In the festive episode of Loughborough University’s School of Poetry Podcast, I was invited to chat about festive verse with presenter Dr Oliver Tearle and Dr Barbara Cooke. For the ‘So bad it’s good’ segment, I picked a history in verse written during the English Civil Wars era. The poem is not primarily about Christmas […]
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I have talked about noblewomen and the English Civil Wars on this blog before, particularly with reference to Brilliana, Lady Harley who defended her castle against the royalists. This time we are looking at a noblewoman on the other side of the political divide. Namely, Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-73) an extraordinary woman. An English […]
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Right from its beginnings, the NHS has been represented in broadcast media such as radio, print, and film. Given the percentage of people both employed in and using the service, it is unsurprising that healthcare should provide a setting for so much of our culture too. With the 70th anniversary of the NHS just around […]
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Last year I traced my family tree back to the early eighteenth century and discovered that along the one line was a family of blacksmiths operating within a five mile radius in rural Lincolnshire for at least two hundred years. I published part of the story in Your Family History last March but there wasn't room in the piece for one of my favourite parts of the story.
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On the 26th November 2017 I was a guest again on Llewela Bailey’s BBCWM breakfast show to talk about the tradition of Stir Up Sunday – the last Sunday before advent which is when we are meant to make our Christmas Puddings. You can listen again via this link for the next week or so […]
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Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing the innovative new play, Letters to Emma by playwright Dr Carolyn Scott Jeffs at the Lichfield Garrick theatre. The play features the ‘Swan of Lichfield’, poet and biographer Anna Seward (1742-1809), an eighteenth-century author who was friends with Samuel Johnson, Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles), and James Boswell. […]
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Thanks to everyone who came to our launch at Loughborough University, London, last week, braving the English summer (brrr!) to do so. A good time was had by all, and obviously there was cake – a bespoke earthworms and urine sample cake, no less. Below are a couple of pics from our evening. In […]
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The town of Tamworth in the Midlands used to have a number of medieval and Tudor buildings which were demolished in the 1960s to make way for a shopping centre and other modern developments. Some older buildings had gone long before the 60s however. The information board outside St Editha’s church describes how one of the […]
Read moreMaladies and Medicine is now available Published on the 4th July Available from the publisher Pen & Sword Amazon.co.uk Widgets Save the Date! We are delighted to announce that the launch of Maladies and Medicine: Exploring Health and Healing, 1540-1740 will take place at Loughborough University London (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) on 9 August 2017 […]
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