I’ve heard it said that Halifax has the best-preserved Victorian town centre in England, but some of its best buildings are older. This is a great idea. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

One of my favourite modern graves. She's a cemetery neighbour of my father.

Apologies for the sudden appearance of this stuff in your feed, but all this is part of a bunch of WW2 souvenirs brought back by an RAF man that came into my possession after a family house clearance. I don't really want it in my house, but question is: what do I do with it?

The Poetry Pharmacy in York... this could be my new favourite shop. Just the place if you need a poetry prescription.

Hear me out. Keep the State Visit, but send Princess Anne instead.

So, did anyone get caught out by an April Fool story? Or poisson d'avril, as the French call it...

The Diggers, religious and political dissidents led by Wigan-born Gerrard Winstanley, on this day 1649 took over common land at St George’s Hill in Surrey to grow and distribute food, but landowners sent armed men to attack them. Eventually the colony was abandoned.

1 April 1916 Lt John James Mackintosh of the Royal Army Medical Corps died in the Egypt Hospital and was buried in the Ismailia War Memorial Cemetery. John is also remembered at the University of Glasgow #WW1 #History #HistoryMatters

PHOTO OF THE DAY. A triple decker bus in Berlin, but it wasn’t real. It was created by a newspaper as an April Fool’s joke (1926). 📷 Echo Continental

Microsoft: don't use our AI for anything other than shits and giggles The entire University sector: we will build our growth infrastructure around shits and giggles

My grandfather when I was a child. People knew how to dress properly for the beach in those days.

They need a Prof of War Studies

It's an inscription you usually see in CWGC war cemeteries, but this Stone of Remembrance is in the gateway of the City Chambers in Edinburgh. It is a memorial to all those from Edinburgh who died in the First World War and was unveiled by Prince Henry on November 11, 1927.

This now redundant Roman Catholic chapel began life as a medieval fortification. It is a fascinating structure that has been fashioned into its present shape by one family across seven centuries. 1/14

My great-grandfather Cawston was a boatbuilder, but he and two of his siblings married three siblings from the Holloway family of Reading, who owned a carriage works and later a garage. I recently found a Holloway caravan brochure - including this early example of a camper van.

Rose Dieng-Kuntz Senegalese French computer scientist in artificial intelligence. 1st African woman to enroll in École polytechnique. PhD in specification of parallelism, 1 of 72 #WomenInSTEM whose names proposed to be added to #EiffelTower #Paris b. #OTD 27 Mar 1956 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Di...

Thinking of doing a Masters degree with us? @leedsprhs.bsky.social has just announced some school-based Masters scholarships to add to the innumerable scholarships offered by the University of Leeds. Check it out: ahc.leeds.ac.uk/philosophy/n...

This painting, which MIGHT be by Hubert Andrew Freeth, turned up in a family attic - but what does it depict? It's possibly a French wartime scene (the damaged pier?) but does anyone recognise this location? Please do share this so we can solve this mystery!

To make peascods in Lent. From 'The Good Housewife's Jewell', England, 1596. Figs, dates, raisins, mashed up with cinnamon, ginger, cloves and mace. Cover in a thin pastry, shape to look like pea pods ("peascods") and fry in oil. Mine bear no resemblance to pea pods, but what can you do. They...

Medieval monks in Easter Ross - and not the tiny island of Iona - may have created the intricately decorated 1,200-year-old Book of Kells, according to researchers. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Prefer to watch the presentation? The full video of the lecture, filmed on location at the National Army Museum, is available to watch on the Society’s YouTube channel: youtu.be/nP_dsoZUwrI?...

On this day in 1931, nine Black teenagers were arrested and falsely accused of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. They spent 6-17 years in prison despite evidence that exonerated them. calendar.eji.org/racial-injus...

The owner of this postcard, which I'm posting with permission, is looking for any information she can get on the women in the picture and their circumstances. Anyone know anything about them (apart from what is written on the back!)?

We’re aware that some of our webpages have been unavailable over the past few days but they should be working again now: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sec... Apologies for any inconvenience this has caused!

What are your views on AI enhancement of old photos? This is a picture of my great-grandparents (William, a Thames boatman, was a reluctant conscript to the Royal Engineers). Does the renovation add anything - or detract?

