Paul Robeson, African-American singer, actor, communist and former shipyard worker was born on this day 1898. He appeared at Belle Vue, Manchester, in 1949 at a rally organised by professional boxer Len Johnson, Communist co-founder of the New International Club.

NEW 🌍 EUROPA I: Quite a lot of bull 🐂 From a Phoenician girl kidnapped from a picnic, to Nazi experiments on extinct bulls; from mechanical cows, to the Minoan civilisation; from the Catholic Church, to the Euro banknotes... 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/5wy4... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Finished How We might Live by @suzannefagence and it is a wonderfully intimate biography of William and Jane Morris and their connections. Went to the exhibition at @arcwinch in January and there was no catalogue so bought this instead and it was better!

Had no idea that William Morris’ legendary edict ‘do not have anything in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’ was first scribbled to the Manchester Literary Club in 1879 or that he gave a talk to them on Art, Wealth and Riches in 1883. #morris #manchester

Always looking after others and putting yourself last can take a toll on women's bodies, as many find out in midlife | Lowri Dowthwaite-Walsh

"A new study out of Cornell Universit found workers most excited and impressed by corporate speak may be the least equipped to make effective, practical business decisions, and it can leave companies with dysfunctional leaders."

I feel seen - having read this lying in bed with exhaustion after a horrendous day yesterday: www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Guess which myth for @alexpodyssey.bsky.social am reading for?

"The Nazi regime saw empathy, pity, and mercy towards ‘racial aliens’... as a threat... or burden... and denounced them as immoral" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Today's Daily Mail is lashing out at (checks notes) *empathy* - and suggesting that Britain's "ruling elite" has too much of it 🤔 With advertising from LloydsBank, Lidl, The Range and Lotto

Wrote a thing about these newly found episodes of Doctor Who: www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/a36baf2...

Spot the photo of my giving a talk with my eyes open? Nope. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Women hidden in print tour tonight @porticolibrary.bsky.social . #womenhistorymonth

The BBC’s job is to “inform, educate, and entertain”? Let’s talk about the middle word. What follows is the story of what we found in an FOI request (per the Observer) about the Corporation killing off plans to launch an online catalogue and failing to deliver ‘learning for people of all ages’. 🧵

I meant to post this #internationalwomensday yesterday but found out too many things & went down too many rabbit holes around Mary Severn Newton, like her exhibition of Mrs Liddell at the RA & drawing of her daughter Alice (yes - that Alice) in Llandudno 1864 www.debbiechallis.com/post/married...

🆕 And here it is - the brilliant live discussion and Q&A we had on Pandora. On everything from why misogyny is a perennial weed to what to do if you miss the last swan back to Avalon. Happy #IWD2026, you wonderful people. A x 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/0bze... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Creation of Eve from Wells Cathedral drawn by John Flaxman - compare to his drawing of the presentation of Pandora (Image 3). From the wonderful @porticolibrary.bsky.social, via the glorious @poisonchallis.bsky.social. HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY! #WBD2026

On #WorldBookDay lady becomes Elizabeth Bennet & I embrace my inner Poe, again.

Mary Severn Newton had two jobs in her married life – artist and mistress of a household – and struggled to do both in the 1860s. She has my sympathy! What she depicts so well is that struggle, often humorously, in her sketches. New blog: www.debbiechallis.com/post/married...

Went to ENO’s Cosi Fan Tutti at Bridgewater Hall. Seemed rather apt given the new @alexpodyssey.bsky.social episode on Pandora, & discussing all the misogyny that telling that story entails. The music sublime. And with my bf - we used to go to eno as our treat & now she is an exec director of it.

Thanks to the wonderful @poisonchallis.bsky.social and @porticolibrary.bsky.social for last night's fantastic launch event for 'These Isles: A People's History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales' (HarperNorth).

This was a very nice evening with @groomb.bsky.social - despite having been here a while now first time at the Portico Library too.

🆕 2.2 PANDORA: Worst. Unboxing. Video. Ever. 📦 Wicked troublemaker or the victim of history's longest smear campaign? This episode is one WILD ride. And it includes some of my favourite cinematic references. 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/4E7j... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

This coming Thursday evening, publication day. Just a few tickets left.

New blog post on life writing and thinking about invisibility of women and men from the past. How do you write a marriage? How do you uncover intimacy? www.debbiechallis.com/post/married...

🧵 We’re happy to announce that our Creative Producer, Dr Debbie Challis, is an International participant at this year's Literary Programmers Roundtable for Melbourne City of Literature's Melbourne / Naarm Literary Festival...

I loved doing this! It’s really nice to speak to people & hear from them about Greece, art & myth. Looking forward to more conversations.

