Graham Palmer

Another planet - Graham Palmer Graham Palmer's vintage interview with British scifi author Brian Aldiss.

My 1987 interview with speculative fiction/sf grandmaster #brianaldiss is now online... grahampalmer.co.uk/another-planet

@sfbookclub.bsky.social @writerscentre.bsky.social @thewritingwell.bsky.social @sfwa.org
@bookishsff.bsky.social @writerscentre.bsky.social #writing

The Ghost of Royston's Christmas Past - Graham Palmer Meet Prof, Mitchell F.O.S., Royston's 'champion smile producer of the twentieth century'. A man who may well have won Britain's Got Talent if he was alive today.

A small town's Ghost of Christmas Past

Find out how Santa didn't get stuck up the chimney grahampalmer.co.uk/the-ghost-of...

#Christmas2025 #history #skystorians @bho.bsky.social
@fakehistoryhunter.net @balhnews.bsky.social @hertshistory.bsky.social @jennipinnock.com @britishlibrary.bsky.social

DEFINITELY NOT!

'Albert's Bridge' was the first Stoppard I came across. I was immediately hooked. For intellectual clout and humour as a playwright, he stood out head and shoulders. Tom Stoppard RIP. #writingcommunity #writing

"Success is less about applause and more about improved tomorrows." (Tom Stoppard)

There ought to be a way of dry-cleaning and disinfecting words...

- Aldous Huxley (Eyeless in Gaza)

#writingcommunity

Blind research can be so serendipitous! While investigating a crime, I've found its female victim living in a posh North London Asylum along with TS Eliot's first wife...the same place that Stevie Smith was to write a poem about. @balhnews.bsky.social @poetrysociety.org.uk #writingcommunity

We are all Butlers - Graham Palmer I caught up with Kazuo Ishiguro in 1995. Six years earlier The Remains of the Day had won the Booker prize and it was two years since Merchant Ivory’s adaptation had hit the big screen. He had just pu...

Congrats to David Szalay on his 2025 Booker Prize (an interesting chat on BBC Today)...not the first émigré caught between worlds to win. I've dusted off an archive piece about Kazuo Ishiguro's early days. #writing @thebookerprizes.com
@faberbooks.bsky.social

grahampalmer.co.uk/we-are-all-b...

Rise and silencing of the East End’s pioneering paper “That’s the way to do it!” Toby, a paper named after Punch’s dog bit back at power – until satire, scandal and love brought it to heel

In 1886, Francis and Pollie Parsons printed Toby from the heart of London’s East End. They mocked corruption, defended workers and refused to be silenced. Graham Palmer tells their tale of satire, scandal and courage – worth rediscovering today.

eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi...

In East Anglia Bylines this week I track down Toby, the Victorian ‘watchdog’ whose bark would land its owner in prison... eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi... @balhnews.bsky.social @historyworkshop.org.uk @britishlibrary.bsky.social @thebhp.bsky.social @bho.bsky.social

I was sad to hear that the inspirational music teacher Adrian Jacobs has passed away. A keystone of the original 1980s iteration of Royston Arts Festival, he is acknowledged by the the world-renowned trumpeter Alison Balsom as a seminal influence on her early days. @classicfm.com

'I had thought it was about writing what I knew, but after a time I discovered the more I acknowledged all that I didn't know, the closer to some truth I seemed to get.' - Richard Flanagan (First Person, 2017) @writerscentre.bsky.social @thebookerprizes.com

Act of ratification of the Treaty of Corbeil by Robert the Bruce, 12 July 1326 in Stirling (National Archives AE/III/10).

730 years ago, on the 23rd of October 1295, the kingdoms of France and Scotland formed the Auld Alliance against England. If either country were attacked by England, the other would invade English territory in turn. It was renewed in 1326 by Robert the Bruce but never formally revoked. #otd 🗃️

Brian Patten - So Many Different Lengths Of Time YouTube video by HoneyboyWalter

Forget the Beatles, the Liverpool poets told it as it was. Brian Patten may have shuffled off yesterday, but his 'length of time' lives on... @writerscentre.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEoB...

@roystonmuseum.bsky.social This might be useful to you... bsky.app/profile/brit...

My new best friend...

Library books dumped on Croydon pavement 'unacceptable' - BBC News Croydon mayor apologises after books were discovered outside a library being cleared by contractors.

Is this how much we value knowledge? www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....

Pupil who invented device to help homeless named 'girl of the year' Rebecca Young, 12, was recognised for designing a solar-powered backpack with an electric blanket inside.

Fantastic and heartfelt idea. This young woman should get a gong on the New year's honours list..
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I always knew Royston had its witches, but I don't think the locals memorialised them. 😀(Spotted on the Herts Memories website). @balhnews.bsky.social @roystonmuseum.bsky.social

American musical satirist Tom Lehrer dies at 97, US media report - BBC News Lehrer, a Harvard-trained mathematician, wrote darkly humorous songs, often with political connotations.

A great lyricist and song writer. The pigeons finally got their own back. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....

Cleo Laine: Acclaimed jazz singer dies aged 97 She was the first British singer to win a Grammy in a jazz category and performed with all the greats.

I was lucky enough to hear this lady scat when she was well into her 80s and she blew me away. She will be missed.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Last year I gave a talk at @roystonmuseum.bsky.social about an c18th proto sci-fi novel. The gist of 'Dr Who's Sea Legs' is now online. grahampalmer.co.uk/dr-whos-sea-...

Something to put a breeze under your wings this morning...

Also, a great set by @katerusby.bsky.social‬

Brilliant performance by @janandjon.bsky.social at @folkbytheoak.bsky.social in Hatfield yesterday. Thanks guys!

It's always nice (and a surprise) to be featured in a
Creative Hertfordshire newsletter. 😃

Building a Cathedral - Graham Palmer Graham Palmer talks to Jo Browning Wroe (author of the bestseller, A Terrible Kindness) in the first of his new blog-series 'Book Talk'.

Jo Browning Wroe (bestselling author of 'A Terrible Kindness') shares thoughts on writing, the second book and the myth of the solitary author. #writingcommunity @faberbooks.bsky.social @societyofauthors.bsky.social
@cambridgeindy.bsky.social
@theul.bsky.social grahampalmer.co.uk/building-a-c...

Begs the question, who do I go to if don't want to be cremated but reincarnated instead?

Can't wait!

Greenbelt at 50: a festival like no other Along with 11,500 others, Graham Palmer drops into one of the UK’s most eclectic festivals and finds inspiration, imagination and inclusivity.

If you're still wondering who Greenbelt is for...its for anybody who wants to be challenged (and you might find this helpful. centralbylines.co.uk/lifestyle/mu...)