Just before Easter I applied for a job which I didn’t get. Nothing unusual there.  I didn’t even get shortlisted, and there was nothing unusual there either.  The thing that was different about this job was that I was offered feedback on why I didn’t get shortlisted, so I took the opportunity to find out,…

Around Easter, I was contacted by Zach Warren, a student at the University of South Carolina.  He had read my post on the ballads about Mary Queen of Scots, and asked for advice on images of the queen in popular music.  It’s always nice to discover that people have actually read what I’m writing, so…

At the beginning of May, I was privileged to be asked to speak at the Historical Association Conference in Manchester.  It was an excellent weekend with a wide range of lectures and continuing professional development opportunities. This is the fourth and final entry in a series of blog posts about the various lectures and workshops…

I think I can now safely make the announcement that I’ve signed a contract with Routledge to publish my book Singing the News: Ballads in Mid-Tudor England as part of their Material Readings in Early Modern Culture series.  It’s going to be a while yet before it appears, but it’s nice to have some really…

At the beginning of May, I was privileged to be asked to speak at the Historical Association Conference in Manchester.  It was an excellent weekend with a wide range of lectures and continuing professional development opportunities. This is the third in a series of blog posts about the various lectures and workshops I attended. It…