🎤 Been listening to the draft cut of our documentary 'The King of the Beggars: The Music of Billy Waters' 🎼🎻 Featuring music from 'Jump Billy!' team. Presented by @patersonjoseph.bsky.social . 🎧BBC Radio 3 Sunday June 28th 2026 7.15pm Later on BBC Sounds @efdss.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social

This! And as Rachel Buurma and Laura Heffernan point out in *The Teaching Archive* this is an essential feature of English and an central shaping force on how literary studies functions as a discipline.

Dr ShinyGoth@ghostingdani.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Important to consider that the way certain disciplines work is by encouraging undergraduates to create new knowledge as a matter of course, whereas other disciplines are designed to teach specific orthodoxy.

What do English grads do with their 'useless' degrees? Oh right! They become politicians, lawyers, execs in tech firms, civil servants, academics. They teach, write books, do journalism, work in advertising & communications, the Health Service and, oh yes, become top diplomats!

Barbara Bleiman@barbarableiman.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Went to a fascinating lecture at Somerville College on Friday night by Dame Karen Pearce. She's the most celebrated UK diplomat of recent times (formerly Ambassador in USA) Imagine my joy in finding that she did an English degree at Cambridge? So that's what English equips you for!

Absolutely! #BookSky

Join me tomorrow night! www.stgilesonline.org

Fab day last week with @patersonjoseph.bsky.social recording 'The King of the Beggars: The Music of Billy Waters' 🎼🎻 🎧BBC Radio 3 Sunday June 28th 2026 7.15pm Later on BBC Sounds #billywatersisdancing #blackhistoryisbritishhistory #disabilityhistroy #theatreland #folkies @yalebooks.bsky.social

Had a fab evening last Friday speaking @ealingbookfestival.bsky.social , sharing my work on #BillyWaters and #Regency culture, and Britain's diverse cultural past and its legacy today. As long as we keep sharing his story, #billywatersisdancing... @yalebooks.bsky.social @leverhulmetrust.bsky.social

‘The Two Christmas Days’ Introduction By Stephen Knight This story was published in Reynolds’s Miscellany on December 29th, 1860, and then in The Young Fisherman (1864). In that collection, as well as three novellas (see A General Introduction) he reprinted a number of earlier-published short…

‘The Two Christmas Days’

Introduction By Stephen Knight This story was published in Reynolds’s Miscellany on December 29th, 1860, and then in The Young Fisherman (1864). In that collection, as well as three novellas (see A General Introduction) he reprinted a number of earlier-published short stories and some others which have not been found earlier but are also probably from that period. This story seems likely, from its theme, to be an earlier one the original publication of which has not been traced.

gwmreynoldssociety.com

Registration for BAVS 2026 is now live! We look forward to seeing you in Liverpool in July: bavs.ac.uk/2026-confere...

Our show-stopping autumn season is now on sale 🎉 Check out the full line-up and secure your tickets at efdss.org

Spring Talks – African Atlantic Lives and Visual Culture Research Network Tuesday 28th April, 16.00-17.30, via Teams Join me! Dr Mary Shannon - 'Regency Visual Culture and the Black Atlantic: Finding Billy Waters' @bavs-uk.bsky.social @bars.bsky.social baas.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Chuffed to be invited by @drhorrocks.bsky.social on the Public Engagement Panel #BAVS2026 @bavs-uk.bsky.social ▶️ as a preview here are albums by performers of Jump Billy! @cecilsharphouse.bsky.social which was based on #BillyWatersIsDancing @yalebooks.bsky.social Info here: tinyurl.com/2hhm6vfv

A General Introduction to “The Short Stories of W. G. M. Reynolds” By Stephen Knight 1. George William Macarthur Reynolds (1814-79) was the most widely-read novelist of the nineteenth century in Britain. He published over twenty million words in novels – five times as much as Dickens and twice as…

