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The Saxon Church of St Laurence
No comments on The Saxon Church of St LaurenceI went on a family canal holiday this summer. One of our stops was at Bradford on Avon where on a very wet and rainy day as I was searching for somewhere to buy groceries I came across this little historical and architectural gem. The Saxon Church of St Laurence. There was something about this ancient building I found quite moving. A sense of calm and a connection with England’s past. How many generations of…
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New Liberal History website
Its been a long time in the making – rather too long if I am honest – but at the end of January we were finally able to go live with the new website for the Liberal Democrat History Group. liberalhistory.org.uk I’d built the previous version of their website back in 2015 (I think) so it was due an upgrade and I was very pleased the Group asked me to build them the new version.…
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Ming Teapot in the V&A
I visited the Victoria & Albert Museum on Saturday for the first time. It was something I’ve been meaning to do for ages as it is the only one of the big four London museums I’ve never been in. I only scratched the surface of its collection and, while I was bowled over by the jewellery gallery, I spent most of my time in the museum’s Asian galleries. Here is a Ming/Qing dynasty stoneware teapot,…
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Collecting Luton’s World War One stories
This project, recognising the 100th anniversary of the First World War, run by Luton Culture, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and in partnership with the University of Bedfordshire is collecting stories of Luton’s experience of the Great War with the family memories of people who live in the town today. It is looking for people to contribute the stories, and photographs and other artefacts, which will then be used in an exhibition at Wardown Park Museum…
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Acts of Union and Disunion
In this BBC Radio 4 series Professor Linda Colley examines the forces that have united and divided Britain over many centuries.
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Previously, on Earth
The bad news is that I seemed to have overlooked the fact that Alix Mortimer has started blogging again — why did nobody tell me? The good news is that I now have loads of extremely well written, and funny, posts to read to catch up — and mostly about history too. 🙂
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Wenlok jug back on public display at Stockwood Discovery Centre
Some good news from last week as the Wenlok Jug, a rare medieval bronze jug with historic connections to the town and the jewel of Luton’s museum collection, went back on display at the Discovery Centre after being stolen and then recovered last year. Not been to see it yet – but hope to soon.
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History of Philosophy (without any gaps) podcast
I’ve been listening to this fantastic podcast for a while now (although have only just discovered its website). Created by Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King’s College London, it has been working through the major thinkers and their ideas starting in the ancient…
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‘Diallo’s Testament’ by Ben Okri
More about this from the National Portrait Gallery.
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Random Thoughts for 21st October 2013: An insomnia fuelled catch up
Not much blogging going on here at the moment. There are reasons for that, although we won’t go into that now, and I am wondering if I ought to change my approach. There doesn’t seem to be much focus or direction to this blog when I do post. However, (and as if to handily illustrate that randomness) I will make use of a night of serious insomnia to catch up with posting some links. So…
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Book review: Pure by Andrew Miller
I think the trick to writing good historical fiction is probably to do extensive and wide ranging research, to really immerse yourself in your period, and then to forget about it all and tell a story. The last novel I reviewed here demonstrated a rich understanding of period but was at root a story of human psychology. This novel also feels like it was written by an author who deeply understands their historic period but…
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Reburial of children’s remains discovered in Luton archaeological dig
In February 2011 I attend a public lecture at the University of Bedfordshire about archaeology. The first of the two presentations that evening was from Wesley Keir of Albion Archaeology who described the discoveries made during the building of the University’s new Campus Centre. Archaeological investigations had been carried out on the western edge of the site of the medieval castle next to St Mary’s Church. It was fascinating to hear about what had been…
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Random Thoughts: A catch up for May 2013
I can’t really believe we are in June already. I seem to be having problems properly organising my time — and then there never seems to be enough of it. Also been suffering from “the curse of the interesting”. I keep finding new things interesting — but don’t have time/energy to do anything constructive about them. For instance; I’ve been hugely fascinated by the debates and arguments over equal marriage recently, wanted to think more…
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Nick Robinson on the Government versus the BBC
I’ve just finished listening to Nick Robinson’s BBC Radio 4 series ‘Battle for the Airways’ which looks at the history of relations between the government and the BBC. The series is available to listen to here: Battle for the Airways The eight 15 minute programs each look in turn at particular incidences of conflict since the founding of the corporation, taking in Suez and the Falklands, up until the present day. There is a lot of…
