Duncan Hamilton

Me most of the time: oh I'm from the North East, it's okay nobody knows it that well - haha not quite Newcastle but Haway the Lads and all that!! :)

Me during the General Strike centenary: THAT'S D-U-R-H-A-M TO YOU - IS THAT A MIDLAND ACCENT I HEAR? YOU *RAT*, I WILL ONLY TALK TO THE WELSH

Now to celebrate my triumph with a coffee stout and some BBC Archive footage of old branch lines.

Making a pancake out of Yorkshire pudding batter and using it as a rudimentary tortilla for a Christmas Dinner Leftovers Burrito is both my greatest culinary invention and my greatest crime. However, I did look extremely smug walking into the living room holding a full Christmas dinner in one hand.

Twelve places in labour history sslh.org.uk/tag/place-in...

Responding to a threat to lock down my entirely sheep-based economy with "I'd rather die standing than live kneeling"

Churchill wishes he was me

Christmas Day 2025, also known as ground zero of Duncan's Catan phase

St George’s Plateau, Liverpool: a place in labour history Concluding our series on places in labour history, Greg Billam takes us to St George’s Plateau, where crowds have gathered for more than a century for key social, political, and cultural epis…

Concluding our series on places in labour history, Greg Billam takes us to St George's Plateau, Liverpool, where crowds have gathered for more than a century for key social, political, and cultural episodes in the city’s history
sslh.org.uk/2025/12/24/s...

Christmas holiday reading off to an interesting start as I swing dramatically between Corinne Fowler and Tim Key.

Is there anything as liminal as an intercity train at night? I have absolutely no idea where I am most of the time. This is probably what Purgatory looks like these days

So much easier to write this way! Where the blank Word document feels cold and hostile, there's almost something inviting and exciting about the blank notebook page. My go-to strategy for beating writers block is to ditch the laptop and pick up a pen!

The future of England is a Sunday roast with Yorkshire puddings and Jolof rice and that is not a force that can really be slowed

Sources for Co-operative History in the UK Click to download. The Society for the Study of Labour History has created a guide to sources for co-operative history in the UK. Compiled by the Society’s Archives and Resources Committee, the gui…

We have a new guide to archive sources for #co-operative #history on the website. You can download the 35-page PDF here
sslh.org.uk/2025/12/07/s...

West Ham: a place in labour history In our continuing series on places in labour history, Mike Mecham argues that West Ham and Canning Town in East London form a cornerstone of the British labour movement. There is a good case for We…

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Mike Mecham argues that West Ham and Canning Town in East London form a cornerstone of the British labour movement
sslh.org.uk/2025/12/08/w...

Entered the pub and Liverpool were 2-0 up against Leeds. Wondered where the Liverpool I'd seen this season had gone?

Five minutes pass and it's 2-2. Ah, there they are.

The first three posts in our Places in Labour History series are now on our website.
Duncan Hamilton on the County Hotel and Durham Miners’ Gala.
Jane Donaldson on the 1938 co-operative movement pageant.
Mark Crail on the burial place of Chartist writer Helen Macfarlane
sslh.org.uk/tag/place-in...

Great read, Mark. Always preferred Helen's hobgoblin to the more conventional spectre!

Stonehouse: James Hamilton, merchant. James Hamilton, junior, merchant.

Writing a bit about pubs in Chartism (Cooper advocates for them as meeting places in his novel but doesn't mention the whole, you know, drunkenness aspect). Having a fun moment getting to quote from the Chartist Circular's teetotal address that my 3x and 4x great-grandfathers both signed.

Many thanks, Mark - had a lot of fun writing it up!

As much as I'm a scholar of Chartism, I'm also a Durham lad. It was great, therefore, to have a chance to write about one of the first sites to inspire my interest in British labour history, situated at the heart of the Miners Gala.

Old black book cover. The pattern, once ornate, is very worn.

Title page to Alderman Ralph by Adam Hornbrook

Page of handwritten notes. The handwriting is indecipherable.

Second page of handwritten notes. The handwriting is indecipherable.

My Thomas Cooper library grows in size and splendour with an extremely rare first edition of Alderman Ralph. Only the first volume, alas, but there's plenty of indecipherable notes in the back to keep me busy until Volume 2 surfaces!

My favourite ones are the ones that do posts about their busy research day and then two of the items on their checklist are "make reels" and "post tiktoks"

Where is the "read book that literally makes you go insane" representation

Aside from screaming it out of my system? I find changing out of work clothes helps sometimes, almost shifting persona in a way. Shirt and blazer me is often rather scholarly, loungewear/Oodie me has never had a thought in his life beyond Eat Pasta

Alert

Greatest game of all time. Old school cRPG about politics and Hegelianism with a Sea Power soundtrack? Banger

There's very little that gives me a rush like passing an 8% check in Disco Elysium

My grandfather emerged from the plains of Saskatchewan to become a professional ice hockey player in the 40s/50s and I will always defend the sport. It is completely insane. This is a great piece. Forget the shortform media content and watch people smash each other about on the ice as a replacement!

Starmer has gone from a draconian head of the Crown Prosecution Service to a jewel thief in just over a decade. One of the most insane lateral moves of all time

Bring back Chartist plays - not BBC Schools necessarily, just an absolute boatload of Chartist plays. A Director-General vote for Duncan is a vote for common sense

Partner no doubt thrilled to be with someone who spends Saturday night gawping over fifty year old BBC documents

Reading some old BBC Schools broadcasting notes because the incredible Thomas Cooper play (WRITTEN BY ALAN PLATER) is featured and - man, the Beeb used to be something, didn't it? Our Tom would have strongly approved of the educational angle.