There is now author access to my co-written article on curating programmes around historic eugenics @royalsociety.org I did this work 10+ years ago. It is tragic that eugenic ideas moved to the mainstream, in part due to a fellow of my publisher - the RS 🤷🏻‍♀️ royalsocietypublishing.org/rsnr/article...

Looking forward to speaking to @alexpodyssey.bsky.social followers this Thursday on Prometheus. Here is the first illustrated edition of Frankenstein or A Modern Prometheus from @porticolibrary.bsky.social. Thinking about Prometheus has also made me think about Frankenstein.

The first Podyssey Illustrated Guide will be sent out on Wednesday evening, together with the invitation to the first live Q&A on Thursday 8pm with @poisonchallis.bsky.social. Make sure you are signed up to www.ko-fi.com/podyssey before then. Cannot wait to see all your gorgeous faces. A x

The end of the book is nigh.

And Podyssey is back. Have massively missed doing this & can’t wait to get back to it once book am editing is finished!

This is a lovely exhibition @thejohnrylands.bsky.social online from my colleague Susana. Interesting on social media/ political uses too. www.digitalexhibitions.manchester.ac.uk/s/x-stands-f...

Trump Scolds Female Reporter For Being Adult

How to name a Dalek in Linnaean style (aka with some Greek) courtesy of @davehone.bsky.social with the help of @alexpodyssey.bsky.social. It amuses so much that political commentator @sturdyalex.bsky.social is now dr who canon. 🤣🤣🤣

On 12 February, Radio 4 Extra is repeating A Criminal Practice, a comic play by Terrance Dicks a year before he joined Doctor Who. I’ll share some background details nearer the time. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Excited about this - on now!

*PODYSSEY SEASON TWO IS HERE* New Bonus Episode: The Beast In Me Did the Ancient Greeks have pets? Well, it's quite complicated, often very sweet... and sometimes a little bit weird. @sturdyalex.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN AND SHARE 🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/5U4O... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Lovely photo of our yoga class at the end of their practice today @porticolibrary.bsky.social. Taking inspiration from Christina Rossetti to get through January, got out a beautiful book published posthumously - sketch of her by her brother Dante Gabriel & edited by other brother William Michael.

Such a wonderful evening @porticolibrary.bsky.social listening to @poisonchallis.bsky.social talk about the history of the library and highlights from the collection. Never expected to meet a 1st edition of Jane Eyre, nor a 1st edition of the illustrated Frankenstein - such a special treat 🙂

On cold, wet, rainy English mornings, we like to spirit ourselves back to the sunny, bright, warm Agora in Athens 🌞 👍🏛️🍑 #MuseumBums

Clitoral Truth I have never had a climax No! I swear! It’s the clitoral truth. By Margaret S. Chalmers Spare Rib 39, September 1975 In Women’s Health, A Spare Rib Reader edited by Sue O’Sullivan Pandora Press, London 1987 howl-uk.org/the-disappea...

🧵 Last Wednesday, we took a big step forward in the Portico Reunited project...

‘Like the witch, the petroleuse was depicted as an older woman with a wild, savage look and uncombed hair. In her hands was the container of liquid she used to perpetuate her crimes.’ Oh, erm.

Took part in a reflective session on telling the story & legacies of eugenics to public through academic collections at Oxford in May 2023. Wrote up notes with indy Bhullar from LSE Library & Marius Turda. There is a personal & professional fragility here royalsocietypublishing.org/rsnr/article...

Historians: discuss.

Absolutely blown away by Lucio Fontana exhibition @guggenheim.bsky.social Venice. A joy to discover an artist had only heard of. The Medusa beautiful, the crucifixions mesmerisingly physical, the busts filled with personality & loved the spheres. Inspired for @alexpodyssey.bsky.social. 🤫 for now.

🔗 Just in case you missed our big news at the end of 2025, our plans to reunite and transform The Portico moved a step forward, following planning approval from Manchester City Council...

I'll be talking about 'These Isles: A People's History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales' at Manchester's wonderful @porticolibrary.bsky.social, Thurs Feb 26th 6pm (publication day), in conversation with Debbie Challis. Book here: www.theportico.org.uk/event-calend...

My article on "Wonder Woman: Saviour of Western Civilization" is forthcoming from Bloomsbury in May '26, thanks to A. Potter, @connieskibinski.bsky.social , & N. Swain! I argue the WW 2017 film is a reverse White Savior movie: a foreign woman saves the savage European hordes thru classical culture.

An escape from the scary double think of the world today in Venice in a garden behind a convent. It felt as if all was at peace.