Beautiful

Friends in/near London. I've been invited to talk about my latest book at Goldsmiths in a couple of weeks time. It would be lovely to see some friendly faces if you're around. All welcome. www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...

@illuminations.bsky.social revealing the identity of The Scanner (at last!) As ever, impeccable historical research from my friend and colleague John Wyver

Time to get your Screen proposals submitted. Hope to see you there!

The fascinating story of Britain’s first all Black cabaret programme for TV

Has anyone seen any of Michael Ingrams’ documentary series ‘Look in on London’ (A-R, 1956). The two opening episodes (on street cleaners and London’s homeless population’) were shown as part of a fascinating sounding season called ‘Captive Cinema’ at the NFT

Truly an ambitious early tv ballet performance including cutaways to real swans on the Alexandra Palace lake! @illuminations.bsky.social - surprised they didn’t bring them into the studio (I love the story of the parrot who travelled by taxi from London Zoo to Ally Pally around the same time 😂)

Thank you so much John - this is exactly the thing I was after.

Can anyone recommend any really good writing on the aesthetics/appreciation of the post-industrial landscape, particularly (though not necessarily confined to) the UK? @illuminations.bsky.social - I feel like this might be something you could help with? New field for me - would like some guidance!

What a wonderful OTD today - this gives a little glimpse into the richness of @illuminations.bsky.social new work on the early history of British television

Today’s OTD is the story of a popular and critical success in early British television history from @illuminations.bsky.social

Hollywood royalty in today’s OTD in early British television history by @illuminations.bsky.social

Many thanks for resharing this @deathstudiespod.bsky.social - it was such an honour to talk to you!

I missed this yesterday. John Wyver ( @illuminations.bsky.social) making the critical jump from Alison Light’s between the wars “literature of convalescence” and the adaptation of an Agatha Christie story by the BBC in 1938

Today’s OTD in early British TV history post from @illuminations.bsky.social is a St Andrew’s Day extravaganza from 1932!

Fast dialogue, slow shot assemblage: fascinating critical reconstruction of a 1937 broadcast of Cymbeline by @illuminations.bsky.social this morning

Today’s OTD in early British television is a fascinating tale of a Birmingham based precursor to the RSC and the broadcast of Shakespeare plays and plays about Shakespeare. John Wyver shows us what we can learn about early tv drama without extant recordings

No SCMS for me this year - a first time rejectee though it seems I am in esteemed company. On the other hand, very much looking forward to Screen where I’m delivering the keynote this year - hope to see folks in Glasgow though a shame it’s not Chicago too!

These posts from @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social are more than heartbreaking. 19 years old. Shot after spending over a year in that hellhole. Other posts document the lives of children murdered on arrival at the camp. We really must never forget.

This makes me excited for John Wyver’s new book - his detailed history of early television is going to challenge so many of our critical assumptions about that history. Also, can we please go back to calling TV viewers ‘lookers in’?

An unusually empty weekend due to a nasty lurgy has meant y’day I watched (& loved) all of Bad Sisters & today I have been pottering around the kitchen (my teenage nursemaids have not manage to tidy as they go 🙄), making soup, & listening to this brilliant podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...

Absolutely fascinating thread about the BBC’s Picture Page. The variety of the guests - from the last quill pen maker in England to Una Marson, a Black feminist, activist and journalist from Jamaica living and working in the UK - tells us a great deal about prewar television in the UK

OTD in early television stays with November 1937; Tuesday 23 saw the outside broadcast van at Elstree for a third group of ‘Round the Film Studios’ broadcasts; Elstree (photo, from Radio Times) was the base of Associated British Picture Corporation, and this followed visits to Pinewood and Denham…

A long interview with Beth and Renske about my recent book - thanks to @deathstudiespod.bsky.social for sharing again over here 😊

