On 4th Nov at 9pm I should be appearing in the new Sky series Original Gangsters with Sean Bean, chatting about the real Peaky Blinders! Available to watch after on Now TV and Apple as well. www.history.co.uk/shows/origin...

Some big news: the University of Birmingham is launching a new MA in Gender & Sexuality. It's interdisciplinary, with a focus on combining theory & practice. It's going to be amazing. I'm convening it: message or email with questions. www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgr... @unibirmingham.bsky.social

This is such positive, powerful, direct communication. The fact that this seems so remarkable and so rare speaks volumes about our failure to stand up to the fossil fuel lobby.

Just want to do a shout-out to the wonderful archivist Amanda @oulibrary.bsky.social who got my request for a very rare image of a 1920s burglar last night and sent me the image and helpful copyright info first thing this morning; archivists really are the best!

An open letter has been launched today (27/7/25) for members of the UK academic community (academics and other university staff) to sign, to press the UK Home Office to facilitate safe passage out of Gaza for 40+ students with offers for UK universities. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I was really delighted to find out I've been elected as a Fellow of @royalhistsoc.org today! This is lovely recognition and I'm looking forward to taking part in more of the RHS's great events when I'm back from mat leave next year.

I had a very unexpected melanoma skin cancer diagnosis today, luckily only stage 1A- very very early. The mole was removed and I'll have further surgery, but it could have been worse and I want to encourage everyone to check out any mole that seems unusual: www.nhs.uk/conditions/m...

Very pleased with the cover design for my new book, The Secret Life of the Hotel! Thanks ‪@bloomsburyhist.bsky.social

This Thurs(12th) at 9p.m. on C5 I'll be in a new series, Great Hotels Through Time. Some content came from my book (out in Jan with Bloomsbury), The Secret Life of the Hotel: Sex, Crime, and Protest at British Guesthouses since 1918. I should pop up in 4 episodes hopefully saying something coherent!

Submitting this for publication shortly, and we're now at 2920 signatures. It would be amazing to get it over three thousand before I turn it in...

I'm overwhelmed and overjoyed 🤩🥹💜 In less than a day, over 350 historians signed this call for the UK's Labour government to stop its attacks on trans people. The letter will be open for more signatures today and over the weekend. Please share widely to your historian friends/colleagues!

ONE THOUSAND signatures (on top of the original group). Academics and educators say TRANS RIGHTS NOW.

Please sign this: it matters.

On 13 March 6:30-8pm @blackwellsmcr.bsky.social Dr Ruth Lamont, Dr Eloise Moss (@ladyburglar.bsky.social) & Dr Charlotte Wildman (@drcharlottewildman.bsky.social) discuss Friendless or Forsaken?—their powerful book on Britain-to-Canada child emigration www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/friendless...

The Royal Navy’s Naval Historical Branch is recruiting a full-time, permanent Historical Researcher! Details here: www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cg...

For all those who enjoy a ghost story, watch Uncanny on BBC2. I was in episode 1 adding a dollop of history to the tale.

The most important thing I did today was ask for more time: ask for help. I remember the fab @historyhannahb.bsky.social advising me to push back a deadline years ago which a) was realistic + b) made for a better book. I find it hard to ask, so putting it out there in case it helps others ask too.

This! From Julie-Marie Strange on fiction and historical methods… in the latest social historian book club, on Amy Bloom’s amazing queer historical novel about Hick and Eleanor Roosevelt, ‘White Houses’ (bsky have my free eprints!) 🗃️ www.tandfonline.com/eprint/CNJ57...

Just received copies of new book Friendless or Forsaken? on Child emigration histories, which I was very lucky to co-author with Charlotte Wildman and Ruth Lamont! Available in paperback: www.mqup.ca/friendless-o...

For my British Academy funded project on the history of hotels, I have partnered with the Mooncup Theatre who are performing a living exhibition followed by dinner and panel discussion on hotels and modern slavery. All welcome! tinyurl.com/5ymtkk52

New book club series for Social History journal in which historians discuss historical fiction: For the first one, we read Zadie Smith's The Fraud (here OA): Full article: Social History Book Club: Zadie Smith, The Fraud www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

pleased to see this out: 1st in ongoing series where historians and others respond to recent works of historical fiction. Here: Zadie Smith’s ‘The Fraud’ inc brief comments from me on ‘why historians read historical fiction and what we find compelling about it’🗃️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

There's still a month left to get your abstracts in for the British Crime Historians Conference at Manchester! See CFP here: uomhistory.com/2023/12/11/b...

My junk mail folder just revealed that Taylor Swift is now issuing a Call for Papers 🤔

PhD Studentship: Plants in the Wrong Place? Weeds and weeding in Britain c.1500-c.1950 at the University of York's Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity. Supervisory team from History, Sociology & Ecology. DEADLINE 8 JANUARY #envhist #earlymodern 🗃️ www.york.ac.uk/history/abou...

Calling all crime historians! I'm co-organising the British Crime Historians Conference in Manchester next year, with fantastic keynotes from Hallie Rubenhold and Anindita Ghosh! Please find the CFP here: uomhistory.com/2023/12/11/b...

Last week, I wrote about how a National Archives file detailed the cover-up of sexual assaults by a Canadian businessman who influenced the global economy. This week, I explain who Mervyn Brown was + reflect on how money + empire let him get away with it: activehistory.ca/blog/2023/10...

Last summer, in a National Archives file, I realised I was reading about the cover-up of a series of sexual assaults by a high-profile Canadian businessman who went on to reshape the global economy. My first piece about this for ActiveHistory.Ca is here:

Motivated by the circumstances of a celebrity divorce, the historic interior decorating magazine House Beautiful interviewed me about privacy, police access, and home security devices. This is a first for me!

Just arrived here at the new place and feeling very excited, like first day of school again! :)