Adam Chapman

VCH Ghost Story - On History With the nights drawing in, it’s the season for storytelling. This curious and disconcerting letter was found recently in the archive of the Victoria County History of England (addressed to then-Gener...

A spooky story from the Victoria County History archive (or is it...?). A tribute to M R James and the world of the early VCH, which I first shared on 31 October last year - I hope you enjoy it. #Halloween @vch-home.bsky.social

blog.history.ac.uk/2024/10/vch-...

Our trainees Sasha and Sarah have written a blog showcasing some of the spookier and scarier books in the IHR Library’s collection - check it out! 🎃 🕸️

blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/hall...

#halloween #libraries #blog

A 1930 picture of the Cambridge Theatre, Seven Dials in Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials photographed in front of the Cambridge Theatre, Seven Dials in October 2025.

Interested in the history of Seven Dials or London or the 1920s and 1930s? I'm doing some walking tours of the Dials with @stanfordstravel.bsky.social on Sat 15 Nov.

There's loads to see, but Seven Dials is so small you don't need to walk far.

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/events/songs...

It is of course the Rushton crucifixion, commissioned in 1577 by Sir Thomas Tresham, the sole surviving post-Reformation English crucifixion scene

... and he seems to have held her partially responsible for doing in his father (and, since Isabella was a French princess, Edward didn't have many more permenant options, just as Charles doesn't).

There are institutions that you think of as part of the establishment, so clearly aligned with the interests of the state that you're always impressed by their independence of thought.
Letting the British Council go is such a clear indication of the vandalism we've been suffering the last 2 decades

a sotheby 's store is visible in the background of this rainy street scene ALT: a sotheby 's store is visible in the background of this rainy street scene

Ah, no - that's Reliant (Tamworth's unique contribution to motoring history). See also the Trotter's van in Only Fools and Horses.

Also fibreglass deathtraps!

Never having watched Mr Bean, I'll take your word for it.

The Solent conurbation is a case in point. There *are* divides and some are more obvious than others. To an outsider, Totton over to Havant is fundamentally one unit. On the ground, it's quite a lot more subtle with gradations in the importantance of the divides!

Absolutely. Even on a practical level, the only things in their favour is that they had a roof and didn't rust. Hit anything large than a moped and you're coming a poor second.

Yes. Yes, drives me bananas.

Whereas to me - from Somerset - 40k is a *very* large town. There are loads of places that are unmistakeably towns at the c.5,000-10,000 level.

In no special order, Honiton, Wincanton, Tiverton, Collumpton, Callington, Minehead, Martock, Street (both formally villages, but not on the ground), etc.

Yep - the closest parallel I can think of (including the exile to north west Norfolk, coincidentally - Castle Rising is literally on the bounds of the Sandringham estate), was Edward III's treatment of his mother...

And none of the places you've named are *towns*.

Bigger than any town in any *region* I've actually lived in (well, before coming to Kent - but even then, the scope of say, Maidstone or the Medway towns is muddied), by a fair margin.

I presume that's a hundredweight sack (so half would be c.25kg). Absolute deathtraps.

Ok, fair enough, but it's still a (very) large town.

The Invacar.

www.friarsmotorcompany.co.uk/brief-histor...

OK, you can certainly argue whether Bristol is part of the SW (I would say no, for a range of reasons, but YMMV), or the Bournemouth/Poole conurbation is (more so than Bristol, but it's a conurbation, with a split identity, not a town as such), but nothing west of there is anything like Wigan-size.

Another exciting @englishassociation.bsky.social event that will support the teaching and exploration of poetry.

The fundamental problem:

58% of voters want public spending maintained or increased.

67% want taxes to stay at their current level or be cut.

In reality, it’s a binary choice. Taxes go up, or spending is cut. That’s it.

Cf. Wales, the south west of England (even the two larger cities, Plymouth and Exeter) aren't as big as Wigan (Bristol being the Midlands for this purpose), East Anglia, etc.

But I agree with your point!

They would, I suspect, point to Portillo (not entirely unfairly).

This is - to be fair - not that an uncommon Labour pattern. That she can't envisage a town much smaller than Wigan (north of 300,000) is, for *entire regions without towns that size* a rather larger issue with her worldview.

The Scarborough rowed lifeboat Queensbury showing the kind of conditions it faced during the Rohilla rescue.

I ordered this image of the Scarborough rowed lifeboat Queensbury to show the kind of conditions it faced during the Rohilla rescue. Sadly it arrived a day late — taken a few years earlier, but it speaks for itself. Image North Yorkshire Archives

All that I ask is that the culture secretary not ask questions which reveal she couldn’t tell you who *this year*’s Bafta shortlistees and winners were.

The Womble and The Clanger in the style of The Omen and The Exorcist

🧵I've posted them before, but here's my thread of horror/kids' TV double-bill cinema posters. Happy Halloween...
#halloween #cinema #graphicdesign #poster

This one has been in the works for a while (my 38th @vch-home.bsky.social book as editor - it was in progress when I joined...), but great news for the weekend, in that it's now 'in Press'.

Ah, well teenagers on a Saturday afternoon. Happens. The parents, well...