Colliery communities and pithead heroes In 1984 the #Heroes concert at Consett, County Durham, raised funds for striking mineworkers This poster is part of the huge archives of the National Union of Mineworkers #ExploreYourArchives

John Wyver once again posting a fascinating thread on early British television history - emigre performers, well paid magicians and a meeting of the ‘high’ and ‘low’ arts

Thanks to @saulhewish.bsky.social for sharing this. While says this is true of prisons, I think a lot of this also applies to universities and their engagement departments

@cinefeline and I would like to share the CFP for our upcoming conference on Youth & Horror. Hope it’s of interest! www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edac... Youth and Horror: An International Conference, 1-2 July, 2025, University of Birmingham, UK

Delighted to share Warwick Institute of Engagement’s Annual Report for 2023-24. This report represents a lot of hard work from staff, students and their collaborators across the board at the University of Warwick and shows why we do what we do. warwick.ac.uk/wie/aboutwie...

since all the "gender critical"/TERFs are migrating here, thought I'd share this primer explaining their history, dissecting their beliefs, & debunking their talking points. no-paywall links, pls share! Substack: juliaserano.substack.com/p/a-gender-c... Medium: juliaserano.medium.com/a-gender-cri...

John Wyver (@illuminations.bsky.social) is posting OTD posts from the early history of British television and they are FASCINATING. Such rich threads. Well worth a follow if you don’t already

Second time around for this - for those new in town 😊

Scary. Depressing. Full of practical advice

Nine years ago we rocked up in a v special place, the hotel of dreams, where we made some friends for life. Tonight we’re back to celebrate an our friend Helen’s birthday and her tenth anniversary as a hotelier. Victorian Whitby was JUMPING - love @larosa.bsky.social - everyone get booked for 2025!

Oh, Philippa 😔 I’m so sad to read this. Philippa commissioned my second book, Spectacular Television and my first edited collection, Re-Viewing Television History. She was exceptionally kind and always encouraging - a real joy to work with. amp.theguardian.com/books/2024/n...

This morning I am very busy with my snerdling…

In response to OpenAI’s recent ‘A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT’, Arthur Perret (maître de conferénces, Jean Moulin Lyon 3) writes a line-by-line rebuttal — A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT www.arthurperret.fr/blog/2024-11...

“Passions and dreams are not exclusive to those from middle class backgrounds. Talent is everywhere, with over 150,000 students on creative courses every year. Opportunity, particularly at the most prestigious institutions, is not.” www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

OTD in early BBC television: 15 November 1937 offered a drama-heavy schedule - in the afternoon, 40 mins of Marie Ney in scenes from the Old Vic production of Ibsen’s Ghosts, staged by the British actress and director Esmé Church at the Vaudeville Theatre, the only Ibsen on television pre-war…

So powerful

Eeh, @profpaulnewland.bsky.social - this sounds super cool!

The School of Advanced Study have launched a new Public Humanities Fellowship! Fellows will develop projects that promote public discourse, raise the visibility of #humanities #research, and enhance its impact by engaging diverse audiences. Apply by 6 December: www.sas.ac.uk/research-eng...

Deadline 6 December for Royal Historical Society postgraduate grants to undertake research (£500 or £1,000 per award). royalhistsoc.org/research_fun...

We've written a Researcher's Guide to Bluesky! It's a bit like all those other useful guides to Bluesky, but with several useful insights from University of York academics about using the platform, and we'd love it if it was reposted far and wide... >> blogs.york.ac.uk/library/2024... 🧵 below

Hoping that OTD in TV history posts from @illuminations.bsky.social are a regular thing over here 😊

My team at work is run on confelicity. And that’s a lovely thing

This is my most recent book, by the way - Television/Death published by Edinburgh University Press.

Hello. This feels a bit calmer and more interesting. You’ll normally find me thinking abt TV history (or about swimming, cycling, and buying ridiculous dresses). Currently writing about canals (and doing collaborative history projects with travelling communities). Passionate about public engagement