Sorry to inform to you that Free Thinking has been axed. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BBC to cut raft of Radio 4 programmes including You and Yours

The corporation said it would be investing in a new consumer programme, while announcing more cuts.

bbc.co.uk

Somewhere at the root of this should be the question: what can the BBC do that nobody else can? Instead, the question seems to be: what can the BBC do to offer the same thing as everybody else?

And, you know, it might be that in a world characterised by mistrust and outright deception, a rediscovery of Reithian virtues now reinforced by a sense of independence from government might actually be a winning news formula.

I dunno man, maybe you could concentrate on producing good and interesting things people want to watch rather than trying to out-banal the lowest common denominator crap hosed at us everywhere else? (And make using BBC Sounds a less excruciating experience?) deadline.com/2026/10/bbc-...

Would you like to learn about the strange and scandalous way some 18th-century Venetians got out of dysfunctional marriages? Read my new article (open access!) about annulments for affinity by fornication! #earlymodern #18thcentury doi.org/10.1017/S073...

Keeping It (Too Much) in the Family: Annulment by Reason of Affinity in Eighteenth-Century Venice | Law and History Review | Cambridge Core

Keeping It (Too Much) in the Family: Annulment by Reason of Affinity in Eighteenth-Century Venice

doi.org

Today's glimpse into a French household in London: this inventory from 1619 includes a Bible with the Psalms, a knife for cutting herbs, and two birdcages (plus their occupants).

Truly delighted to see THE MICROSCOPIC MATERIAL RENAISSANCE (@manchesterup.bsky.social, 2027) announced: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781807076757/ Stay tuned! @uomhums.bsky.social @uomsalc.bsky.social Research generously funded by @britishacademy.bsky.social & @leverhulme.ac.uk

Taking solace in the new George Smiley casting with the idea that maybe one day I, a similarly tubby and unprepossessing character, might one day be played by the handsome and urbane Matthew Macfadyen.

Cover reveal 💅 Super job by the people @yalebooks.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social Out 27 April 2027. yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

Herbert Hoover of course remains ahead of Donald Trump on one key metric: he co-published an English translation of Agricola's De Re Metallica, something Trump has over two terms signally failed even to attempt.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

"I would say Donald Trump is probably at this point in his term the least popular Republican president since Herbert Hoover" -- Enten details how Trump is down 20 points of approval in Kansas relative to his first term

Let me also just say that even leaving aside some of the exciting announcements we have in the works we are getting some absolutely cracking submissions through very regularly at RS at the moment. Just a great journal to get to work on!

John Gallagher@earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 7d ago

The Renaissance Studies special issue 'Renaissance Humanism and the Venetian Empire' has been reviewed as 'a splendid collection that vastly expands the definition and understanding of Venetian humanism' & 'a precious new tool for evaluating the construction and maintenance of the Venetian empire'.

The Renaissance Studies special issue 'Renaissance Humanism and the Venetian Empire' has been reviewed as 'a splendid collection that vastly expands the definition and understanding of Venetian humanism' & 'a precious new tool for evaluating the construction and maintenance of the Venetian empire'.

This is the oldest sample of Hebrew text with European musical notation. It's an autograph manuscript of Obadiah the Proselyte, a Norman-Italian priest who converted to Judaism in 1102. He traveled to Egypt and Syria, using his knowledge of Gregorian Chant to record Hebrew poetry. @theul.bsky.social

The next production by Edward’s Boys will be Your Five Gallants by Thomas Middleton, a playwright with whom we have had some dealings. Mid-March 2027. Tour is a work in process - although Stratford-upon-Avon, London and Paris (France) are confirmed. Please spread the word. More details to follow.

Deeply pleased to learn that at its foundation the University of Edinburgh was led by a man named Bob Rollock.

Neil Younger@neilayounger.bsky.social · 2w ago

In Edinburgh, the new college, which will become the university, will shortly be opening its doors. Its newly-appointed head, Robert Rollock, today gives a speech at Hamilton House, apparently inviting young men to apply for admission, but there are so many that they decide to hold a formal exam.

