Matthew Symonds

Bottom corner of a 17th century book showing drawings

Title page of 'Epigrammes' by Ben Jonson, showing doodles at the bottom of the page

Delightful doodles of some pipe smoking Georgians found by Maddock Fellow Danielle Magnusson on the works of Ben Jonson, printed in 1616 #Readers #Epigrams

Anyone aware of any non-Shakespeare early modern plays being performed Jan-Mar 2026 in London? Setting texts for a Renaissance Drama module and would love to track down something the students can go and see!

On Pedantry A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice

Arnoud S. Q. Visser ( @arnoudvisser.bsky.social), On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (@princetonupress.bsky.social, 2025; #skystorians) press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Argh I thought I’d jumped away in time

more ben and polly MOAR

"The wallpaper was busier maybe, the world was browner, but essentially it was the same world, where telephones were answered with a string of digits and time flowed begrudgingly forwards like gravy."

I wrote about my favourite sitcom of all time.

madeleinebrettingham.substack.com/p/that-is-wh...

Newcastle is antifascist

A story in The Guardian about a footballer driving by mistake to Bury in Lancashire instead of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.

We‘ve all done it. We really should go back to St Edmundsbury. Or Beodericsworth

Question for #digitalhumanities , #earlymodern , #bookhistory , #latin and especially #neolatin people here: Do you know of #linkedopendata resources that are potentially relevant for Neolatinists? I'm preparing a talk on the topic and would like to provide an overview of interesting datasets […]

the double-glazing, it does *nothing*

at least limit the band to playing dancing in the moonlight just the once

feel it was a mistake to set up a stage and sound system outside all UCL's humanities departments for freshers' fair and invite student bands to play.

I would pay reasonably good money to see Michael Jayston deliver that line

I hate these terrible books so, so much, yet still I read them avidly. This new one pretty stagnant though, even by their usual standards. “Post Offices, eh? All that queuing! Have I farted yet?”

I use "overwritten" for this type of thing -- "illegible" obscures the activity going on, I think

why not try both? that way whenever Who is going through a tough time, I can think about Ipswich Town instead and oh oh no i see the mistake now

Can’t believe no one has thought to give me a newspaper column for these cutting historical parallels.

we should be definitely having another look at the interminable parliamentary coalition building of the otherwise forgotten middle decades of the eighteenth century tho. Where are Pitt’s Cubs now?

”a government of all the talents” is such a curse in British politics, always surprised when people reach for it as a phrase. “ah yes, Lord Grenville, there’s the man for me.”

Such a fantastic first day at our @livesandletters.bsky.social Built with Books symposium. Heading home to finish my paper (😅) full of ideas and excited for day two. #BuiltWithBooks #EarlyModern #BookHistory

A Salon-in-Exile This open access book re-evaluates the influence of the ancien régime salons, which were the foremost cultural centres in early modern France. Presided over by…

Blurb and link here: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/saloninex.... I wish I had the power to make academic books reasonably priced, and I am fighting that battle, but for now my tip for getting £££ books is to offer to review them for a journal.

A happy drunk of the old school on my otherwise grim-faced sardine-packed 134. “Charming charming all rubbing along together what”. Quite made the journey.

oh

We should allocate funding to places that produce research that makes a difference to people's lives and is produced in an environment that supports researchers to do interesting work rather than pit them against each other like Pokemon. That's my controversial opinion for today.

McFadden to take over new 'super ministry' Pat McFadden will take over a new "super ministry", combining parts of multiple departments, Sky News understands. McFadden will be in charge of the Department for Work and Pensions, and the skills remit of the Department for Education. He will be the work and pensions secretary, which suggests that Liz Kendall, the current holder of the role, will be moved elsewhere. McFadden had previously been serving as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Quick question: what the [bleep] does this mean for universities?

Jacqui Smith had already reduced her title from skills & universities to just skills. So we're now just going to move into DWP? Or do universities stay under Education but with a dedicated minister? The Office for Students is there?

a pig of a week, but Radio 3's Composer of the Week on the Harlem Renaissance has been a daily life-raft

"how do you get to Tipperary? well, I wouldn’t start from here" is a fine old joke, but it's not a basis for sound government

Angela Rayner was my Secretary of State, the first Minister I worked with who had *relied* on council services. She was motivated by having had skin in the game and wanting to restore the community that helped her. She was utterly on top of her brief and committed to public service. I will miss her.

funny how the messaging on research is “do fewer things but do them really well”

while the expectations on the ground for university staff have become “do everything”.

“we replaced X person/process/division with an app which will be more efficient. oh btw u have to reenter the data manually”

An Introduction to Archive Research Skills Join Heritage Researchers Dr Peter Mitchell and Dr Rachel Anderson for a practical, two-part course on mastering archival research skills.

Have you ever wanted to do historical research, but not been sure how to go about it? Join our heritage researchers @rach-anderson.bsky.social and @petermitchellnhsn.bsky.social in Oct for a specially curated course on finding your way through the archival maze: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introdu...