David Ibitson

Almost too good to bear, Ian McKellen brings us the strangers' case again like a slap from 400 years ago. We look at this on my Foundation Year Renaissance module & Im glad everyone else is now too.
"And you in ruff of your opinions clothed; What had you got? I’ll tell you..."

Thanks VPFA! I plan to scrawl the new title on with biro whenever I see a copy.

New Humour and Masculinity at the Fin de Siècle This book explores the popular writing of the New Humourists and their vital engagement with late Victorian conceptions of manliness

Now it's actually out, here's another plug for my new book about #Victorian New Humour, where I prove that Jerome is better than Joyce.
Just now realising I should have called it FUN de siecle.
@bavs-uk.bsky.social
@vpfa.bsky.social
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

I pâté the fool who takes your advice.

Liked specifically for bad mouthing Skinamarink.

Liked specifically for Night of the Hunter.

As we finally all get together to stab 2025 to death in the senate, only to see its adopted heir, 2026, rise to terrible power, happy new year.

Illustration by Kenneth M. Skeaping from the 1891 edition of Told After Supper, by Jerome K. Jerome. It says "Our Ghost Party" and "Introductory."

"It always is Christmas Eve, in a ghost story."
- Jerome K. Jerome

We said goodbye to dogface yesterday. She was the best girl, and we are utterly devastated. We had far longer with her than we ever could have reasonably expected, but nowhere near as long as we wanted. What an absolute queen she was.

Very Happy Blue Carbuncle Day, to all those who celebrate!

“It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan,” I remarked.
“Precisely so," Holmes replied, "on December 22nd, just five days ago."

💎

Cheers Vic, much appreciated.

Thanks, Helen! I hope all is well.

Trivia: the red & black colour scheme is a nod to J. from Three Men in a Boat:
'I always like a little red in my things—red and black ... Harris always keeps to shades or mixtures of orange or yellow, but I don’t think he is at all wise in this.'

New Humour and Masculinity at the Fin de Siècle This book explores the popular writing of the New Humourists and their vital engagement with late Victorian conceptions of manliness

Listen up. My book on Victorian New Humour is out in the new year. The perfect gift for loved ones/University Libraries who are into humourists like Jerome K. Jerome.
Also guaranteed to ward against dyspepsia, St Vitus's Dance, & housemaids knee.
#Victorian #C19th
link.springer.com/book/9783032...

If only there were a cautionary tale about being too eager to accept the apparent time-saving capabilities of new technology.

The Kim Hellberg era starts with a win! 🔥

Banner in the South Stand quoting Rob Edwards: 'The fans deserve to see people who really want to be here'

Amazing. Someone’s already edited Edwards's Wikipedia. I sincerely wish him many happy relegations if he abandons us. #Boro #Middlesbrough

Can't believe what a fool he is. The chance of cementing a reputation as a promotion specialist with #Boro exchanged for beingna relegation specialist with Wolves.

Happy birthday last weekend to our wise and beautiful hound. She loves ivy and fish, & is scared of bees & advent calendars.

Reindeer in snow

Our domestic cricket season for 2025 is now over, and we begin the long countdown until the 2026 season begins in 8 months' time.

Winter is coming!

Please help me share the CFP for this Literature Compass Special Issue dedicated to the work of Simon J James and covering key Victorian and Edwardian writers like H. G. Wells, George Gissing, Dickens, Wilde, George Du Maurier, and Conan-Doyle on behalf of Hadas Elber-Aviram.

It's Deadwood Deadwood Deadwood. Deadwood's a greater piece of work than at least 3 of these programmes. It's pure art. God I love Deadwood.

Unexpectedly, our baby has utterly fallen in love with a book about #Canada. Worth the enjoyment now to have that inevitable difficult conversation when she's older, when we have to explain that she's not actually Canadian. Désolé, bébé.

my new ai device will sit in a beer garden that backs onto a small river and drink three to five pints on a sunny late summer afternoon for you, leaving you free for more meetings and business calls

we would be in a much better state in this country if we stopped focusing on anointing a chosen few working class students into Oxbridge, and instead properly funded all the different sorts of universities that attract students from a wide range of backgrounds already

Ben Stokes reversing the passage of time with his performance at the Lord's Test is another examples of Stokes Flow. #cricket

Me neither! See you next year at ISHS2026.

One thing they don't tell you is that when you become a dad, the NHS issue you with the recognised #dad kit:

Sensible quarter zip;
Popular Roman history;
Weak radler beer;
Obscure sweets no-one else likes;
Off camera: cricket podcast & an unexpected admiration for Ultravox.

You have to decide! There can be no equivocation!