Hahahahahahahahahaaaaarrrrggghhh ***fiddles with extremely long hair*** Congregational Library, 7.1.5: "The loathsomeness of long haire" by Thomas Hall (1654)

Some good morning #GuineaPigs for you all

In case @rorymuir.bsky.social hasn't seen it, apparently this was the front window of Hatchards in London this week... (Credit Anna Vakulenko)

Booking for our Wellington Congress 2025 is officially open! Head to this page to see what our programme has in store for you and to book your place! #WellingtonCongress2025 @zwhitehistory @napoleonicquarterly.com @latelordchatham.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social

@tomcw99.bsky.social has reviewed Quicksilver Captain -- and he's making me blush

Booking for our Wellington Congress 2025 is officially open! Head to this page to see what our programme has in store for you and to book your place! buff.ly/4juc21N #WellingtonCongress2025 @zwhitehistory @napoleonicquarterly.com @latelordchatham.bsky.social @rorymuir.bsky.social

A view of Nelson’s funeral at St Paul’s with the giant lantern illuminating the coffin below. The ensigns of captured French and Spanish ships hang around the mournful scene. Print after Charles Augustus Pugin. From British Museum. #skystorians #navalhistory

I have an announcement to make: I'm returning to librarianship! As of 6 January, I will be the new Congregational Librarian, working with the Congregational Memorial Hall Trust: tinyurl.com/4ru9b4c2

This is basically how I got into history, people

'The women were considered prostitutes and could be forcibly taken to the university’s private prison and sentenced to weeks of confinement by the vice-chancellor. More than 5,000 were arrested in the 19th century alone.'

#OnThisDay 1794: Home Popham, attached to the British army in Flanders and a newly minted Master and Commander, writes to the Secretary at War asking to be provided with a 50-gun ship, 2 sloops of war, 6 gunboats, and 50 flat boats. Nice Christmas list. #NavalHistory #MaritimeHistory

Good morning from Merry and Pippin! It's #GuineaPig time and we're busy destroying our pile of morning grass (M+P: 1; Pile of Grass: 0). We hope everyone has a good day! #GuineaPigs

It's #GuineaPig time and the boys are looking super handsome today (as usual, obvs) #GuineaPigs

#OnThisDay 1786: Sir Harry Parker, Secretary to the Board of Longitude, gives Lt. Home Popham some advice: "The Beast [Lord Howe, First Lord of the Admiralty] deserves the trimming you have given him, but ..." (1/4) (pic: tinyurl.com/mrysxmdr) #NavalHistory #MaritimeHistory

Spot the #GuineaPigs. Two to find. Yes, two. #GuineaPig

Pippin is very good at the side-eye #GuineaPig

As I start to extract & then delete my Twitter account, I'm remembering the highlights. Like the time I discovered that a tweet ('Being a historian is all about muttering 'you f**ker' to long-dead prime ministers whilst alone at one's desk') got quoted in a book on historical methodology?!?

Looking forward to my Cambridge debut!

Good morning from Merry and Pippin! I came downstairs to find them both in "sphinx mode" (and Merry sitting on top of the cuddle sack, as usual) 😂 #GuineaPig #GuineaPigs

This weeks skircles New in @elwick70.bsky.social @hilarym.bsky.social @siamesecaroline.bsky.social @katebattrick.bsky.social @arm-wap.bsky.social @linsrumbold.bsky.social @bobbyllew.bsky.social @zoesfeatherboa.bsky.social @pitchblacksteed.bsky.social @jim1860.bsky.social

#OnThisDay 1799: Sir Home Popham writes to William Huskisson at the War Dept. to remind him he exists, has been promised employment, and wants "remuneration" for his services. He gets it: soon after he receives a pension of £500 a year. #NavalHistory #MaritimeHistory (pic: tinyurl.com/msk89ved)

Good morning from Merry and Pippin! The grass was definitely frosty today, but apparently still tastes yummy. #GuineaPig #GuineaPig

More snacks for a handsome and obviously starving and neglected #GuineaPig?

