Sam Pope

Rest in Poetry (RIP) Eleanor Anne Porden / Franklin Last year, I marked the 200th anniversary of Eleanor Porden’s death. This year, I thought I would bring you some snippets from the 200th anniversary of her obituary, published in The Annual Biograp…

RIP Eleanor Anne Porden/Franklin. Always in my mind and heart on 22 February. 201 years since the world lost a bright and beautiful light. eleanorporden.com/2026/02/22/r...
@derbyshiredro.bsky.social
#poetry #poetrylovers #romanticpoetry

For Many a Heart is Thine There is perhaps no better time of year for poets than Valentine’s Day. It provides them with an opportunity to write loving, ironic, comic or silly verse (or any other type, really) – hopefully of…

#HappyValentinesDay! For some amusing romantic poetry, check out my post featuring #Regency poets from the Attic Chest literary salon, including Eleanor Porden. eleanorporden.com/2026/02/14/f... Thanks to @derbyshiredro.bsky.social @englishheritage.bsky.social
@britishmuseum.bsky.social

British Museum £100k away from Henry VIII pendant target - BBC News Efforts to raise £3.5m are under way to give the jewellery a public rather than private home.

British Museum £100k away from Henry VIII pendant target - BBC News share.google/7mX3epjmovdq...
I've donated. Surely the Royal Family, with their vast wealth, could contribute, too? @britishmuseum.bsky.social

Merry Christmas to you too, Olga!

A lovely #Christmas treat for me, found in an @oxfamgb.bsky.social bookshop. I grew up reading Richard Scarry books but never had this one. My daughter (22) wants to read this as soon as she comes home tomorrow, as she's another Scarry fan!

A woman sitting in a Victorian costume and a funeral veil.

I had a brilliant evening performing three ghost stories in Oxford tonight at Curio Bookshop. One by Dickens, one by E. Nesbit and one of my own. Great fun and I discovered that white foundation is an actual thing (thank goodness - no more putting flour on my face to look ghostly). #ghoststories

A poster advertising Ghost Stories for Christmas in Oxford on 9 December.

Christmas is a perfect time of year for ghost stories! Come to a special evening of terrifying tales at Curio Bookshop in Oxford, where I and Catrin Lawrence, will be your storytellers. Be prepared for a delightful evening of chills...and not because of the weather!
wegottickets.com/event/682550...

I think, Olga, that you should just live there, restore it to its former glory, and give talks on Crozier to interested researchers. This might invoke a friendly ghost, who could point you in the direction of further sources. Beyond that, as you say: there ain't much to put in it, more's the pity.

Killed by a white horse Two hundred and eleven years ago, on 24 October 1812, Eleanor Porden wrote a fascinating account of an evening spent with her family’s close friends, in which they discussed superstition and the su…

Most had either experienced something themselves or knew someone who had. This blog post summarises these spooky tales. What better way to approach Halloween on this blog than to follow their fascinating conversation? wp.me/peKBLJ-4R #Halloween #spooky #Supernatural

Killed by a white horse Two hundred and eleven years ago, on 24 October 1812, Eleanor Porden wrote a fascinating account of an evening spent with her family’s close friends, in which they discussed superstition and the su…

On 24 October 1812, Eleanor Porden wrote fascinating account of an evening spent with her family’s close friends, in which they discussed superstition and the supernatural, particularly the possibility of possessing the gift of Second Sight.

Thank you so much, @oxonlibraries.bsky.social,
for displaying Lindy with these excellent scary stories for Halloween! It made my day seeing this!
@foxandinkbooks.bsky.social

Night after night, something has been moving our mini-pumpkins in our garden. We set up a camera and caught the culprit! (S)He comes every night, multiple times a night, and either carries or noses them down to the other end of the garden!

This is such a fascinating write-up! I love the detective work you both put into your investigations, and the resulting stories that come out of them. And fancy a fox being the contemporary resident!

Happy World Letter Writing Day! It seems very appropriate that I spent a very fruitful half day in the Bodleian Library, reading the various letters between the Pordens (Eleanor and William) and Francis Douce (antiquary and museu…

Happy #WorldLetterWritingDay! To mark this occasion, here's a brief write-up of some of the letters I read @bodleian.ox.ac.uk today, between William and Eleanor Porden and various correspondents. Turnips make a very odd appearance! eleanorporden.com/2025/09/01/h...

Happy World Letter Writing Day!

It seems very appropriate that I spent a very fruitful half day in the Bodleian Library, reading the various letters between the Pordens (Eleanor and William) and Francis Douce (antiquary and museum curator) and Benjamin D'Israeli. Whenever I visit an archive, I can…

I so wish I could do this but I am not a postdoc :-(

ledge outside our first floor bedroom window just now. Terrified herself and us. Black cats are loving, friendly but incredibly silly; we lost two others over the years because they seem to lack a healthy sense of fear. Anyone else experienced this with black cats?

This cat is adorable. Used to live in a cat café til we adopted her two years ago (she'd been there the longest as black cats are unpopular). She's gorgeous and funny BUT she's a typical black cat: daft as a brush. She's started trying to haul herself out of windows and we found her on the ...

I do like Keanu.

Tune in Tomorrow - Wikipedia

It was made into a film, too, starring a very young Keanu Reeves, Barbara Hershey and Peter Falk! With a rather weird alternative name ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tune_in...

Gosh, I have that edition of that book. Are you enjoying it? I had to read La Ciudad y Los Perros (The Time of the Hero, in English) for prelim exams at university.

Poor dog, although these journal entries sound much more bizarre (hence interesting) than many I transcribe!

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wanted to ‘bid farewell’ to writing at 22, letter reveals Young poet details low mood and disappointment in love in 1795 letter, written not long before he met Wordsworth

A fine S. T. Coleridge letter up for auction at £10,000. A bit depressed. Longing for greatness. Pantisocracy. Infatuated with Mary Evans. Hits all the right notes, really. 😉

Not the biggest fan of the named Coke bottles as I always feel I'm stealing someone else's but in France it's been fun to pretend I'm Anaïs.

Glad you found it, and in a gorgeous library, too!

Wonderful photo!

An alert to all creatives using #WeTransfer. Basically, stop immediately! As of August, they will begin scraping everything you send for AI purposes (see the new paragraph in their Terms and Conditions below).

If, like me, you’re a voice artist, they’ll clone your voice. Avoid at all costs.

My wonderful editing skills in PowerPoint 😂😂😂

Thank you so much Karin! It was wonderful having you in the audience, all the way from Vienna! I feel honoured. It was such a special event for me; to talk about Eleanor on her birthday x