Applications for the BAVS/BARS Nineteenth-Century Matters Fellowship hosted at LJMU are now open! You can find out more about this prestigious scheme and how to apply here: bavs.ac.uk/bavs-bars-ni... Deadline for applications: 11th May 2026

Signed all these today, beautiful special editions for @waterstones.bsky.social Out a week from Tuesday!

A new eight-part podcast, The Rise and Fall of Madchester, is now on BBC Sounds. From Factory Records and the Haçienda, to the emergence of Happy Mondays and New Order, with new interviews with artists and DJs, including Mike Pickering. Listen now: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand... #podcast

Prof Kate McLoughlin has written for The Guardian about #silence and how it has 'inspired, daunted, comforted and terrified writers throughout the long course of English literature'.

Hear about the range of careers you can launch into after pursuing postgraduate study at the Institute of Historical Research. Learn more about our PhD programme: sas.ac.uk/phd-ihr

Thanks to our speakers this afternoon who provided lots of examples of care and restoration of #seasidegardens at #southport and #scarborough as well as some lovely floral clocks. If you missed the seminar it will be available to watch online via our website soon

CFP royalhistsoc.org/calendar/voi...

Deckchair hire excellent value - Chris has hired one & is charging the rest of us 45 pence an hour.

We do hope KINKY IS BEHAVING.

Do give 40 minutes of your life to watch this fascinating 1988 documentary on the permanent & elderly residents of Eastbourne’s decaying seaside hotels. Mrs Bloom is especially glorious. youtu.be/zgpK5YxqmDo?...

DEADLINE EXTENDED to the 31 March 2026! Join our PGRs and ECRs in Montpellier this autumn to discuss the theme of 'Improvement, Degeneration, Stagnation' #skystorians #18thC 🗃️ #PGR #ECR #CFP

London friends! (or London-adjacent) I'm going to be at Queer Britain in June in conversation with the incredible Lisa Power about my new book 'Rainbow Wales' June 27th at 2.30pm - a matinee if you will! www.outsavvy.com/event/33534/...

Yes dear people it's time for the COVER REVEEEAALLL www.waterstones.com/book/a-briti...

Registration open - Check out our Cambridge Festival events! 💥 We have a record number of events for all ages and interests this year; from photography, art, film, performances, to an immersive ecological sci-arts experience 16 March-2 April 2026 Registration recommended 👇 https://bit.ly/46a7Fnp

Opportunity for Fighting with Pride veterans to visit Glyndebourne Opera House to see the final dress rehearsal of Benjamin Britten’s opera Billy Budd. The performance is on Thursday 25 June. More details and how to enter the ballot here mailchi.mp/fightingwith...

There are not many surviving interiors designed by #Victorian architect Owen Jones (1809-74) so it's always a thrill to visit St Bartholomew's at Sutton Waldron in #dorset. I wrote my PhD on Jones and to see his favourite primary colours yesterday, singing out after recent restoration, is wonderful

THURSDAY VERY CLOUDY FRIDAY CLOUDY MORNING BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON SAT SMASHING SUNDAY LOVELY DAY STORM DINNERTIME MONDAY SMASHING MORNING RAIN AFTERNOON EVE O.K. TUES LOVELY MORN AND AFT SWIM WED LOVELY MORN BOAT TRIP RAIN LUNCH CLOUDY AFT THURS

The Hay Festival programme is now live! Join Calon author @emilygarside.bsky.social for a fascinating panel with @jaseokundaye.bsky.social in conversation with @sachacoward.bsky.social! Tickets are live now for members and general booking opens on 14 March. 🎟️ shorturl.at/tZKdK

This is going to be great! And what a fantastic venue for our second #seasideheritage symposium with @hbap1924.bsky.social We've got a packed programme lined up for you finishing with 'chips and chat' on the beach thanks to @heritagenetwork.bsky.social Sign up NOW and we'll see you there 🌊🏖️

Really pleased that my video lecture on queer British history, 1714-1785 is now on YouTube: youtu.be/nTrxX28_dKw?... #HistoricalAssociation #LGBTHistoryMonth #QueerHistory #18thcentury

I remember doing school events and students would ask if I’d ever met anyone famous. I’d say, “Like who?” And they’d all yell “Malorie Blackman!!” I’d say yes and was cool for the rest of the day. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

I’m looking forward to delivering the plenary lecture at this multidisciplinary conference, which marks the tercentenary of the first publication of the world’s greatest prose satire, in 2026: www.fabula.org/actualites/1...

Fantastic blogpost by @patthomson.bsky.social on productive discomfort 👏 ‘Academic writing is a form of thinking. It’s not the transcription of thoughts already completed, but a process of thinking itself.’ patthomson.net/2026/03/08/g...

Appeal launched for the replacement of the (replica) shell seat at Strawberry Hill (the original, designed by Richard Bentley, c1754-56, was sold in the 1842 auction): www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/shell-seat/ #c18 #c18th #18thc

Messing about in boats: Kenneth Grahame, Scottish writer, Secretary at Bank of England, born #OTD 1859; published The Wind in the Willows in 1908, bequeathed royalties to Bodleian Library at University of Oxford. Manuscript [MS. Eng. misc. e. 247] @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Our fantastic doctoral student Sarah Dutson is organising the next of our North-West Long Nineteenth-Century Research Seminars, which is a hybrid event focusing on postgraduate and early career research on 19c afterlives. For more info, please click here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nineteenth...

