What's going on at the Natural History Museum and their Pokémon pop up shop is wild!

Have come across two stonking photos from the Burma campaign this morn. Left: IWM SE 142, men of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers use paddy fields for cover as they approach Japanese positions. On the right: IWM SE 778, a Bren gunner guards a jungle path after artillery has cleared an area near Pinwe #SWW

Hoping to catch up with lots of @smh-historians.bsky.social friends and colleagues while at #SMH2026 in a few weeks. Let me know if you're going to be there. I'm still waiting on the final schedule, but know for sure I'll be talking about Afterlives of British Forces Germany on the Sunday at 10.00

There's still time to sign up for TNAs archival skills training sessions relating to military history/records on 3/4 February: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/practical-...

Just squeaks in

This genuinely sounds like a cracking exhibition www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...

Not unexpected but a big ask www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the...

Sobering reading. And it doesn't take account the issue of quality of forces. But it finally appears the idea of mass having a value of its own is catching on. Yes in 1991 a division was deployed on GRANBY but it took a further 2 from 1 BR Corps to put it into the field www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Give me a bauble, Vashilllly. One bauble only, please"

@dankaszeta.bsky.social's rather epic thread didn't get to either of the world's greatest condiments....

Great news, but not sure why The Spy Who Came In From the Cold is being adapted under a different name? Legacy of Spies is an excellent novel, full of le Carré's rage against 21st century certainties and moral superiorities. Would be a fine adaptation in its own right www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

Don't understand that 20 minute red card in the IRE Bokke game. It's always foul play, always illegal, no mitigation. So by the laws it has to be a flat red, not a 20 minuter? Rugby's destroying itself by constantly tweaking laws and inconsistently and incoherently applying them

Share a TV series you've watched from beginning to end more than once.

Enjoying "French rugby broadcast" bingo tonight as Les Bleus take on the Bokke. In shot focus shift from crowd to player during anthem? Check. Fan with beret and tricolour face paint? Yep. Still waiting on artist painting a watercolour and a bit of French foul play that mysteriously has no replay

Fascinating story this. Similar to how in the FWW the British Army used poles and wires from the hops fields to build screens shield the Menin Road and others from reconnaissance or to stop artillery targeting troops and transport build ups www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Vital reading from @ianvisits.co.uk, featuring IWM's seasonal contribution www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/chr...

I was really excited to join a special tour of Clapham South Deep Level Shelter this afternoon with IWM's patrons. A fascinating history beyond the Second World War, with an afterlife including being a hostel and labour exchange for those on the Windrush, and a hotel for the Festival of Britain

Thanks to the generosity of the Clore Duffield Foundation we are recruiting a specialist Holocaust curator at IWM. This is an exciting role that'll be responsible for IWM’s internationally significant Holocaust collections and galleries. Details here: imperialwarmuseums.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...

I'm terribly sad to read this. Thoughts with all of Tim's family, friends and colleagues

I'm glad someone penne'd a few lines on this to bring it to wider attention

Plans for a Vienna airlift were also made after Berlin, as Vienna was likewise divided into four but inside the Soviet zone and there were fears it took could be cut off

📣 Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus. A new exhibition running at the Imperial War Museum between Oct 2025 - March 2026. I was approached last year to join the advisory panel and have been so delighted to see this project come to fruition.

Now open at IWM London, our brand new special exhibition Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus. It's fascinating, it's revelatory and it's FREE. Do come and see it! www.iwm.org.uk/events/emerg...

That's a strong early runner in the #MuseumsChristmasJumper cohort

A reminder for you all that tickets are still available for this excellent event at IWM London on 9 October, where the brilliant Kavita Puri will share insights and stories from her recent podcast series. Do join us if you can! #SWW www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-i...

That Kildunne try was phenomenal, what a player

I've a feeling we're not in Kansas (City) anymore...

I'm in Kansas City, Missouri this week at the National World War I Museum and Memorial for the annual meeting of our First World War network. Lots of great tours and discussions to be had over the next couple days with colleagues working across all aspects of FWW history

An interesting article to a place I've never previously known about. Would be curious to see it in comparison to the Maginot Line and Ouvrage Hackenberg #SWW edition.cnn.com/travel/ostwa...

Today in 1945 General Seishiro Itagaki surrendered to Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander in Southeast Asia, at the Municipal Building in Singapore. The Instrument of Surrender was photographed, and the pen used and a flag flown over the Padang are now in IWM's collection #SWW

You know you've got a good seat for an airshow when you see this sign

Hands down the great Professor Michael Prestwich at Durham, and his module on sieges. Complete with scale models of trebuchets lobbing marbles and takes of being an expert witness in various legal cases after people were thrown from them

Just seen a trailer for the upcoming Nuremberg movie, with Russell Crowe and Remi Malek #SWW youtu.be/76N-wgzj8vs?...

A reminder that on 9 September I'll be hosting an In Conversation event with Kavita Puri at IWM London, hearing all about the making of her recent BBC Sounds podcast, The Second Map, and memory and forgetting in the SWW. Tickets available here: www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-i....

If you haven't heard The Second Map yet, the new The History Podcast on BBC Sounds, I highly recommend it. And not just because I'm in it #SWW www.bbc.com/mediacentre/...

We're currently recruiting an Apprentice Archivist in my brigade at IWM. It's a great role that will work across our Documents collection, a treasure trove of stories and secrets. If you're interested in forging a career as an archivist, this could be for you: share.google/3s2r85OOjAdb...

We recently sold on my children's Paw Patrol gear, including a Landing Ship (Tank), an Osprey VTOL, a Forward Operating Base, UAVs, and numerous mechanised infantry. That a private military contractor can dominate Adventure Bay is a sad indictment of our times

Great coverage for the old gaff. Will make sure to see his exhibition when it opens! #SWW www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Did you know that our very own HMS Belfast was on her way to East Asia to assist in the war effort 80 years ago this week? On VJ Day she had reached the coast of Australia. The ship continued on to Japan to help find and bring British POWs and civilian internees back home. Image: IWM (ABS 694)

Upping this on the back of Kavita's article in the @theobserveruk.bsky.social over the weekend: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Bit strange they left the information on the yosegaki hinomaru so vague in that section, and didn't explain what it was or its cultural significance #AntiquesRoadshow #VJDay80

England won't be able to be this wasteful against the Black Ferns or the Bokke #RedRoses

On 9 September I'll be interviewing the brilliant Kavita Puri about her new BBC podcast, The Second Map. Come hear Kavita reflect on the SWW in SE Asia, remembering and forgetting, and how to find new stories and ways to look at these seismic events. Details here: www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-i...

I do enjoy a bit of cap badge iconography

When you gotta espionage all day but you missed breakfast

Yo ho for the robbers, the cops and the robbers. Yo ho! #AllanAhlberg

A very exciting moment for me today when I spotted this in the wild, perching on the shelves of Waterstones on Gower Street

The UK Government announcement of the #VJDay80 commemorations outlines the activity IWM is planning www.gov.uk/government/n...

A new Chief for the RAF Air Marshal Harv Smyth appointed new Chief of the Air Staff - GOV.UK share.google/kWbmpitUizhX...