A New Horatian Ode: Brexit and Civil War
July 11, 2019
Inspired by the new BBC documentary, Downfall of a King, a few connections between Brexit and the conflicts of the 1640s. … More A New Horatian Ode: Brexit and Civil War
Tag: Politics
Christopher Hill, Andrew Marvell, and the Dissenting Tradition
November 6, 2018
I owe much of my interest in the seventeenth century to the late historian, Christopher Hill (1912-2003). I went to see Justin Champion deliver an impassioned defence of Hill and his work at a memorial lecture in Newark. … More Christopher Hill, Andrew Marvell, and the Dissenting Tradition
Tomorrow’s End
October 20, 2018
How an Australian teen sci-fi drama series from the early 1990s shows remarkable parallels with the current Brexit debacle. … More Tomorrow’s End
Why I’m not striking for USS
February 22, 2018
My job deserves my attention right now rather than my pension, and it’s hard not to feel bad for that. I hope the strikers will forgive my stance too. … More Why I’m not striking for USS
Jonathan Pie, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 3 March 2017
March 4, 2017
Driving common sense into smart but obstinate people is enough to drive anyone mad. Jonathan Pie is the angry, frustrated journalist trying to make some inroads. … More Jonathan Pie, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 3 March 2017
Marvell, Dryden, and the Horatian Ode
February 16, 2017
There is no hard evidence that Andrew Marvell’s ‘Horatian Ode’ ever left his hands. Yet, it may have come to John Dryden’s attention. How is Dryden the privileged one? A brief study of hard and soft evidence. … More Marvell, Dryden, and the Horatian Ode
“If you go down to the woods today”: early modern social relations
March 19, 2016
Hillary Taylor spoke at the IHR about the ‘transactional language’ that governed social relations in early modern England. This reminded me of a fable by Thomas Fuller about a king who took a trip to the woods… … More “If you go down to the woods today”: early modern social relations
British Milton Seminar (March 2016)
March 13, 2016
The 53rd British Milton Seminar took place at the Birmingham and Midland Institute on Saturday 12th March 2016, featuring papers on laughing, smiling, ‘erring’ and commercialising in Paradise Lost. … More British Milton Seminar (March 2016)
Africa is rising – but for whom? Winnie Byanyima’s address to LSE
October 13, 2015
Times are changing, and so too must charities. After 75 years in Oxford, Oxfam International will soon be relocating its headquarters to Nairobi, the charity’s executive director Winnie Byanyima announced last night. … More Africa is rising – but for whom? Winnie Byanyima’s address to LSE
Falling Arse Over Tit Through History – A Lexical Journey
September 20, 2015
Published several decades after the first edition of Johnson’s dictionary, Francis Grose’s ‘A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue’ (1785) contained expressions that were already centuries old. Here’s a short history of a very familiar example, ‘arsy-varsey’. … More Falling Arse Over Tit Through History – A Lexical Journey
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