My wife and I have a game to get as far back in time in the fewest overlapping lives. Today we got to 1770 in two jumps: Attenborough (b. 1926)> Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)> William Wordsworth (1770-1850). I'm sure we can be bettered! Happy Birthday Sir David! www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Drury Lane Theatre opened #onthisday in 1663 and the current building was built 1812. A Grade 1 listed building in Covent Garden hosting plays ever since. Interior view is from Rudolph Ackerman's 'Microcosm of London' 1808-11 (AN 20.1.5).

Next month (20 June), #Colchester Choral Society performs G&S's Iolanthe. I'm singing Strephon, a fairy from the waste up and mortal from the waste down. He's in love with a shepherdess, ward to a Lord. Parliament gets involved. It's a riot. Come along! colchesterchoralsociety.co.uk/etn/gilbert-...

Even Dryden couldn't pull it off, so I don't like Avary's (or AI's) chances... www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ma...

We are delighted to invite you to the #EnglishCreates: Futures Online Symposium, Thursday 2 July 2026. What futures are possible for English Studies – in universities, schools, public culture, industry, and beyond? This event is open to all - please join us! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/englishcre...

All the right notes, not necessarily in the right order... www.theguardian.com/stage/ng-int...

Lost Federico García Lorca verse discovered 93 years after it was written

Found a Shakespeare thing; wrote about it in @thetls.bsky.social: www.the-tls.com/regular-feat....

Just out in 17th Century - my new article on Leonard Wheatcroft, the bard of Ashover, ”Poetry and the Politics of the Parish”. Featuring weathercocks, a non-elite manuscript miscellany, and lots of bellringing! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A 'gift to scholars, students, and practitioners who wish to champion performance as a worthwhile research praxis in its own right'. Lovely review of Performing Restoration Shakespeare by Katie Adkison @richardschoch.bsky.social & @awinkler90.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1017/...

This is well worth a listen (as always). Fun fact: there are only two perfectly written texts in the English language. One is 'The Rape of the Lock'. The other is 'Pride and Prejudice'. I will not be taking any further questions at this time.

Just seeing a frame of this film makes me well up. One of my absolute favourites.

This is great. It's actually Charles I's mum-in-law, Marie, arriving in 1639. The original is from Histoire de l'entree de la reyne mere... dans la Grande-Bretaigne (1639). Apparently she was received with 'mille acclamations de joye & de contentement', which sounds nice. archive.org/details/lent...

How many of us have benefited from Pete's generous, insightful, and fulsome reviews over the years, both in our teaching and research? Incredible stuff. 👏

All for (b)one, (b)one for all. (Don't @ me.)

Really interesting read on Pepys & slavery & naval history www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... & more in Michael Edwards @historicaljnl.bsky.social article 'Samuel Pepys, the African Companies, and the Archives of Slavery, 1660–1689' www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Happy @alcs.co.uk Day to all who celebrate! £130 for me this year. Unfortunately, this will have to go on fixing the oven, which has just broken, rather than something more fun... 😅

I've been looking forward to this for a long time. See you in 6(ish) hours... 🐉

'Shakespeare and the Restoration Repertory shows how Shakespeare contributed to one of the most vibrant and innovative chapters of English theatre culture not as an isolated entity, but as a productive part of a much more diverse repertory.' Nice review of my book 😊 hdl.handle.net/11222.digili...

My wife, Dr Sarah Smyth, is talking taste with @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social and others on Radio 4 tonight. Listen here! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

‘I am still trying, in the face of difficulties, to elaborate some routine of life which will allow me to persist in some intellectual aims.’ Aren't we all, Tom. Aren't we all.

It finally happened: Davenant was an answer on Uni Challenge!! 🥳😱

This is about so much more than football. But it is also very much about football.

Just picked this up from the library. Always enjoy @joemoransblog.bsky.social's stuff, and this is no exception. '[T]o have failed, to have plumbed the depths and know that one cannot fall further, is not so bad.' Fail better, indeed.

Exciting to see this volume - with an essay by yours truly on Restoration theatrical rivalries - will be available imminently. It also has a very fun cover! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

'I fear for the decline in the volume and range of voices on our stages across the country.' Yes, theatres need to invest in riskier new writing - but they also need to play more imaginatively with the existing repertory, which we've reduced to a handful of tired, hackneyed workhorses.

Back after a long break. I've been struggling to adjust to my new non-academic life and needed some time to figure out what that looks like for me. But I miss hearing about the fantastic stuff everyone's doing, despite the HE bin-fire. So I'm here again, and looking forward to (re)connecting 🙂