Thank you @cecilsharphouse.bsky.social lsharphouse.bsky.social for a fab night #JumpBilly! Feat. Angeline Morrison, Clarke Camilleri, Hamilton Gross, Cohen Braithewaite-Kilcoyne, Suchitra Chatterjee, Tony Montague, Maz O'Connor, Martin Simpson (and me!) @angelcakepie2.bsky.social @efdss.bsky.social

Thank you @cecilsharphouse.bsky.social for a fab night #JumpBilly! Feat. Angeline Morrison, Clarke Camilleri, Hamilton Gross, Cohen Braithewaite-Kilcoyne, Suchitra Chatterjee, Tony Montague, Maz O'Connor, Martin Simpson (and me!) @angelcakepie2.bsky.social @efdss.bsky.social

Billy Waters dances on! Created by 2021 Peterson Award winner @drmarylshannon.bsky.social in consultation with a variety of local artists, this one-off concert marks the 250th anniversary of Billy Waters' birth. Looks like a fun night of music and storytelling! Thanks for #SharingYourNews!

Cecil Sharp House@cecilsharphouse.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Afridiziak spoke with Jump Billy! performer Angeline Morrison and creator Mary L. Shannon, ahead of the one-off event here on 25 Mar. If you're curious about this Black disabled Regency celebrity, come along for a special night of music and storytelling. Interview: bit.ly/4bc3hpz 🎟️ bit.ly/3OAwnHH

Excited to have Jump Billy! featured here @angelcakepie2.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social @leverhulmetrust.bsky.social

Cecil Sharp House@cecilsharphouse.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Afridiziak spoke with Jump Billy! performer Angeline Morrison and creator Mary L. Shannon, ahead of the one-off event here on 25 Mar. If you're curious about this Black disabled Regency celebrity, come along for a special night of music and storytelling. Interview: bit.ly/4bc3hpz 🎟️ bit.ly/3OAwnHH

A Preface to “The Short Stories of G. W. M. Reynolds” By Stephen Knight Having worked and published on Reynolds’ fiction for some years, starting with his grand The Mysteries of London as a major example of the mid-nineteenth century ‘Mysteries’ genre, and then moving through all his novels in my…

A Preface to “The Short Stories of G. W. M. Reynolds”

By Stephen Knight Having worked and published on Reynolds’ fiction for some years, starting with his grand The Mysteries of London as a major example of the mid-nineteenth century ‘Mysteries’ genre, and then moving through all his novels in my study of 2019, it kept coming to my attention that one of the elements in the major maltreatment of this prolific, rich and intriguing radical author by the English literary establishment was that though his novels were available — both in elderly copies from his great Victorian popularity and increasingly from the new genre of mechanical reprints — no work had been done on his short stories, especially not in collecting and reprinting them.

gwmreynoldssociety.com

An Announcement Hello! My name is Katelyn, and I am an undergraduate literature and history student working with the G. W. M. Reynolds society to release some of Reynolds’s short stories. Curated by Dr. Stephen Knight, Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne, these stories have been…

An Announcement

Hello! My name is Katelyn, and I am an undergraduate literature and history student working with the G. W. M. Reynolds society to release some of Reynolds’s short stories. Curated by Dr. Stephen Knight, Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne, these stories have been collected from Reynolds’s various newspaper and magazine publications. Despite his success and fame during his own time, Reynolds’s work is often out of print and difficult to access, so we hope that by making them free to access digitally we can promote the use of Reynolds across college classrooms and in scholarly research.

gwmreynoldssociety.com

The Cambridge Companion to Folk Music edited by the brilliant Ross Cole is now officially published & out in the world - and I’ve got an essay in it! Buzzing 🐝 🐝 🐝

Delighted to share that more tickets released for Jump Billy! 25.03.26 🎻🪗🪕🎶 @bars.bsky.social @ukdishisthub.bsky.social @araukie.bsky.social @bavs-uk.bsky.social @rs4vp.org @royalhistsoc.org @societyofauthors.bsky.social @natecommunity.bsky.social @efdss.bsky.social www.efdss.org/whats-on/26-...

