I wrote up the whole book club placement specialist weirdness on the blog - do feel free to pass on to other academics so more folks are aware that this is a thing. #academia #AcademicSky

I'm sorry, what in the name of all that's holy was the Green Group on NYT connections today? Is this one of those days when Non-Americans need not bother?

I appear to have come down with Freshers' Flu before I've met a single Fresher, and I'd like to know to whom I should address my complaint.

Spending the whole day in the Prado and wondering if anyone's written a buddy movie about Jan Brueghel the Elder and Rubens

One month left to submit an abstract for our conference 'Bound for Devotion: The Prayer Book as Object and Practice, 1300–1800', 1-3 July 2026 in Leiden: www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20... #medieval #earlymodern #bookhistory

Today I yelped so loudly at the photocopier that our office manager thought someone was having a medical incident. She then congratulated me when I finally got it to do what I needed it to and accidentally cheered.

Started my working week off with a coffee in Esther Simpson because Leeds Campus is currently half building site, and this ended up being the simplest café to get to after I'd done various essential tasks. Now I get to try and get back to my office without too many diversions 🤞

I was putting up w the utter codswallop that is King & Conqueror because I'm generally well disposed to a lot of the people in it (and I'm not a medievalist) but the Battle of Stamford Bridge apparently taking place by the sea (or at best a giant lake) so Tostig gets a seaside pyre? Nah.

They've mentioned the Field of the Cloth of Gold within the first few minutes of "Hostage" on Netflix, so I'm counting watching this as work

Aw, Google, mate, you could at least put "Sixteenth-century French serial killer" so this bloke doesn't get lots of odd looks when people search for "Gilles Garnier"

This is why I still make databases where I have to input info into each field - there's probably a way of extracting information more quickly but I need to go through it line by line to process it in my head

Just over two weeks before our CfP closes! Remember to submit your abstracts before Friday 5th September ⚔️

Genuinely a bit peeved that there doesn't seem to be a fund I can apply to that will just fund the coffees I need to buy in order to work in the places where I feel most comfortable writing. Atm, I don't need fancy grants, I need around £7 a day worth of caffeine.

Long hard stare across the Atlantic

We are watching "Fountain of Youth" and you're so lucky I'm not live commenting on this. Tbf, quite a lot of my comments involve swear words.

"Slaves in Paris: A Digital Mapping Project" - a partnership between Miranda Spieler and Colonial Networks slavesinparis.org. Created with the support of our Kress Foundation Digital Art History Grant. Officially launched today in Paris at #GCFHSResist

Obvs, interested in the actual content here but definitely going to steal "the real game is in the footnotes" as a motto

Went to one of the lovely indie coffee shops near me, got asked if I was reading Caroline Levine's "Forms" (I was) and ended up having a lovely chat with a woman on the next table about our research, and then someone else joined in when they heard me mention pals working on medical humanities.

📖I'm having an online book launch with @ewoodacre.bsky.social and @srsrensoc.bsky.social for my @royalhistsoc.org Camden Edition of 'The Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots' (out 8 Aug). 🗓️10 Sept 2025 ⏰17.00BST/12.00EDT/18.00CEST Register here: shorturl.at/Z6zfN Please join us!

I went notebook shopping today, for a very specific purpose, and although these did not make the final cut, they did make me laugh. (Yes, I was worried someone of my acquaintance would be looking for info on the Great Contract & would get my thoughts on Leeds bus routes or my new haircut etc etc)

Charmian Mansell's Female Servants in Early Modern England has been awarded the Thirsk Prize for Best Book in British or Irish Rural or Agrarian History by the British Agricultural History Society. 📖 bit.ly/9780197267585 @charmianmansell.bsky.social @britishacademy.bsky.social @braghs.bsky.social

That was absolutely bonkers and so much fun as someone watching it (can't imagine it was fun on a bike)

Wout!

Ah, fond memories of being in Paris during the last stage of the tour - I didn't watch it when i was a student, so I was completely bamboozled by why I couldn't get to the Rivoli WH Smiths. And the time I just sat in the Tuilleries reading as it went by and got the worst sunburn of my life.

