A call for papers. This looks like it will be a great conference: www.rmg.co.uk/call-papers-...

Let there be light! 💡

Not sure about going to the open casket funeral. Remains to be seen.

This is a dance off. If you see this, repost a dance, or you’re eliminated.

🎭Dropping this week in our Exploring Sessions - it's All Fools by George Chapman. Solid structure, some interesting set pieces, but the syntax is not pleasing the room. #GeorgeChapman #EarlyModern #Plays #Drama #Theatre www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Can't tell you how thrilled I am to see my PhD student Mary Bellman's first article published! 🥳 'The Demetrius Dilemma: The Implications of Induced Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream' in the British Shakespeare Association's journal, *Shakespeare*: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Thinks we should simply rename the toilet cubicle to "The Pee-quad" ... and you can all call me Ishmael.

RIP Dennis Cometti, the voice of AFL, who gave us the immortal line, "Liberatore went into that last pack optimistically and came out misty optically."

Dear Dr Johnson, you are invited to submit a paper for "insert very important sounding Encyclopedia name here." You are very important. Accepted papers will attract a "insert value well over $2,000 here" processing fee after acceptance. Oh, how I laughed.

The World Shakespeare Congress brings together scholars at every stage of their careers — from established researchers to early career academics. Verona 2026 will be a space for dialogue, discovery, and new collaborations. #WSC2026

Remember when Doug McClure was on every second movie shown on midday Saturday television? Yes, I'm that many years old.

📢 NEW Will of the Month Post! 📢 This is for everyone who followed our 'Eyrie of Swans' discussion last week, and with particular thanks to @hnewsome-chandler.bsky.social , @lostplayhouse.bsky.social and @tracelarkhall.bsky.social who helped us identify it! 🦢 1/3🧵 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

Truly uncanny to see universities all doing the same suicidal things: centralizing decision-making, erecting bafflingly expensive new buildings, stacking the board with money guys, hiding info about the budget, throwing money at consultants. Atriums everywhere! They all got the same memo.

This is the official Bluesky account of the World Shakespeare Congress, taking place in Verona from 20 to 26 July 2026 #wsc2026 #verona #shakespeare

To all the misogynists claiming "batsman" is the traditional term in cricket and that "batter" is a "woke" copout, I give you Exhibit A for "batter" being much older = in The Cricketer's Guide Being a Complete Manual of the Game of Cricket (1896), "Batter" is used throughout.

An open letter to @theguardian.com about their article last week about the Crown’s Silence, requesting that the Black scholar of Caribbean heritage who did the years of archival research behind this claim, and published it in 1979, Roger Norman Buckley, be acknowledged as the source of this reveal:

🎨This year, the @rijksmuseum.bsky.social smuseum in Amsterdam has opened a new exhibition on Ovid's Metamorphoses, featuring an array of paintings inspired by the ancient Roman poet. Comment your favourite artistic reimagining of Ovid's Metamorphoses below! 👇 #classicsforall #rijksmuseum

Hi. Do you look like I might have loaned you my copy of Rudolph Fiehler's Strange History of John Oldcastle (bought in a second hand bookshop in New Orleans in 2016, just like the one pictured below)? If you fit that description, I could really use it back. Thanks.

After the year we’ve all had, if it’s okay with you, I think I’d just as well jingle only two-thirds of the way.

Apparently the Barmy Army cheered the players leaving for rain -- they do realise, don't they, that a draw means the Ashes definitely stay with Australia? The only way for England to win the Ashes is to be on the field to bat for an unlikely, but still possible, win.

The Indian crowds rioting in Kolkata because of Lionel Messi is bizarre but craziest of all is that Sunrise (in Australia) thought the best way to cover the story was to cross to their US Correspondent (in New York).

A wonderful scholar was taken from us too soon. Please help to ensure Meghan C. Andrews's book can be made more widely available via Open Access.

In all the back and forward from press and crowds after the first Ashes test, I haven't seen anybody yet say a word of praise to Stokes and (I think it was) Brook, who shook Head's hand after he was dismissed. Fair play, gents, and a good sporting gesture.

Excitement at 6:30 am, as the last of a morning storm rolled past, I was in my study when lightning hit us = electricity surged through the house, a huge bang, lights flickered , and my study light blew. Animals spooked and family woke, but the only casualty was my light bulb.

Marjorie Taylor Greene in a pensive moment ahead of her big press conference.