Te midden van alle onrust blijven lezen! Dat zou het motto van de anti-bezuinigingencampagne op de Geesteswetenschappen moeten zijn. Foto zonet gemaakt hier in Cambridge:

Scanning old pics, so here's Buddy, the world's most fabulous budgie, whom we brought back from the US. Talked beautifully ("Buddy!" "I love you!" "Buddy bites!" "Aargh stop it!"); loved napping on my shoulder; once escaped, but came home after a good flyabout. Died at 14 in 2007. Miss him every day

Post you from a different era: I reckon I hit at least two "different era" boxes with this one 😂

#OnThisDay 1812: Sir Home Popham, in Santander, receives a visit from Capt. Thompson of the Engineers. Thompson is very pessimistic about the chances of capturing the town of Santoña. Popham doesn't want to know. (BL Loan MS 57/108, 81+85) #NavalHistory #MaritimeHistory (pic: tinyurl.com/ymadvdr3)

I bet Popham invented the kedging cannon

Happy to announce the birth of a new book! How/why did empires relentlessly expand - and worked together? Not competition but transaction and cooperation was key to the Age of Empires in the long 19th century. With brilliant colleagues Erik de Lange & Ozan Ozavci: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/securing-...

Good morning from Merry and Pippin! It's breakfast time, and later there will be more history posts from Pigmum for the other demographic of her followers :) #GuineaPig #GuineaPigs

As most people who know me are aware, I read "The Three Musketeers" at 11 and had no idea history and storytelling could be combined so effectively. I've never looked back, really.

Good morning from the boys -- deep-frozen grass for all today 🥶 (plus cuddle sacks!) #GuineaPig #GuineaPigs

Marie Curie's notebooks, which are RADIOACTIVE & must be stored in a lead-lined box in the Bibliothèque Nationale. Curie’s corpse is also radioactive. Her coffin is lined in an inch of lead. Both will remain radioactive for 1,500+ years.

#OnThisDay 1804: Sir Home Popham is off Boulogne, having attacked the harbour with proto-torpedoes the previous month. He's also corresponding with Francisco de Miranda about a possible assault on South America. (BL Add MS 41080) #NavalHistory #MaritimeHistory (pic: tinyurl.com/3b2f3new)

Good morning from Merry and Pippin! Have a picture of some guinea pigs enjoying their breakfast! #GuineaPig #GuineaPigs

Right, I just deactivated my Other Place account (not my guinea pig one; that one's still going for now). I guess I'm just on here for now.

Good morning Bluesky! My guinea pigs, Merry and Pippin, are here for non-history-related happiness 😊

Want a unique bit of British, American, military, and black history? Want an engaging presentation filled with drama by an excited presenter? I love going live but also do online talks. Book me to talk about my book! [email protected] #history #blackhistory #authorlife

#OnThisDay 1816: The Admiralty Board endorses a binnacle and compass invented by Sir Home Popham, and recommends 10 sets be issued as an experiment on Royal Navy ships. (J.W. Croker to Popham, NMM, ADM 359/36B/101) #NavalHistory #MaritimeHistory (pic: www.charlesmillerltd.com/auction/lot/...)

The earliest European representation of a capybara from "A Relation of a voyage" (1698) - a reminder of my fellowship this summer @marshslibrary.bsky.social

#OnThisDay 1796: Capt. Home Riggs Popham appears before the High Court of Admiralty to appeal a decision to condemn his merchant vessel, Etrusco, as a prize (... long story, read the book). Here's an extract from Quicksilver Captain (pp.58-9). (Pic: anneyoungau.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/k...)

@artemisapphire.bsky.social TANSY 👋👋👋👋👋

Good morning. I promised you guinea pigs, so here are some guinea pigs. If you're here for the history, I'll get back to that later 😂

*** edits the picture in my head to have Popham carefully stepping over a pile of cat poo while walking the quarterdeck***

I'm updating a list here too – between the two of us, we'll hopefully catch everyone! go.bsky.app/EcGGYJw

Good morning, and I've somehow managed to collect about 1,000 followers in 24 hours, so I guess I should probably start posting again 😂 Welcome all to the madness!

Still a handful of places left - if you’ve asked and don’t see your name please prod - there have been a lot of notifications and I haven’t screened anyone. If it goes way over I’ll just start a part II… go.bsky.app/KNeAnRj

Not sure how this works, but if you want to be added, let me know (lots of people have different usernames over here and it's confusing me 😂) go.bsky.app/4R4Awhv

I'm trying to find my people on Bluesky so I put together at #starterpack of historians (academic and public) based in Britain. If you're out there and not on the list, please give me a shout! Conversely, if I have misidentified you as being in Britain, let me know. go.bsky.app/Fpw6Tvr