Off on a week-long archival trip to Paris. I've only spent a total of two nights away from my son since he was born 4 years 3 months ago, so it feels bittersweet to be leaving. Yet I know I'm very privileged to have not needed to spend time away so far.

If you'd like to see an amateur comedy routine vaguely on the subject of peer review involving lots of puns and me forgetting a line, look no further! Credit and thanks to @drstevex.bsky.social for the video and, as always, being a very funny, supportive compere! youtube.com/watch?v=D4ll...

If you'd like to see an amateur comedy routine vaguely on the subject of peer review involving lots of puns and me forgetting a line, look no further! Credit and thanks to @drstevex.bsky.social for the video and, as always, being a very funny, supportive compere! youtube.com/watch?v=D4ll...

I'll be performing at this - really looking forward to it! It'll be my sixth time doing stand-up, almost a year exactly since I first tried it. Also my fifth different set, which is admittedly a slightly abnormal way of approaching things.

"You have to very watch out" is my son's cute sign that he has internalised the French I speak to him (being a literal translation of "Tu dois faire très attention").

Currently with my four-year-old at a play café. It's half term, so absolutely packed. I count 17 mums and 1 grandad; I'm the only dad.

Responding to peer review feels like someone's telling you to unpack a full suitcase you spent ages packing, remove all underwear and every third sock, add twenty new pairs of shoes plus clothing clearly wrong for that destination BUT MAKE SURE IT ALL FITS BACK IN NICELY AND THE ZIP STILL CLOSES.

I was about to share the story of how I got conned by a man selling me a broken mirror, but it reflects badly on me.

Absolutely love losing hours of painstaking word-cutting and editing because a file didn't save correctly 🙃

Le fait que les journalistes se sentent obligés de nier cette histoire ridicule, c'est mauvais cygne...

My four-year-old who can just about write his own name just criticised my handwriting in a birthday card for his friend. Feels like there's some kind of allegory here. Or simply a a clear insight into quite how bad my writing is.

After 4 years of speaking in French to my son, I finally managed to encourage him to say a whole sentence in French. Unfortunately, it's for the following rapid-fire conversation, which he finds hilarious and we're repeating loads: Him: Papa a pété? Me: Papa a pas pété!

My son starts primary school tomorrow. I got a particular pleasure ironing his Dunnes Store polo shirt, knowing that whilst he'll be the third generation Connolly to start school in London, even in a superficial way there'll still be a link to the familial homeland.

Not normally a fan of these types of signs, but this one isn't bad - and an odd find in a South London play café.

Overheard on a train: "I was in the reserve marines... And it was Jeremy Hunt's dad, Nick Hunt, who was the admiral in charge..." I guess his dad was getting the swear mispronunciations long before the famous journalistic slip-ups of a few years ago.

I get sleep apnoea, but I think I'd be too self-conchious to do this. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Today, my almost four-year-old son learnt how to ride a bike without stabilisers. He also, in a discussion about height, asked, "Are you the smallest man ever?" I was a proud but small man today.

An undergrad student contacted me about a document I only reference once in my PhD: a police report on the death of a beggar in Lille, 1917. The student thinks the woman appearing in this report could be their great-grandmother! I sent them photos of the archival documents, but it's a tough read.

Mandatory conflict of interest training offers scenarios that just aren't possible in my field. It may as well be: 'John is a time traveller from 2080, researching the 2020s but also trying to ensure that his ancestors become sole custodians of The Spoon of Destiny. Is this a conflict of interest?'

“That’s what history as-a-process-of-finding-out-about-the-past actually is: a series of constant shocks and disorientations. You thought you knew something …, but you are repeatedly confronted with you own ignorance and forced to adapt your ideas.” 🗃️ williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/g...

I have a lot of praise for my GP surgery, but they do have a habit of telling me, after various tests, "The doctor will contact you if there's a problem" - then sending an automated message the following day that I assume is bad news but is instead a request to rate my experience.

Slightly shocked to have found dozens of formatting, spelling, and punctuation errors - alongside some minor but genuine factual inaccuracies - in a *fifth* edition of a text. But it goes to show that we all make typos, and small problems can pass by reviewers and editors.

This is sad to see. I wouldn't be where I am today had I not received AHRC funding - I felt lucky and privileged even back then, but it's even tougher now.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend and participate in the big French history conference in Paris that starts today. Sad to be missing out, but I hope everyone has a great time, and I'll be following here somewhat jealously.

