so bad today.

Of course I've met a badger in uniform, haven't you?

And this is why we all love this curator!

Today's fun find! A Royal Order of Welfare, Greece. Only awarded to women! #womenshistory #medals

Finally got to see #HewLocke at the British Museum, great rethink and representation of colonial collections and artistic interpretations

'Announced on Holocaust Memorial Day, the Wiener Holocaust Library’s new online platform includes more than 150,000 items collected over nine decades. Users can view letters, pamphlets and photographs that record the rise of fascism in Britain and Europe.' Link: www.whlcollections.org/index/

Studio tour of Hand and Lock! Gold embroidery for the military, film and TV

Whenever I get off the tube at Oxford Circus I realise I'm still fuming that they closed Topshop