Historytalker
It’s no secret that I love stone circles and other old stony places. I visit them. A lot. I hug them. Quite a bit. And I write about them. Aikey Brae, above, is probably my absolute favourite. The circle in my books is loosely based on this one. I’ve blogged about it here in the […]
Stone Circles, Henges, Hills and a Barrow — Ailish Sinclair
AARON SHUMAN Last semester, one of my professors assigned a chapter of anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s Silencing the Past as a jumping off point for considering how silences can work their way into the historical narrative. During our weekly Zoom-based class, conversation homed in on the ‘four crucial moments’ in which Trouillot believed that silences could be generated: […]
Trouillot in the Digital Age: A Fifth Crucial Moment for Public Historians? — History Journal
Why depictions of status and disability in the Early Middle Ages still matter JUTTA LAMMINAHO ‘A lame man crawling along on his hands led a blind man to the paupers’ hostel at St Gall, where both of them stayed the night, and were both healed at the tomb.’ – Walafrid Strabo, Life of St Otmar[1] […]
Saints, Beggars and Scapegoats — History Journal
I’m really proud to announce that at the end of April, I was made an Honorary Fellow of the Historical Association. I’ve done an awful lot of work for the HA over the years, not least in being secretary of the Bolton Branch for some long time and of course I was Associate Vice President […]
Historical Association Fellowship — Jenni Hyde
In the early days of rail travel, steam locomotives could only travel forward. Trains required turntables to turn them around. While there, they received “servicing and light repairs.” Where do you go for servicing and light repairs?
Servicing and light repairs — Somerton Smith
Cats have always been part of my life and part of my practice as a historian. In this selection of photographs the white cat leaning on the model is Drucilla the Lunt Roman Fort working cat. I recruited Drucilla from the Cats Protection League as a working cat. She immediately moved in with the lady next door who fed her salmon.
The tabby “helping” to make my New Stone Age costume is called Zach. Zack immediately fell in love with the smell of leather and fighting the naughty flax as it vanished between the leather.
Cats were domesticated in the Middle East and the Egyptian word for cat is Mawo. Bronze Age / Stone Age language seems to have been onomatopoeia based. I imagine the first man to see a cat saying “What are you?”and the cat replying “Mawo!”
Today is the 4th of July and in 1776 the United States of America was born. I have many American friends and I have visited that great country on one memorable holiday to New York.
I am often asked what the British call the 4th of July and quite honestly we just call it the 4th of July, however, with our wicked sense of humour we like to humour Americans by calling it Ungrateful Colonial Treason Day. Not because we think that but because so many Americans would be disappointed if we didn’t.
So Happy Birthday America… ungrateful gits
We often take it for granted that we have fresh water to drink. Children certainly do. In our chapter reading book, “Little House on the Prairie”, Pa and Mr. Scott dig a well. Learning where fresh water comes from was one thing, adding real stories and pictures about my family brought the story to life. […]
Reading Aloud + Family History = The Best Learning — A Teacher’s Reflections
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The Fieldworker — Leicestershire Fieldworkers
Last Tuesday my sons school phoned to tell us that he was a Covid contact and his bubble would be isolating for the next ten days. This means homeschool, excited little boy and limited work for myself. His favourite game at the moment is a space flight simulator and he is trying to drive a rover on Mars. Guess who has to fly the rocket and land on Mars safely. Guess who gets told off every time his precious rover breaks up in orbit.
Now I am not a contact unless Alex develops symptoms so I can still go to work but I am taking this weekend off to catch up on some reading and some journals.
I am a very social person and love to read, write, discuss and be a member of clubs and societies. I am a proud member of the Historical Association and of the Prehistoric Society. These mean a lot to me and I enjoy learning more about my profession and my topic. Keeping up with my subject also means reading older books about history and the art of doing history as well as looking forwards to new books. Harry Sidebottom is a good friend who is a brilliant writer. I am looking forwards to his new book, The Burning Road, that has its launch next month. If you would like to go, book launches are always fun events. Tickets are available at Topping Books I believe there will be drinks and nibbles!
Historytalker 