Calling all Victorianists! Do you have CFPs/events/news of Victorianist interest you want to share? Let us know at [email protected] and we'll circulate it to the BAVS membership in the spring newsletter. @bavs-uk.bsky.social @ruthannereads.bsky.social

Have you shown your support for the Seaside Holiday as Living Heritage? Encompassing everything from a stroll on the pier to the tang of vinegar on your fish & chips this initiative seeks to recognise cultural heritage as it is practised. Here's the quick form 🏖️🌊🍦 forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Hurrah! This plopped through the letterbox this morning. Not only is it always a thrill to see my work in print (Chapter 10), but I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the book. Many thanks to Duncan Lees and Liz Oakley-Brown for all their help and support. #Shakespeare #RadioDrama

We've really enjoyed collaborating with @hbap1924.bsky.social If you have time to give them some feedback it would be most welcome 🔽

I hear one of the boys tried to run away.

Lovely to see this review of our 'London in the Second World War' exhibition published on its last day. Huge thanks and congratulations to our staff who worked hard to curate it 🥳👏 Our next exhibition, 'Londoners on Trial' opens on the 9th March.... 👀 www.thelondonarchives.org/visit-us/exh...

Meet Miss Vesta Tilley (1864 - 1952). This LGBTQIA+ History Month, get to know a legend of performance royalty... and what might now be interpreted as an early drag king 👑 [1/9]

My introduction to the law took place when I was a child & discovered my being gay was a crime with a jail sentence [or worse, walled up in the Central Mental Hospital to be experimented on]. As a result, like many minorities, I realised that the law was about oppression & not rights [1]

On Sunday March 8th, we will be observing the Covid-19 National Day of Reflection quietly at our beautiful memorial in central London. The team will be there from 11.00-3.00, with paint and pens available for anyone who would like to help us with the work of maintaining the Wall.

This spring I'm celebrating some seaside-themed anniversaries in a series of online talks. The first will be all about the architecture and design of #butlins holiday camps. Tickets from www.ticketsource.co.uk/kathryn-ferry/90-years-of-butlin-s-design-an-online-talk-by-dr-kathryn-ferry/e-yzajrz

This is a delight. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-... All the more reason to support living heritage @seasidenetwork.bsky.social

This is a delight. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-... All the more reason to support living heritage @seasidenetwork.bsky.social

So many examples of living heritage at the seaside! All the things in this image and much, much more. Please do show your support via the quick and easy form Thank you 😊

John Hassall created his famous Jolly Fisherman poster for Skegness in 1908. Today, statues of the character stand in the public realm of the seaside resort.

AWARD WINNERS 🏆 We’re proud to have won Best Ticketing Initiative at the Cultural Enterprises Awards. With no public funding, we took a brave step: Pay What You Can - welcoming everyone in, while diversifying income. Thank you to everyone who’s supported us 🏳️‍🌈

In his lecture on the Gothic Novel and the supernatural in fiction, Prof John Mullan delves into the famous Wuthering Heights scene where Cathy is at the window... 👻🪟 Watch full lecture 👉 gres.hm/supernatural-fiction *also of UCL #wutheringheights2026 #gothicliterature

Really enjoyed this conference at Regensburg in 2023. And very glad to see versions of the papers now published. Mine delves into the sad and sorry tale of the c19 Gresham Lectures. @greshamcollege.bsky.social

18TH CENTURY BRITISH HISTORY PHD LIGHTNING TALKS CFP Are you at the start of your PhD? Want to tell an eager and engaged audience about it in 5 mins? We want to hear the best PGR research about 18th Britain at our #LightningTalks event 29 April 2026. Please see the poster for further information!

Lovey-dovey #Valentines kitsch everywhere leaving you cold? How about Victorian 'Vinegar Valentines' instead? In the 19th century, it was popular to send one of these to someone you didn't like. These are from the collection at the wonderful Museum of East Dorset - well worth a visit!

Balliol College & the English Faculty are seeking to appoint an outstanding candidate as Tutorial Fellow & Professor or Associate Professor of English with expertise in any aspect(s) of literature in #English of the long nineteenth century (approx 1780–1914) #Academicjob #19C Find out more >>

I just love this film #BednobsandBroomsticks and the way it creatively adapts the Bayeux Tapestry MAGIC WITH A MISSION. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjjr... #MaryNorton #Disney #WW2 #animation #creativity #bayeuxtapestry #britishmuseum @britishmuseum.bsky.social

“[A]s art historians we are trained to understand how powerful the image can be”, writes @hardeepdhindsa.bsky.social, unravelling and unpacking the visual politics of Whiteness in Classical sculpture and beyond (Volume 22, Issue 1-3, 2024). www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

👑 Shakespeare & Kingship with Darren Freebury-Jones 🗓 Sunday 12 April ⏰ 6–7pm 🎟 £8 Power. Politics. The Crown. The 1620s House and Garden,  Manor Road, Donington le Heath, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 2FW. Book here. 1620shouse.org.uk/events/shake...

A really great pre-review of our soon-to-be-published Queer Scrapbook: Britain and Ireland since 1945. This reviewer really got the point of the book. :) mancunion.com/2026/02/10/a...