Justin Pollard

Tell AI Companies They Do Not Have the Right to Use Your Work I just sent a letter telling AI companies they do not not have the right to use my work. Use the Authors Guild's letter template to send your own.

I just sent a letter telling AI companies they do not not have the right to use my work. Use the @authorsguild's letter template to send your own: actionnetwork.org/letters/auth...?

Lovely to be able to finally share that MGMs Vikings will return with Michael Hirst back in the writing chair. This time we’re telling the extraordinary story of Erik Bloodaxe and (more importantly) his wife.

Advent Day 24: But how to make all this tea? A traditional Gaiwan tea set should do the job. The gaiwan, a brewing invention dating back to the Ming Dynasty, is a lidded cup, typically made from porcelain.

Happy Christmas!

Advent Day 23: And the mother and father of all oolongs - Tie Guan Yin ‘Iron Goddess of Mercy’ Oolong (Fujian, China)

Advent Day 22: No.12 Jin Xuan Organic Milk Oolong (Nantou, Taiwan) Jin Xuan oolong was developed by the Tea Research Station of Taiwan over more than forty years of cultivation, Renowned for its rich, creamy taste and delicate floral, fruity notes, it boasts a smooth texture and lingering sweetness

Advent Day 21: Golden Tippy Orange Pekoe 1 ( Ha Giang, Vietnam) Since 2012, tea production here is done largely as controlled organic cultivation. Amongst them, the Cao Bo Garden produces very fine black and green qualities. The infusion is slightly floral with hints of caramel.

Advent Day 20: Chinese Misty Green (Zhejiang, China) High humidity and prevailing ground fogs gave this tea its name. The finished leaf is rich, dark green colour and slightly curly. The infusion is shiny, smooth and grassy and surprises with fresh and spinach-like aromas and hints of algae.

Advent Day 19: Special White (Yunnan, China) An unusual white tea from the southern Chinese Province of Yunnan. This loose leaf white tea production is grown at altitudes between 1300 and 2000 metres. The large leaves are light green in colour with lots of silvery tips.

Advent Day 18: Imperial Grade Matcha (Kyoto, Japan) Imperial Ceremonial Matcha has been grown in Nishio (within the Aichi prefecture of Japan) for centuries. A favorite among Japan’s tea ceremony instructors due to its intense aroma and rich yet delicate taste.

Advent Day 17: China Yellow Tea Kekecha (Guangdong, China).Yellow tea is so special that it used to be reserved for the Emperors of the Middle Kingdom. Yellow tea is not processed immediately after roasting but wrapped in paper and left to cool in a process called ‘Men Huang’ or ‘Sealing Yellow’.

Advent Day 16 Java Pekoe Souchong Sunda Purwa (Rancabali, Java) The Rancabali Tea Gardens are situated at an altitude of about 2,400 feet above sea level in South Bandung, Ciwidey. Sunda Purwa is grown all year round in cool, tropical weather which contributes to its intense and expressive taste.

Advent Day 15: Formosa Dark Pearl Oolong (Tie Tung, Taiwan) Dark Pearl belongs to those oolongs that are oxidized longer. The leaves are plucked , withered, and shaped into pearl form by hand.

Advent Day 14: Xue Ya Special White Snow Bud (Fujian, China) This tea is traditionally plucked by hand and left to ferment for only a short time to preserve its “green soul”. The tea is plucked as “two leaves and a bud” and has a mild and slight fruity note.

Advent Day 13: Formosa Butterfly of Taiwan Oolong. To make this tea the fermentation process has to be stopped at the right moment to ensure only the edges of the leaves fermented, whereas the leaf centre remains green. It has a slight black tea character with a sweetness and a mild doughy note.

Advent Day 11: Elysian Green Assam (India) Nestled in the interiors of Assam and Chapanala Valley along the Karbi Anglong, the landscape has the perfectly balanced micro-climate coupled with nutrient-rich topsoil run from the Brahmaputra.

Advent Day 10: Imperial grade Dragon Fountain (Lung Ching)Tea of the Emperor (Zhejiang, China) This tea has been grown at the western lake Xihu near the city of Longjing ever since the Tang dynasty. It is known as the "Dragon Fountain" following a legend about a rain-bringing dragon.

Advent Day 9: Lishan Oolong (Taichung, China) Li Shan (Pear Mountain) is named after the abundant pear orchards that were the mainstay of the area's economy for many years, The tea gardens of Li Shan ranging in altitude from 1600 meters to 2600 meters, are the highest tea in the world.

Advent Day 8: Tung Ting Oolong (Lam Dong, Vietnam). Tung Ting Oolong hails from the renowned Lam Dong Tea Plantation, a region known for its unique terroir that imparts a distinct character to the tea leaves.

Advent Day 7: Sencha Yamato(Yamato Highlands, Japan) is a hand rolled sencha green tea. It was first produced over 1200 years ago when a legendary monk ‘Kukai’ brought tea plant seeds from China to Japan.

Advent Day 6: Silky Silver White Ceylon (Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka) One of the few white teas produced outside of China, this tea, grown at 6,000 feet elevation, imparts a delicate and very light liquor with exquisite notes of pine and honey.

Advent Day 5: Cui Min (Spring) Qingshan White (Hunan, China) This tea is hand-picked on the Qingshan Tea Garden at an altitude of approximately 750 m. It is plucked during the spring harvest, between the end of March and the beginning of April. Only un-opened buds are selected and processed.

Advent Day 4: Chinese Palace (Ocean Green) Needle (Hubei, China). Harvested in mid-April, only the finest leaves and the buds are plucked, steamed, dried, sieved and re-selected again before packaging.

Advent Day 3: Half-fermented Milky Oolong (Fujian, China). Immediately after withering the moist leaves are heated for a short period in milk water steam, which conserves the lightly olive-green leaf and cup colour and invokes the distinct creamy scent and taste.

Advent Day 2: Rukeri Green Orange Pekoe (Rwanda). A smooth, mildly astringent mellow tea which reveals hints of apricot from the steeped leaves which offer notes of steamed greens & faint wisps of tobacco.

Advent Day 1: Nantou Jade Black Dragon (Oolong) (Taiwan)A rolled lightly oxidised Oolong from the Tung Ting mountain in Nantou County in Taiwan. 3/3

This year Coco is having crafts from the Isles of Scilly (which I’ve forgotten to photograph) and Fliss is having rare tea samples from the world’s finest tea gardens, starting with….
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As many of you know, each year I try to give the girls something different for each day of advent - in the past they’ve had shells, coins, and curios including cosl from the Titanic, a piece of the Soviet Space Shuttle and the oldest rock on earth. 1/3

Amazon, Scott Free Productions Team For Pompeii Limited Series Based on Novel ‘A Day of Fire’ (EXCLUSIVE) A limited series adaptation of the book "A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii" is in development at Amazon MGM Studios, Variety has learned exclusively.

Delighted to be working for Ridley Scott for the first time on this: variety.com/2024/tv/news...

I also co-founded Unbound.com, wrote a few books and the odd article here and there.

A long time ago I wrote for Tme Team and QI.

Hello. I’m a historian, screenwriter and author, working mainly in TV and film drama. I storylined Vikings for MGM, did the initial research on Peaky Blinders, script polished Those About to Die and dipped my oar into everything from Atonement to Pirates of the Caribbean.