In this latest Q&A episode, we ask could veterans ever be buried alongside their fallen comrades in official war cemeteries, what was the role of snipers on the Western Front, how did Stretcher Bearers cope in the conditions of Third Ypres and examine what books to read on this iconic battle?

Woohoo! The Long, Long Trail website is celebrating 30 years of existence! #ww1 #genealogy

Back in my local library for more writing - and using another public library for research. Never underestimate the importance of public libraries. Always fight to keep them open.

Governments sit and watch while oligarchs purchase our politics, as if it were just another asset to be monopolised. For the sake of democracy and our own survival, we need to get the money out. Our political systems must belong to us and us alone. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/m...

The first British Legion poppies were made in France, and most are now produced in Richmond, south London. But some are made in Edinburgh and from 1931 to 1965 they came from here - Lady Haig's poppy factory on the Royal Mile. Can you spot the clue?

Friday, all welcome.

“My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.” Wilfred Owen, English First World War poet, born #OTD 1893, died 1918. Dulce et Decorum Est, Manuscript @britishlibrary.bsky.social

Camouflaged Soldiers, by Edward Ardizzone. IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1281)

Wait for it...

My great-grandfather William Edward Cawston, ran a boat-building and pleasure boat business on the Thames at Caversham with his twin brother (imaginatively named Edward William). I've just acquired this picture, dated August 1897, with William in the centre on the towpath. I wear his wedding ring.

July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, is generally reckoned to be the worst day in the history of the British Army. Nevertheless, thanks to some northern (and Ulster) battalions, there were a few successes on that day to commemorate.

Teenage coal miner in Horden, County Durham, 1960s, photo by Patrick Ward.

My excellent colleague @katiedd.bsky.social has just published this remarkable investigation into rampant book banning in a Greater Manchester secondary school library. 193 books including The Da Vinci Code, Twilight, White Teeth and 1984 Graphic Novel www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...

We should never forget the non-combatant victims of the First World War. This member of the Chinese Labour Corps, a long way from home, died early in 1919. Killed by unexploded ordnance he was clearing - or by the flu?

Jesus’ interventions in military history have been difficult to intuit. Odd that he went in so hard for the Mongols

The #MatildaEffect (systematic denial of recognition to women scientists) was named after suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage (d. #OTD in 1898). "The woman who was ahead of the women who were ahead of their time" was a writer, activist, abolitionist & Native American rights advocate. #WomensHistoryMonth

When my grandfather's WW1 medals were framed, the guy said he hoped I wasn't disappointed that he was in the Army Service Corps and probably had a desk job. I wasn't. Private Harrow here was in the ASC too. He died in 1917 and is buried in Scotland, so could have died of wounds or illness.

Private Arthur Challacombe served with the 650th Motor Transport Company, Army Service Corps. The 40-year-old soldier died, and is buried, in his hometown in North Devon. 📍Ilfracombe (Holy Trinity) Churchyard 🇬🇧

Nothing new about the Daily Mail and dieting. This song ("The greatest novelty hit since Yes We Have No Bananas") was published in 1929.

THESE ISLES: Elsie Inglis (1864-1917) was a Scottish doctor and suffragist who founded Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Services, all-female units that provided support for Britain’s allies during the First World War. 1/7

No idea how this picture came to be in my family's possession (I don't recognise anyone) but it's of Fovant Camp, Salisbury, in May 1916. They look a bit of a motley crew - especially the one on the right in the front row.

This month's First World War offering in my newsletter features the Battle of Verdun 🗃️ the-historians-holonet.ghost.io/the-battle-o...

True. And too many libraries are closing.

Photojournalist Dickey Chapelle was the first American female war correspondent to die on the front lines (1965). She covered #WWII, the Korean & Algerian wars, Castro's Cuba, Lebanon & early Vietnam, where she was killed in action. She was born #OTD in 1919. #photography #WomensHistoryMonth

Lancaster (Forton) Services on the M6 motorway opened in 1965 with its space-age Pennine Tower offering fine-diners views to the coast. Unsurprisingly, there was no emergency exit, so the tower closed in 1989, and despite being Grade II-listed, it is now closed to the public.