Born #otd in Boston, Massachusetts, 320 years ago, Benjamin Franklin, polymath, printer, scientist, diplomat, writer & US Founding Father. For those in central London wanting to celebrate, a visit to @benfranklinhouse.bsky.social, where he lived, wrote and experimented for years, is inspirational.

Delighted to announce the launch of a new seminar - Race and the Early Modern - in collaboration with @folger.edu. A monthly, transatlantic, online seminar for research on race, racialisation, and racemaking across #earlymodern Studies. Sign up to attend! kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...

@ihr.bsky.social events may sound too good to be true but there really isn’t a catch. They are just excellent.

This is such good news from @nationaltrust.org.uk. When visiting historic houses I always try to spend as much time as possible looking at book spines, particularly for the periods in which I’m most interested. Being able to read them would be a big step forward for book lovers of all ages.

@historytoday.com’s 1st co-editor Alan Hodge died in 1979, when his family founded a travelling fellowship in his memory @somervillecollege.bsky.social, where his wife Jane had studied. I was the beneficiary in 1979, visiting France for the first time aged 21 to research 16th-18thc MSS. So grateful

Looking forward to this. A reminder that online @huguenotsociety.bsky.social lectures are free to all. Membership of the society is also open to all (some Huguenot societies elsewhere require members to be of Huguenot descent). I couldn’t imagine my research without access to their member resources.

2nd exhibition visit of 2026 to « Henry VIII’s Lost Dagger » @strawberryhill.bsky.social. Horace Walpoles attempt to outTudor the Tudors didn’t quite work (his now-lost bejewelled dagger was Ottoman) but the daggers on display are spectacular, as is his house. Ends 15 Feb. Train station nearby.

My 1st exhibition visit of 2026 was to A Grand Chorus @foundlingmuseum.bsky.social. Recommend for (1) choir singers (2.8m of us in UK, apparently), (2) Handel’s Messiah lovers, (3) outstanding art lovers and (4) historians of illegitimacy in 18th century England. 1-4 all apply to me, I’ll revisit.

Free all day event for early career antiquaries on Friday 16 January @antiquaries.bsky.social. Details here: www.sal.org.uk/event/early-...

A new year’s gift for @deeplyclassical.bsky.social and all other Haydn fans who like to celebrate.

The University of London’s @senatehouselib.bsky.social is now closed for the Christmas break, so this photo was taken on Monday. Researching in its outstanding American studies section over the past three months has been sheer joy.

Be like the Victorians and read a biography or two during the holidays 📚🎄 cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/i...

I’m grateful to @britishlibrary.bsky.social staff for going above and beyond to help me access books and mss over the past 2 years. Most of its reading rooms are now often noisy spaces not used for quiet study. The BL will need to rediscover its unique place as the UK’s national library.

Looking for a New Year's resolution that is good for your mind and (relatively) easy to keep? Check out the Institute of Historical Research seminars for January 2026. Fourteen seminars in week 1 alone. Free, broad-ranging, open to the public and usually available both in person and online.

Sharing some of my own Michael Pacher favourites over the years when exploring the wonderful art of the Sud Tirol. Bruneck/Brunico, where he was born, has one small but lovely fragment, so this statue is from nearby San Lorenzen, 3 km away.

Is there a word for the irrational concern that over the holidays one will run out of reference books for writing December’s chapter (in my case about Herman Melville) and need to move on to January’s (Eleanor Roosevelt)? V grateful to @senatehouselib.bsky.social for helping me prepare just in case.

Happy Beethoven's birthday to all who celebrate.

Do you care about the sharp decline in children reading for pleasure in the UK? Here’s your chance to make a difference by responding to the call for evidence (3,000 words max) to the House of Commons Education Committee inquiry. Often the most compelling evidence is not from the « usual suspects »

It was such fun recording this with @dulwichchoral.bsky.social. I’ve bought 5 copies and am enjoying mine! The Mantegna was such a surprise after many years of listening to RVW.

Very much looking forward to this live broadcast of choral evensong this Wednesday, featuring the sacred music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The choir’s non-broadcast evensong in August, timed for SC-T’s anniversary, was superb.

St Cecilia at rest in her basilica in Trastevere, Rome. Posted for her day today, photo taken May 2019 at the end of the final stage of the Via Francigena.

Would you like to go on retreat, but are worried about the cost? Our Bursary Fund has helped dozens of people this year. Find out more, or donate to the Fund, on promotingretreats.org/bursary #retreat #bursary

Speaking about her appointment, Chloe said: "It is an absolute honour to have been appointed as the next Clerk of the Parliaments. I feel privileged to have been trusted to take forward this historic and important role that dates back over 700 years." 📄 Read more www.parliament.uk/business/new...

Chloe Mawson has been appointed the 66th Clerk of the Parliaments and is the first woman to take up the post. The Clerk of the Parliaments is head of the House of Lords Administration and Chief Procedural Adviser to the House.

Super post about science pioneer and namesake of @somervillecollege.bsky.social

A very #Tudor time at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery yesterday, with the unexpected treat of a volunteer playing period music on the lute. I otherwise had the early galleries mostly to myself, so was able to linger trying to count the Tudor roses on Elizabeth I’s very fine outfit.

Only one more week left to visit this excellent exhibition @lampallib.bsky.social. Like all their exhibitions it is small, thoughtfully curated, no need to book and free. Highly recommended to anyone interested in choral music.