My new book, Imprisonment in Early Modern England: Politics, Debt and the Origins of a Carceral Society, is (sort of) out now! Currently available online for anyone with institutional access: www.cambridge.org/core/books/i...

Very pleased to have worked on this fascinating group of finds with the wonderful @francescatinti.bsky.social , and thanks to the comms team @cam.ac.uk for putting together the release. www.cam.ac.uk/stories/angl...

Anglo-Saxon expats got special treatment in Rome’s 'Little England'

The first material evidence of the Schola Saxonum suggests the Anglo-Saxons in Rome were a thriving and valued expat community.

cam.ac.uk

My brain is already melting with doing work on holdings in Manila. Here is a chart with places of publication for 16th century books. I have some major news for you about the reading habits of Iberian colonial worlds.

Think I asked this a while back but it anyone has any reading on auctioning the goods of the dead in 16th- and 17th-century London, and/or the role of bellmen and criers around deaths and auctions, I'd be very grateful for recommendations!

An inventory of the goods of Barbe Hecquet, a French woman who died in London in 1612, lists "ung fer a faire gauffre" — a waffle iron!

Nottingham today. Everywhere tomorrow. 2,700 staff put at risk. 600+ jobs targeted. At least 48 courses facing closure. What happens here sets the template for the sector. Stand with Nottingham.

Happy #InternationalTranslationDay! To celebrate, we're sharing an image of Brian Walton's Polyglot Bible. The impressive six volume work presents the Old Testament in nine languages: Hebrew, Aramaic (Targum), Samaritan, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Ethiopic, Greek, and Latin.

Fantastic bookshop find: a Latin textbook in Welsh, complete with glossary and a guide to spotting Latin borrowings in the modern language.

Please join me in a campaign harassment against Oxford University Press and Quentin Blake until they agree to the release of Learning Languages in Early Modern England: Junior Pop-Up Edition

Simon Hall@simonhallwriter.bsky.social · 2w ago

Have you tried reading from Learning Languages in Early Modern England?

My fourth consecutive bedtime reading a book called Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and I think I'm just about ready to come out against child literacy. I'm going to become the reverse Dolly Parton and devote my fortune to taking books away from children.

I am not given to hyperbole when it comes to university industrial relations, but this feels like an existential event. The heart of the university is being torn out, with long-lasting consequences. These strikes are a last-ditch attempt to stop that. Will anyone listen?

University and College Union (UCU)@ucu.org.uk · 2w ago

Our members at Edinburgh University commence a 5 week strike today over crippling job cuts. Please show them solidarity as they head onto picket lines this morning.

M.R. James and me Tell each other scary tales When I blow on this ancient whistle I see a creepy Danish king stalking me I wanna be a bishop — M.R. James says "beware of cats on the stairs in the presbytery" But when mouths and fur both haunt you That's just about as normal as things can be

FEEST! @emlcjournal.bsky.social bestaat tien jaar en dat verdient taart! Als ook een panelgesprek over de toekomst van onderzoek naar de vroegmoderne Nederlanden, en een museumbezoek met flitspresentaties door auteurs van ons jubileumnummer. Gratis registratie: www.eventbrite.com/e/tienjarig-...

It was somewhat delayed, but we've now got a booking link for Rosamund Oates's talk on deafness on Thursday! Sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Silent Histories: Deafness in Early Modern England

history.ac.uk

Brodie Waddell@brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 4w ago

Oct 1st, Save the date! Rosamund Oates will be talking about ‘Silent Histories: Deafness in Early Modern England' at @ihrscb.bsky.social in-person @ihr.bsky.social & online. #EarlyModern 🗃️ Booking details will soon be on: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/ihr-seminars/society-culture-belief-1500-1800

If anyone has reading they'd recommend on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Mombasa, I'm all ears!