Dr Charlotte Parsonson-Young

Brits: complaining about the weather since the year dot - in this case, on 2nd December 1659.

'I stayd at home it being a verie tempestious slabby day.'

This may be my favourite postscript of all time. The author and his son-in-law were being investigated for plotting against Oliver Cromwell in 1656.

'I desire my daughter to send me a Cheese, for this my restraint hath forced me to eate them she sent before sooner then was intended'.

#stresscheese

In memoriam...

Thank you SO much to past me for making the really useful action note in my Bradshawe manuscript of 'ADD THE OTHER ONE' without any indication of what the other one is. That's so helpful.

Freshers flu is hitting, and I'm about to spend 2 hours in here with my students. I have water and Strepsils, but I think this is going to be a bit of a mission.

Oxford's looking rather glorious today.

Reform are filth. They represent hatred, extremism, ignorance and irresponsibility. They'd make us a wretched vicious hateful little island. If people don't stand up to this, they won't stand up to anything.

Today's class on medieval monarchy was greatly improved by incorporating the Tyrants and Warriors Top Trumps deck. Universal agreement from the students that Richard III deserved a higher tyrant rating than 8/10, and King John's 10/10 was a bit harsh.

Glorious bit of shitposting by Khan here. Top man.

I can safely say I've seen areas of London by bus today which I've never seen before in my life! Convoluted routes ftw.

Cracking group of students, too. It's going to be a great term.

Excited to start the first day of autumn term teaching with my Wake Forest study abroad students today - even if getting to the office is proving a tad challenging!

One year of marriage officially completed ✅️

This is very much my kind of landscape. South London is not.

Pilgrimage.

(He actually died in 1659)

I don't hate it at all, but even I will admit that Tesco getting the Christmas stuff out in August is a tiny bit premature...

Dragged the husband to one of my old childhood haunts, Hatfield House. Somehow he'd never been, so we've been very unlike us and have braved our way through the August bank holiday crowds.

Who was Oliver Cromwell? explores the parliamentary career of Oliver Cromwell: the highlights, the controversies and the posthumous legacy of this divisive figure. Learn more about his early… Who was Oliver Cromwell?

#OTD 1642 Charles I raised his royal standard in Nottingham, often regarded as the starting point of the English Civil Wars. Oliver Cromwell later emerged as a leader of parliamentary forces during the Wars, but who was he? 👇 youtu.be/U3NjaOkD9yw

Will at centre of legal battle over Shakespeare’s home unearthed after 150 years Document from 1642 made by husband of Shakespeare’s granddaughter found in unlabelled box at National Archives

I found a cool Shakespeare thing. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

a man in a suit and tie is smiling in an office . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is smiling in an office .

The absolute state of my inbox after 3 days of summer school teaching without much chance to be at my desk, and it's only August. What on earth is September going to bring?!

Impromptu trip to the ruins of Bishop's Waltham Palace this afternoon - a home of the Bishops of Winchester until the Reformation and a royalist garrison during the Civil Wars, which sadly led to its destruction.

I've definitely hit that point in the supposed 'summer' when I regret scheduling teaching at back to back summer schools, rather than having a bit of a break. Rapidly running out of steam, and there isn't much time to replenish it.

Annual trip to the hairdresser complete, and now off into town to kick off a month-long summer school on the history of London.

Holiday? What holiday?

Bold choice for my GP to send me a survey asking whether I think the meds I take every day to stop my body shutting down and slipping into a coma are 'unnecessary'.

No. No, I don't.

Really fun afternoon getting to wander around Lambeth Palace on a rare open day.

Neighbours having a dispute over security with the school whose field our gardens back onto (school 100% in right, neighbours in wrong) has led to me having a nice chat with the headmaster and agreeing to talk to his 6th formers next term about studying history at university. Unexpected outcome!

I do very much enjoy teaching the residential summer schools, but after a week of that and lots of socialising (and people and noise and more people and SO MUCH NOISE) at Lord's yesterday my social battery is utterly flat and I feel like I need to sleep for a week.

Gotta say, for my first ever sporting event Day 4 of the Test at Lord's was a hell of a way to start! What a rollercoaster.

Did ... did I just overhear a group of students say they thought Oriel College was Oreos College?

Tolerable digs at Christ Church, Oxford for the next week. Third year of summer school teaching, here we go!

I Don'T Hate It. I Just Don'T Like It. At All.And It'S Terrible..Gif GIF ALT: I Don'T Hate It. I Just Don'T Like It. At All.And It'S Terrible..Gif GIF

Today's first world problem is having to mark assignments which use Harvard referencing, rather than footnotes. It drives me up the wall.