Open until 31 January (Wed to Sat) the Museum of Croydon has an interesting one-room exhibition about Croydon-born composer and campaigner Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Good selection of images, several of which were new to me. Well worth a 30 minute visit and a shortish walk from East Croydon station.

What does it mean to paint your way to freedom during the American Revolution? Prince Demah was an enslaved man, a portrait artist trained in London, and a patriot soldier. His story is nothing short of astonishing. 🔗 benfranklinsworld.com/423 #EarlyAmerica #Revolution250 #ArtHistory

Two weeks to go until History Day 2025! Take a look at some of the amazing organisations participating this year 🤩 Explore the different organisations and online collections on the History Day website: exhibitions.london.ac.uk/s/history-da... #HistDay25 @senatehouselib.bsky.social

Last night’s concert by @royalphilorchestra.bsky.social and chorus was indeed a Titan. The programme and performance were stellar and Mahler 1 and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms a memorable pairing. Outstanding solo by @westminsterabbey.bsky.social choir treble in the latter. A triumph all round.

Really unusual heron pose. One for @everyheron.bsky.social. I’ve been observing herons since school days, enlisted with a friend by early wildlife broadcaster Phil Drabble to count nests in Staffordshire. I’ve never seen this.

Despite the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes #otd 1685 many Protestants in Paris attended services held on and off at the Residences of the Dutch or British Ambassadors. Revd William Beauvoir led Anglican services in English & French in Paris c.1716-1720. Records and letters @lampallib.bsky.social

Next up in the 150th birthday celebrations for brilliant #Croydon born and @rcmlondon.bsky.social educated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a weekend of activities 18 and 19 October. A new interactive exhibition opens at Croydon Museum 18 October (to 31 Jan). www.culturecroydon.com/event/samuel...

Excitingly, this triptych has been the subject of a three year restoration and will be displayed at the Louvre before being returned to Les Moulins. The dates are 26 November to 4 March 2026.

This is a great idea by my favourite @lampallib.bsky.social. The roles really are exciting, and not ones often suggested in careers advice. They include archivist, collections care and printed book librarians. The Lambeth Palace Library collection is astounding in quality and variety. Recommend!

Happy, excited and very grateful to be a fellow of @ihr.bsky.social for 2025-26. Much has changed since I last had an academic home, in 1982, including greatly increased diversity and extensive access to electronic sources. Delighted to belong to such a welcoming and inclusive community of scholars.

Unique opportunity to handle objects from the V&A collections in the lunch break of today’s Sacred Ceramics; devotional images in European porcelain event. 5 super presentations and 3 more to go. Many thanks to all concerned.

Today is international world heart day. The 2025 theme is “don’t miss a beat”, encouraging individuals and organisations to raise awareness of how to promote heart health. The Castle at Colioure in S. France does its bit with its topiary heart, photographed last week. @bhfpolicy.bsky.social

Chineke! concerts are always outstanding and exciting, but today’s concert by Junior Chineke (age 12-22) was a 1st for us. It was a great performance, including Averil Coleridge Taylor’s Sussex landscape (1939) and well up to Chineke’s high standards. Thank you Chineke! For your brilliance and hope.

Otd 1953 piano manufacturers Pleyel confirmed the identity of the piano sent to composer Chopin for his winter in Menorca in 1838. His time staying in Carthusian cell no 4 was productive. George Sand was unimpressed. It snowed. He composed. We can still enjoy the results. Photographed last week.

Really looking forward to this. Likely to be of interest to @huguenotsociety.bsky.social as well as more widely.

#GustavHolst, born otd 1874. This is my favourite photo of him, taken when he and his wife Isobel were in the USA in 1923. Daughter Isobel wrote « he was the happiest » person she knew. Photo now at his birthplace museum in Cheltenham. Lots more to see there and excellent mss scores online.

Many happy returns for the great lexicographer Dr Samuel Johnson, born in Lichfield otd 1709. This stained glass window is at his London house @drjohnsonshouse.bsky.social, a wonderful place to visit.

Two visits 6 years apart. Today’s treat was the recently restored Crystal Palace subway (opened 1865) in south London. The photo of Cordoba Mosque/Cathedral was taken in January 2019.

I was invited to write a post for the @ihr.bsky.social blog about #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems. 'The book tells a story about how England has been shaped over the centuries - and, between the lines, I think it tells a story about my working life here at the IHR...' blog.history.ac.uk/2025/09/a-hi...

An upcheering sight in the middle of a thundery downpour on London’s Victoria Street just now - @cathamclarke.bsky.social’s new History of England in 25 poems in Waterstones window display.

This is the way to do an online exhibition! Fabulous images and insights from the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, superbly curated and including images from the Victoria & Albert illuminated manuscript collection. Sections on visual, physical and auditory devotion, with videos, essays and glossary.

Thorney Abbey door, little changed from when Jean Jembelin was minister of its French church 1685-c.1712. The church notice board of ministers confuses him with a cousin. Thanks to @lampallib.bsky.social for enabling me to write about his sermons in @huguenotsociety.bsky.social journal, just out.

@brixtonwindmill.org is a huge restoration success, with a thriving community centre thanks to decades of tireless work by local heroes. Several open days are coming up - it’s well worth a visit to see this inspirational success story, a short walk from Brixton underground station. Play park nearby.