Jump Billy!

A celebration of English folk's diverse history, through the life of celebrity Black Regency busker Billy Waters.

efdss.org

I'm giving the Leicester Victorian Studies Annual Lecture next week! Come along and explore fame, race, and disability in the 19th c @bavs-uk.bsky.social @ukdishisthub.bsky.social @bars.bsky.social @leverhulmetrust.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social @araukie.bsky.social le.ac.uk/victorian-st...

Annual lecture | The Centre for Victorian Studies | University of Leicester

Find out more about our latest annual public lecture, hosted by the Centre for Victorian Studies at the University of Leicester

le.ac.uk

Thanks for spreading the word @asyquia.bsky.social ! We loved doing the workshop on these resources for your students.

Alex Sy-Quia@asyquia.bsky.social · last yr.

Pleased to share some lesson resources on Billy Waters, accessible via the @ageofrevolutions.bsky.social website! Teaching Billy Waters, an African American sailor come Regency sensation, is a brilliant way to explore themes of agency, race and popular culture. ageofrevolution.org/billy-waters...

I'm so looking forward to chairing the panel on ‘Recovering Intersectional Race and Disability’ at this online conference hosted by Shakespeare's Globe on Friday and Saturday this week. Please do join us! www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/dis...

Disability and the Archives: Access, Absences and Action | What's On

Join us online for Disability and the Archives: Access, Absences and Action, a two-day virtual conference hosted by Shakespeare's Globe.

shakespearesglobe.com

Thanks so much for covering #JumpBilly for us, @folklondon.co.uk ! Gig @efdss.bsky.social Tickets www.efdss.org/whats-on/26-...

Jump Billy!

A celebration of English folk's diverse history, through the life of celebrity Black Regency busker Billy Waters.

efdss.org

Folk London magazine@folklondon.co.uk · 7mo ago

The new Folk London is at the printers and will be out next week. Featuring: * Jump Billy! @angelcakepie2.bsky.social and @drmarylshannon.bsky.social on a forgotten Black hero * Beginner's guide to morris dancing * Broomdasher on 10 years of song Preorder here: folklondon.co.uk/product/febr...

Time to treat yourself to some lovely books from @yalepress.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social ...? I have my own shopping list ready for xmas...

Jo Godfrey@jogodfrey.bsky.social · 8mo ago

There’s just one week of our @yalebooks.bsky.social half price sale left - must end 30th November!

If you wanted to read #BillyWatersIsDancing, now's the time... ...grab a deal on that and loads of other fab @yalepress.bsky.social book!

Yale University Press@yalepress.bsky.social · 8mo ago

'Tis the season for gifts 🎁 and deals! Our ❄️ Winter sale ❄️ starts today. Save 30% off thousands of titles with discount code GIFT30 through December 5th. See full terms: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/gift30/

I'm going to see Granny's Attic tomorrow and can't wait! I've deliberately not read this review till afterwards though. Anyone else avoid reviews of bands/plays/performances they know they're going to whatever so they can enjoy without preconceptions?

Cecil Sharp House@cecilsharphouse.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Check out this live review of Granny's Attic ahead of their gig here tomorrow! Book for the gig now: bit.ly/3TQEdw8

Teaching English: our flagship magazine, redesigned, refreshed and reimagined. We’re delighted to share the autumn issue — in the post and online next week. The magazine continues to showcase some of the best writing about English teaching. #NATE

Please reshare! I'd love to hear from potential candidates with research interests in disability studies and the arts... @bavs-uk.bsky.social @bars.bsky.social @ukdishisthub.bsky.social

Sara Houston@sarahouston.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Delighted to share University of Roehampton and our partners LSE are open to receiving PhD applications to CRICA: Consortium for Researching Inclusive Cultures in the Arts. Funded by the AHRC Doctoral Focal Award scheme www.roehampton.ac.uk/study/academ...