It’s International Women’s Day.
Luckily I am working on a new biography of an exceptional Irishwoman, Gráinne O Malley - you might know her as Granuaile or as The Pirate Queen in folklore >
#InternationalWomensDay2026
As someone who plans conferences (scientific alas), I am taking notes.
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!
Some responses to Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy are analytical. Others are devotional. Bea Stitches’ work belongs to a rarer category: it answers Mantel in another medium entirely.
open.substack.com/pub/wolfhall...
How very Agatha Christie of you!
Congratulations on achieving all your 2025 resolutions! You will always be the best husband. I can also say with full confidence that we have great taste in cats.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Claudia Winkleman is the natural successor to Graham Norton.
A letter to the London Review of Books magazine, reading: 'I recently told the following joke to a rather unreceptive audience and was advised that it was ‘more of a London Review of Books sort of joke’. So I humbly offer it to you. Q: What do you call Santa’s little helpers? A: Subordinate clauses. Jerry Beere'
Letter to the editor, December 2010
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v3...
Just passed the Life in the UK exam. A huge thank you to @gregjenner.bsky.social the hilarious and informative You’re Dead to Me has been instrumental in providing much-needed context for the required history component.
Because nothing says Christmas more than a 17th Century Plague doctor and a coffin.
What I wouldn’t do for a muppet adaptation of Paradise Lost.
Coming up this Friday.... me deciding on this year's xmas dinner in real time, with help from a wide range of people, exploring Christmases past, present and future....
This is extraordinary.
A little advance notice: we have a lovely episode of the Kitchen Cabinet coming up tomorrow, marking this week’s world children’s day. We’re at the Academy of St Nicholas in Liverpool and all our questions come young people in Yr 7 and up. 10.30am on BBC Radio 4
Don’t you just hate it when Daleks invade the airport?
Applications are now open for the IMS Translational Research Award. Be sure to apply by January 30, 2026. ➡️https://ow.ly/Q5vK50XeemR
I thought I knew pain, then I got new outlook.
Shout out to the time my sister and I argued about referring to the Godfather as a “Diane Keaton movie”.
Congratulations! The best thing we did in 2025 was welcome our cat into our lives.
Very sorry to see Patricia Routledge kicked the bouquet.
‘The language adds a whole new level’: Welsh-English version of Romeo and Juliet heads for the Globe
Congratulations to this year's Young Investigator Award recipients at #IMS25.
Xavier Leleu, MD, PhD, gave a moving tribute to Frank Bridoux, MD, PhD, friend & colleague at the University Hospital Poitiers. Dr. Bridoux’s expertise included cast nephropathy & glomerulopathies, and seminal contributions in MGRS/MGCS. #IMS25
The IMS and the global myeloma community is deeply appreciative of the generosity, tireless dedication, and enduring support of Paula and Rodger Riney, and the Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation. #IMS25
IMS President Philippe Moreau exhorts researchers to submit their best original work, first reports of important clinical trials, to the IMS Annual Meeting- the largest myeloma-focused annual meeting. #IMS25
Ready for #IMS25 tomorrow? We are! ✨ Visit us at booth 717 to learn more about membership and upcoming events. Haven’t registered yet? ➡️ rb.gy/139j28
Don’t forget your passport! ✈️🌎Everything you need to know before heading to Toronto can be found here➡️ bit.ly/4n5d4m8
While listening to You’re Dead to Me with @gregjenner.bsky.social, I audibly whooped when @lucyworsley.bsky.social said her favourite Austen novel is Emma. I am in such good company!
One of the great regrets of my life is not taking photos of an Airbnb I stayed in Rome in 2017. There was a lot to comment on, but the key feature was the lavender dining room with a framed poster of Anna Nicole Smith.
This is my mastermind subject! You may want to try Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, a lesser-known American author, who contemporised the legends into a 19th century lower-class American setting while retaining regal titles and language. King Arthur the carpenter and Queen Guinevere with a toothache.