JOB POSTING! Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints at the @folger.edu amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FSL_Em...

Well, looks like Rep. Clay Higgins just outed himself as being in the Epstein files! #427-1

That's the trouble with that pesky Muse. When she strikes at 4 am, there's no answer to it other than to get out of bed, get ready for work, and head into the office ... and write. So here we are at 4:30, me and my old friend the keyboard. Write.

Roll up, roll up! We'd love to have more entries just to make our job of judging this year's Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize all the more difficult! "It's the best part of my job" and all that. Entries close 21 November, this Friday!

Must be the season -- another beautiful object arrived today, this one with my chapter on authorship and cognitive studies. Huge thanks to @loughnrv.bsky.social and @drwillsharpe.bsky.social for nudging this mammoth volume into reality!

✍ Introducing ✍ Sharpie, a letterform recognition game for beginner #EarlyModern #palaeontology gjhilton.github.io/Sharpie/ AKA What I Did Over Reading Week. #skystorians I’d be so grateful if you had time to share or take a look and tell me what sucks and needs fixing. Love g 🗃️

Bizarre interpretations of events on Cricinfo. Green takes 1/13 and the headline says he was "impressive with the ball as Test side takes shape" whereas Webster took 5/50 and headlines say he took a fiver "on a tough day for his Test chances" = sounds like Cricinfo writers have an agenda LOL

Oh my word, how I hate calculating time zone differences. I was certain I needed to be in my office at 4 am for the Rose talk today, at 4:30 am. Well, I'm here, but the talk, well, it's an hour later. Heaviest of sighs.

A little reminder for those playing along at home. :) Remember, this is UK time. Adjust accordingly for other time zones.

Another AI gaffe. Seeking an article by Grace Ioppolo that mentions John Cholmley, but AI overview said this "refers to a partnership between Professor Grace Ioppolo and the historical figure John Cholmley, who, along with Philip Henslowe, established the Rose Playhouse on London's Bankside in 1587"

Monday 10 November @ 7.30pm online PUB CRAWLING WITH PLAYHOUSES Join Professor Laurie Johnson @lostplayhouse.bsky.social for a ramble around the inns, taverns & ale-houses of Elizabethan London, to discover their role in the emergence of playhouse culture. Book: www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on

Excited to have this beautiful object arrive in the mail this afternoon, including my “Sallow Hal” chapter on care and concern in the Henriad. Kudos to Darryl and Rebecca for their care and concern in producing this fine volume.

My life at the moment = 9:30 pm on 29 October, I receive an email to advise me that admin have approved a student extension, and their assignment is now due on 27 October, two days ago. I simply cannot with this!

No, Iva with no last name or institutional address, I do not believe that my work on allegory in Shakespeare makes me a perfect fit for your InTech Open book publication on semiotics and translation in the 21st Century. Try harder.

Severe case of tennis elbow. Not bad for somebody who doesn't play tennis. But seriously, doctor got angry and ordered as much rest as possible, and an injection. To all the people expecting words from me, it'll be a bit slower than normal, sorry.

I don't mean to alarm anybody but I think the biggest issue for Australia coming into the Ashes isn't our quicks. Nathan Lyon so far has 2 wkts for 143 runs in two games while his team has bowled sides out for 161, 156, and 240 and currently has Vic 7/121. He is well down on form.

Sometimes I surprise myself. An email from the editor of a journal reminded me that I apparently have an impressive history of publishing in the field of Otolaryngology (in bold) and they welcome my latest work for publication in their journal. Only the best journal. The very best.

I’m doing a thing. Join me, won’t you?

Calling all Australian poets! Three weeks left to submit entries for the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize! www.unisq.edu.au/news/2025/07...

And so it came to pass that after yet another of "those" meetings, I reached this evergreen stage of my intellectual journey.

Ready with coffee, time for the evening block at Globe4Globe, including my paper in a session on The Little Ice Age.

Out now! My chapter on "Authorship and Cognitive Studies" appears in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Authorship, with my thanks to editors Rory Loughnane and Will Sharpe for shepherding this through to completion. global.oup.com/academic/pro...

A somber note while on a drive with the family around where I grew up - stopping to remember those who lost their lives at the Box Flat Mine disaster, Swanbank. The blast was so powerful it threw me from my bed several miles away.

Feeling uplifted by the message from campus services today. They told me that my request to have my window fixed was "outstanding." Well, thank you for the affirmation, team.