Dr Greg Roberts

There’s hope for us all

Writing for Life 2026 - Wollaton Hall Tuesday 10th March 2026

Aspiring writers! The folk at Wollaton Hall (aka Batman’s house) are running an event for young people hoping for a career in writing

I’ll be there to talk history & non-fiction, alongside brilliant children's authors, poets, & novelists
🗓️ 10 March, 4–7pm wollatonhall.org.uk/writing-for-...

Exciting day seeing Geraldine Roberts receive advance copies of her new book Rebel and the Peacemaker

Leyton probably doesn't have three wise men but we do have the Orient - Merry Xmas #lofc

One Xmas tradition we'd all like to get rid of - 1829 satire of a young blood locked up after assaulting a #London policeman, awaiting bail on #Christmas Day

Old #CoventGarden Market at #Xmas 1825 ; view from beneath the tiled roof of a stall, stacked with baskets of fruit, a man with a pair of scales, a woman nursing a baby, another kneeling over a stove #London

Some fun under the mistletoe in #London December 1796 as 'romp loving miss is handled about' in a rather unseemly fashion by the local swain #Xmas

Gillray satire on the perils of excess at #Xmas, #London December 20th 1801

I don't want to dampen the festive spirit but this could be you by Boxing Day

Remember that #Xmas is a time for family - which can include the painful distant relatives who may intrude on your peace and serenity - such as this bloke polluting a gathering in #London, December 20th 1795

#HappyChristmas

Greetings All
Here’s an Xmas card image for all those Duke of #Wellington obsessed historians like me.

9/9 There's always one
In the wee hours the last guest finally takes the hint and departs for home

Merry Xmas to all

8/9 Not forgetting the drunken love overtures that follow

7/9 Time for a dance to overcome all that lovely food and drink

6/9 Then comes the after dinner raconteur with his tall tales and bon mots washed down with some nice brandy

5/9 The Head Butler uncorks the wine ready for dinner

4/9 Downstairs, the servants get to try out the coachman's extremely potent punchbowl

3/9 Whilst the rest of the old folks settle down for a nice game of cards

2/9 Old and slightly drunk Uncle Jasper decides to take charge of the children's entertainment

1/9 You are cordially invited to a typical Christmas Party in #London (1876)

Christmas Boxes - London 1794
4/4 This bah-humbug quartet is completed by the Dowager who is only to willing to give an Xmas box so long as its around her poor servant's ear-holes

Christmas Boxes - London 1794
3/4 The apothecary threatens to 'physio' to death anyone who dares to request an Xmas box

Christmas Boxes - London 1794
2/4 The parson and his well-fed dog see no grounds for generosity towards this 'undeserving' labourer

Christmas Boxes - London 1794
1/4 This miser decides not to give a gift on the grounds that his visitor already has too much meat on him

A traditional English Christmas
3/4 Four scenes from London c.1750 which may resonate with how we celebrate Xmas today
Fast foward to the morning of Boxing Day where peace and goodwill is still in evidence, as a couple hand out gifts, with the lady putting a coin in a man's hat.

A traditional English Christmas
3/4 Four scenes from London c.1750 which may resonate with how we celebrate Xmas today
Fast foward to the morning of Boxing Day where peace and goodwill is still in evidence, as a couple hand out gifts, with the lady putting a coin in a man's hat.

A traditional English Christmas
2/4 Four scenes from London c.1750 which may resonate with how we celebrate Xmas today
On the night before Christmas some carol singers & musicians serenade a young couple who hand down a tip in gratitude

A traditional English Christmas
1/4 Four scenes from London c.1750 which may resonate with how we celebrate Xmas today
We begin on Christmas Eve morning where a gentleman stands outside his porch handing a tip to a man whilst his servant carries off two large birds and a hare

'Fetching in the lines', fisherwoman Lizzie Alice Hawksfield, Whitby, late 19th century, photo by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe (1853-1941).

Please help SAVE TAYLORS BUTTONS, Maureen Rose's legendary shop in Cleveland St. They will shut in November forever unless they can pay their rent arrears from the Covid lockdowns:
crowdfunder.co.uk/p/taylorsbut...

I am giving an illustrated lecture of Spitalfields & Whitechapel in Old Photographs on Thursday 16th October at 7pm at the Hanbury Hall in Hanbury St, E1 6QR. Tickets shorturl.at/I0Ywf