Sam Pope

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

Thank you so much, Minette! I'm sorry I didn't recognise you; I was spaced out a little afterwards! I really appreciated you coming and thanks for your patience with the questions at the end!

I will ask about it - I've given permission for it to be recorded/filmed so will let you know what they say

Thank you so much, Logan. Much appreciated. Apparently the talk will be available online too, I think, to members. Lovely close-up of Eleanor's eyes! x

Members' Lecture: Eleanor Anne Porden Uncover the often-forgotten life of John Franklin's first wife, Eleanor Anne Porden, with author Sam Pope

If you're a member of the Maritime Museum, please come to my talk tomorrow night, at 6.30pm, on the life of Eleanor Anne Porden! She's done much more than *just* being married to John Franklin - she was an acclaimed poet and fascinating person. Hope to see you there! www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/nat...

They definitely are. I felt sorry for poor Maria. A man's fickleness led to her being blamed for bringing her family into disgrace. Thank goodness we have moved on from those times!

I am sorry I am unable to attend this but transcribed a very interesting letter from Maria Longsdon who was very very upset (understandably) by being left unmarried by James, and she is living like a dog and fainting! It is the stuff of soap operas.

My beloved Captain is visiting us for a couple of days while he has dental work done and my lovely Anise is not thrilled. AT ALL.