Décès de Jean-Pierre Azéma, immense Historien de la Seconde Guerre mondiale

At a picnic at the primary school where my son will start in September, he was playing football with a much older boy. The boy looked at him then said, "I know what you're going to be when you're older: a YouTuber." Absolutely no idea what that meant, or whether it was an insult or a compliment.

At the very enjoyable and interesting Occupation Studies Network conference on Thursday and Friday, the question of periodisation and perspectives came up - e.g. do we consider there to be military occupationsvpre-1789, or is the notion intrinsically tied to notions of popular sovereignty?

You know you're a modern French historian when you check the time on your phone, see it's 19.40, and then immediately think, "Fall of France." Of course, that is then followed by, "It'd be funny if I received a call (appel) now."

Despite having constant work deadlines, plus birthdays and other events in my personal life, for some reason it is the constant checking of use-by and best before dates on food that hammers home the relentless march of time. "This goes off on 8 July... How is it July already?!"

Bilingual parenting moment: son asked me what "repeat" means, so I said it's "répéter" in French then tried to explain the concept. He understood it as "re-péter" (fart again) and burst out laughing.

Un fil très intéressant !

Proud of my three-year-old's bilingual joke: I was talking to him about his birthday, saying, "Ton anniversaire, c'est dans deux mois" and he responded, "In two mes?" before bursting out laughing, knowingly.

academic.oup.com/fh/pages/Fre... I am delighted that my latest article was highly commended by the judges of the @frenchhistory.bsky.social 2024 article prize. Congratulations to the winner, Niall Ó Súilleabháin!

Really excited to be speaking at the Modern French History IHR seminar series on Monday on my project on the emergence of medical photography in France in the 19th century. I'll do my best to make it relevant to French historians! www.history.ac.uk/events/emerg... 📸📷🗂️

I performed my third stand-up set last night (thanks to @drstevex.bsky.social for supporting us and organising everything!). I had fun and will definitely do it again. I also learnt that there's a crossover between hecklers and "more of a comment than a question" men at conferences.

Only 9 tickets left!

My mum took my son swimming today, and they came home with this object that they found in the toilets there. Not a massive fan.

wegottickets.com/event/659501/ If anyone is interested in seeing fellow UCL academics and me performing stand-up in London on 3 June, you can buy tickets here. We ran through our material today, so I think it will be a very fun and funny night!

I'm not saying I'm tired, but I just tried to wipe a rogue full-stop off my laptop screen.

wegottickets.com/event/659501/ If anyone is interested in seeing fellow UCL academics and me performing stand-up in London on 3 June, you can buy tickets here. We ran through our material today, so I think it will be a very fun and funny night!

British transport announcements say, "If you see something that doesn't look right, report it." I recently saw a guy wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt and a beret with a hammer and sickle on it, reading The Communist Manifesto - yet I got told off for "wasting police time" when I let them know.

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, or an article by its title, but it's fine to judge them by their bibliographies, right?

Un Pape américain ?! C'est pas très catholique.

It's been 9 years in the making so I'm very excited that my book, Emigrant Soldiers: Mobilising Italians Abroad in the First World War, now has a cover, a webpage and a publication date (June for online, July for print!). 🥳 A steal at only £35! www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

Just found out I was nominated for a Student Award for 'Excellent Personal Tutoring' - didn't make the shortlist, but it was still a lovely surprise! In the unlikely event that whoever nominated me is reading this, thanks very much!

www.cartorik.ofaj.org/fr/onboarding This interactive map of key sites of Franco-German history from 1870 until now, aimed at a young audience, is now fully live. I wrote the entry on Roubaix in WWI. The project began in 2023 as part of the 60th anniversary of the Franco-German Youth Office.

The Department of History at Trinity College Dublin @historytcd.bsky.social is seeking a historian specializing in the 19th-century Europe. Come and join us! Please see below for details.

A bit of light and silliness in these dark times: an extract from my set for the Stand Up for Climate Comedy event last week. Thanks very much to @drstevex.bsky.social for filming this, being a hilarious MC as usual, and putting the event together! It was a fun night. youtube.com/watch?v=6Lat...

A bit of light and silliness in these dark times: an extract from my set for the Stand Up for Climate Comedy event last week. Thanks very much to @drstevex.bsky.social for filming this, being a hilarious MC as usual, and putting the event together! It was a fun night. youtube.com/watch?v=6Lat...

I wrote about l'affaire Lacenaire in my undergraduate dissertation almost 20 years ago, so I look forward to listening to this, partly to see how much I can remember!