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Back in June, I was invited to lead the final session of Lancaster University’s Premodern Reading Group (Twitter @lancasterpremod) in a celebration of my first book, Singing the News.  We had a fantastic poster: PremodernRG_22ndJune18. We had grapes.  We even had cake (although the mind boggles over what the university English Department kitchen is doing with…

I’ve been asked to run the history department’s residential summer school for Edge Hill University this year.  The topic that I’ve chosen is the Civil War, but with a long view that encompasses 100 years of history.  I’ve spent quite a while trying to come up with a blend of activities which will give students…

The final post in a short series based on my recent trip to the EDPOP conference in Utrecht.  Although this one isn’t about EDPOP itself, it’s about Amsterdam. It seemed a long way to go, not to see anything.  As I wasn’t going to be able to fly back to the UK at a reasonable…

Last week, I was very pleased to receive the news that I have been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.  It’s a real honour, and another milestone along the way.  My grateful thanks go to Professor Anne Curry for supporting my application – in fact her ongoing support for and interest in…

This is the final post in a short series about my trip to Utrecht, to the EDPOP conference European Dimensions of Popular Print Culture: A Comparative Approach.   I wanted to see something more of Utrecht, so while I was there I took the opportunity to visit the Museum Catharijneconvent, which holds a fascinating collection…

Originally posted on Museum Development North West: Earlier this year Lancashire County Council announced that Helmshore and Queen Street Mill Textile Museums, which had been closed to the general public since 2016, were going to be partially reopened; since then staff and volunteers have done sterling work to get both sites ready. In the latest…

This is the third post in a short series about my trip to Utrecht, to the EDPOP conference European Dimensions of Popular Print Culture: A Comparative Approach. The second day of the conference (which was, thankfully, slightly cooler than the first) began with our news panel: News – Intermediality and mobility, coordinated and chaired by…

This is the second in a short series of posts about my trip to Utrecht, to the EDPOP conference: European Dimensions of Popular Print Culture: A Comparative Approach. After the various opening and introductory sessions (which took more than 3 hours), it was time for Session 1: The circulation and materiality of parodic and comic…

This is the first of a short series of posts about my trip to Utrecht, to the EDPOP conference. After my delightful trip to the EDPOP Turku workshop, where my panel prepared its ideas, I was really looking forward to visiting Utrecht for the full conference, European Dimensions of Popular Print Culture: A Comparative Approach. …

The eagle-eyed among you (if indeed anyone other than me ever looks at the list of what I’m reading – they probably don’t!) will have spotted that I’ve been reading some rather unusual books lately.  And a lot of them.  That’s because I was asked to be a judge for the Historical Association’s Young Quills…