Loving quite how chippy the ITV4 Tour de France presenting/commentary team are being whilst still being utterly professional on their last sortie.

After a five-day halt due to a lack of supplies, our team at WCK’s Deir al-Balah Field Kitchen has resumed limited hot meal service in Gaza. #ChefsForGaza (1/3)

I got that pop-up on my TV telling me my viewing is being monitored for BARB data and I now feel so much pressure to watch TV right. Is it ok that I did Tour de France, Sewing Bee and Karen Pirie last night?

Workshop: Translating Cultures: Migration, Mobility and Translation in Europe, c1600-1850, 3/4 September 2025, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. With @rhammersley99.bsky.social @ebuchetmann.bsky.social @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social et al. The programme is now online @ www.hab.de/event/transl...

If you were born between 1970-1990 you may not have full MMR protection, even if you had parents who took you for all your jabs. The NHS will give you a free booster. With cases surging, this is a great way to protect yourself & your community. I’m getting mine tomorrow www.nhs.uk/vaccinations...

Salut if you're at the Global Consortium for French Historical Studies conference (not "Big French History Jamboree", as I keep thinking of it). Please do stop me to say hi if you're about - I will most likely be making the most of there being a choice of sparkling waters at the breaks so find me là

Using ChatGPT in 17th century France was just talking to a black cat, and then being hanged for witchcraft

Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.

Have to keep reminding myself when I note down the C16 music printer Robert Ballard that his partner was not Créteil. Yes, the metro "Balard" is spelt differently and the 8 now goes beyond Créteil but I spent years reading that on signage and allow me my niche connections, please.

I can say anything about medievalists this week and none of them will notice, muhahaha

Devastated that the Centre for Lifelong Learning @york.ac.uk is being closed after 40 years. What a loss to education in the region. Feel for students and staff. Being a tutor has been joy, doing what universities should be doing by sharing knowledge widely with our communities.

Digitisation is great except when it isn't (like when it's actually a scan of a microfilm)

It's that time of year when the balance shifts from teaching to research. I can admit now, I always find this really tricky, and typically end up getting super frustrated that I don't get to do All The Things - but understanding that this is at least partly explained by my ADHD brain is a relief.

V excited to be the new early modern H France Forum person - although picking up from @tombhamilton.bsky.social is a bit daunting. Looking forward to getting to show case excellent scholarship!

Er, does this mean that somewhere there's a Manual Handling (Explicit version)?

I saw Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall buy a Gingsters pasty at Exeter Saint Davids

As much as I hate the Spelling Bee not recognising perfectly normal words (in British English, and specifically the weird mishmash of words I use), I do appreciate that it says "not in word list" rather than "learn to spell, idiot"

Ahem, @emilyjlm.bsky.social , @jimmussell.bsky.social , @onslies.bsky.social, @hpsvanessa.bsky.social and everyone else I've discussed Key Travel with recently...

You know, it can be really good to do something stress-releasing at the start of the working day:

Catching up on Diane Morgan's WDYTYA and it is brilliant. Bus in Bolton, dogs, describing one of her ancestors as a bit of a hussy. And that's without the clips from her shows, including "who are you, do you think"

MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!

An actual Strange and Marvellous Herring! (If you've ever heard me talk about translations of pamphlets about strange fish, you can imagine how excited I got reading about this) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The shortlist for the Society's 2025 First Book Prize for early career historians is now available bit.ly/4kkm4lW Eight titles have been selected, following an open call for submissions of books published in 2024. Two winners of the 2025 prize will be announced in July. #Skystorians

Newcastle University staff invited to a ‘Doodling for Wellbeing’ session (‘Let your pen dance across the page' in 'a perfect escape from the everyday hustle and bustle'. Invites sent on same day 153 academics were informed of their location in 'redundancy pools', with 38 redundancies planned. 1/2

It’s publication day for Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England with Michael Joseph @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social! Pop by your local bookshop or order now - uk.bookshop.org/a/12264/9781...

I was a bit skeptical when we moved to students submitting recorded rather than in-class presentations but I've realised that I can get just as emotional and proud of the work they've done sitting at my desk as in a classroom. Having a wee moment here.