@hackblackburn.bsky.social
History Correspondent and Deputy Diary Editor for The Times
Nice article in @thetimes.com by @hackblackburn.bsky.social about my unusual career path and how I came to be involved leading the genetic analysis of Hitler's DNA.
01.12.2025 12:24 — 👍 16 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
I am on today’s edition of The Story from @thetimes explaining the ins and outs of the sequencing of Hitler’s DNA
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
All best wishes to you and your family
13.11.2025 08:45 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Would have been 80 today. So dearly miss you daddy
13.11.2025 08:29 — 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Ha - a colleague reminded me of this today. I’d quite forgotten it but it’s wonderful.
12.11.2025 17:59 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
And, on the validity of the sample:
12.11.2025 17:26 — 👍 53 🔁 5 💬 2 📌 0
The most difficult part of the research is to do with the conditions Hitler may have had. These are intriguing, but not conclusive and risk stigma for those who have neurodivergent or mental health conditions today. The piece gives contexts Sir Simon Baron-Cohen’s words crucial:
12.11.2025 17:26 — 👍 132 🔁 13 💬 7 📌 10The research has shown definitively that Hitler did not have Jewish ancestry, debunking a myth which has been viciously turned on Jews for more than 90 years.
12.11.2025 17:26 — 👍 117 🔁 9 💬 7 📌 5
To take those in order, the sexual condition impacts our understanding of him and of one wartime song
12.11.2025 17:26 — 👍 126 🔁 14 💬 4 📌 5
Exclusive: Adolf Hitler’s DNA has been sequenced by scientists
It has:
- shown he had a disorder which impacted his sexual development
- debunked rumours about his ancestry
- shown a high likelihood that he had a neurodivergent condition and/or bipolar disorder
www.thetimes.com/article/e728...
Nick Mohamed’s national popularity just seesawed like a six year old on sweets #thecelebritytraitors
06.11.2025 22:20 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
"This inattention to detail was typical of the laziness the show’s narrator was known for. Real shoddy narrating. Just pure crap."
04.11.2025 21:11 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
In my Times Diary this morning…
Reform are pursuing a “Millwall” strategy
www.thetimes.com/article/aa6b...
The historical symmetry of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor ending up in Sandringham
Where will Andrew live in Sandringham? Estate has its own troubled past
www.thetimes.com/article/0680...
As promised on Times Radio, Jilly Cooper’s dirty joke (or one of them at any rate)
18.10.2025 07:33 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Received! Am off for a bit but will get to it asap
17.10.2025 07:30 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Also, a little bit on Angela Rayner and reality TV
17.10.2025 07:29 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Wes Streeting “forgot” to include the Tories in his conference speech
This and more in today’s @TimesDiary
Including Jeremy King on dress codes and a campaign to get Bertie Wooster recognised at Oxford
Wes Streeting forgets to sing the blues
www.thetimes.com/article/9017...
Hasn’t come through. Could you send again please?
16.10.2025 12:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Hello @spyhistorian.bsky.social - email me on Jack.blackburn@thetimes.co.uk
12.10.2025 19:27 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0No denying it - it’s gone down very well
08.10.2025 12:30 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0It’s difficult to describe the mood of anticipation at Tory Conference ahead of Badenoch’s speech.
Very difficult.
Electron microscopes would struggle to detect it.
Penny Mordaunt on plans for a comeback: “I’m styling myself as National Treasure and MP on sabbatical”
07.10.2025 15:58 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
No, no, I think there’s not enough puppetry work in modern political oratory.
07.10.2025 11:08 — 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1Robert Jenrick gets a (gradually) standing ovation and one of the higher attendance figures garnered this week.
Still plenty of seats available…
Manchester United get a shout out from Laura Trott at Tory Conference.
A once titanic force which has fallen into mediocrity, a shadow of its former self, harking back to memories of past glories…
Do your own punchline
James Cleverly is a master of spin. Pours a pint (on the second attempt) which is one quarter head - says it’s for Oktoberfest
06.10.2025 10:22 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0“Oh, alright,” she says. “If I’m totally honest, the 12th budgerigar has to stand on one leg.”
06.10.2025 10:17 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0The conversation goes on and eventually they begin to climb down
The first one says “Actually my husband’s only becoming an archdeacon”
The second one says “Well, to be honest, my husband is only a senior accountant at the Halifax”.
They both look at the third woman….
The first says “My husband is in line to become the next Archbishop of York”
The second says “My husband is in line to become the CEO of Barclays”
And the third says “My husband is so well endowed that, at full mast, 12 budgerigars can stand on it at once”
