A midsummer postcard from Lee-Ann is freshly available on my Substack for you to read, if you're missing my audio sitcom Lee-Ann's Spare Fridays. Gina's getting back to nature for the solstice, and Lee-Ann opens her big mouth. Again. jacquelinesaville.substack.com/p/a-midsumme...

A midsummer postcard from Upper Wheatley

More of what Lee-Ann did last summer or maybe the one before that

jacquelinesaville.substack.com

If Starmer goes it will be five PMs in four years. Unprecedented?! No. The post pandemic 1920s saw a new challenger party, and a tousled haired, lecherous, corrupt leader succeeded by a burst of PMs. Five PMs… from three parties …. in two years and a month.

Now only a week away - come and spend an evening listening to stories and music at the quiet edge of Ilkley.

JY Saville@jysaville.bsky.social · 2mo ago

If you're in or around Ilkley 4 weeks today, I'll be reading some stories at the Purple Room in Ben Rhydding alongside Mandy Sutter, with music from Skinner and T'witch. Will include brand new (short) Lee-Ann adventures, for those who have listened to my audio sitcom & might be excited by that news

@smylers.uk @devaneemily.bsky.social do you know any local enjoyers of words and music who might want to come to this? £7 on the door and they even have a card machine now :-)

JY Saville@jysaville.bsky.social · 2mo ago

2 weeks today in Ben Rhydding! Come and join Skinner and T'witch, Mandy Sutter and I at the Purple Room, St John's Church. I've finalised my running order this morning - looking forward to sharing new & old postcards from Lee-Ann, a new Midsummer story & an old summer favourite.

2 weeks today in Ben Rhydding! Come and join Skinner and T'witch, Mandy Sutter and I at the Purple Room, St John's Church. I've finalised my running order this morning - looking forward to sharing new & old postcards from Lee-Ann, a new Midsummer story & an old summer favourite.

If you're in or around Ilkley 4 weeks today, I'll be reading some stories at the Purple Room in Ben Rhydding alongside Mandy Sutter, with music from Skinner and T'witch. Will include brand new (short) Lee-Ann adventures, for those who have listened to my audio sitcom & might be excited by that news

I read an odd book about a cycling tour through France during the first weeks of WW1. Long out of print but I've linked to an online copy ( @nickjhistorian.bsky.social it occurs to me you might be interested in it if you've never run across it) open.substack.com/pub/jacqueli...

Across France in War Time by W Fitzwater Wray

A 1914 travelogue skirting the trenches

open.substack.com

Introduce yourself with 10 bands you’ve seen live. Iron Maiden Terrorvision The Damned Megadeth The Wildhearts Little Angels 3 Colours Red Thunder Half Man Half Biscuit Maximo Park

Richard Smyth@rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Introduce yourself with 10 bands you've seen live. The National Cosmic Rough Riders Eels Pulp The Delgados The Bobak Cut Camera Obscura Kate Rusby Fleet Foxes Sigur Ros (festivals don't count)

200 years ago the handloom weavers of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire engaged in a 10-day rising, destroying over 1,100 power looms. To learn more check out our interactive StoryMap: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9a84... #19thCentury #skystorians @sslh.bsky.social @esriuk.bsky.social

Witnessing the Weavers’ Rising of 1826

A digital mapping project created by The National Archives and The Open University

storymaps.arcgis.com

Now May is here, it’s time to pause the seed and peanut feeders and switch to safer summer feeding with small amounts of mealworms or suet. Remember, feeders can spread disease, so keeping them clean matters. Click the link below for our full guidance on keeping garden birds healthy year round 👇

RSPB@rspb.bsky.social · 4mo ago

To reduce disease, we all need to make some urgent but simple changes to how we feed our garden birds. See our website for the latest guidance: brnw.ch/21x1t4w

3 more Purple Room spoken word & music events in Ben Rhydding this Spring/Summer, Ilkley folks. One of them includes me and Mandy Sutter (midsummer, 21st June)

It’s the time of year to be sharing this.

Podcasts with adverts, the economic reality… I thought £20 via ko-fi was peanuts on 2 series of my (advert-less) podcast sitcom but maybe I’m doing ok!

Joel Morris@gralefrit.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The first series was at number one in the podcast charts above The Archers. We made £24.

3 more Purple Room spoken word & music events in Ben Rhydding this Spring/Summer, Ilkley folks. One of them includes me and Mandy Sutter (midsummer, 21st June)

Just did a really long run so I am once again sharing my Leeds Half Marathon fundraising page in the hope that we can muster £2000 for @mariecurieuk.bsky.social by race day on May 10. Please share. Don't make me tag my 2 (two) famous followers. Leave me my dignity. www.justgiving.com/page/richard...

Richard's fundraiser for Marie Curie

Help Richard Smyth raise money to support Marie Curie

justgiving.com

Anyone looking for audio fiction to listen to, I've found this website this week: www.theend.fyi 'Binge-ready' i.e. there's at least one complete series/story to listen to already, no waiting for the next instalment. (It now lists my own sitcom Lee-Ann's Spare Fridays, too)

The End | Binge-Ready Fiction Podcasts & Audio Fiction Directory

The only listener-focused fiction podcast directory with over 1,500 binge-ready fiction podcasts, audio dramas, and other audio fiction. All shows listed have reached a season finale or the series co...

theend.fyi

For those experiencing similar bad weather to the hail here in Wharfedale instead of being able to hunt for Easter eggs, may I offer an episode of my sitcom in which Gina is absolutely not on a treasure hunt because they’re for kids.Contains some of my fave lines creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...

I was most interested when the new 'did Harold sail to Hastings in 1066?' theory came out last week because my dad lives near Riccall and we love a bit of local history, so it set us off on a short quest jacquelinesaville.substack.com/p/riccall-an...

Riccall and Cawood, and Harolds Godwinson and Hardrada

National history becomes local

jacquelinesaville.substack.com

Are you looking for a funny romance novel set near Lake Michigan? I happen to have reviewed one here jacquelinesaville.substack.com/p/funny-stor...

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Michigan-set rom-com about an awkward librarian

jacquelinesaville.substack.com

Today is an exciting day: I have relaunched Inkcap! New website, new branding, lots of in-depth reporting on nature in Britain coming your way. Please share & help me get this thing off the ground. www.inkcap.co.uk/inkcap-is-ba...

Inkcap is back. Hello.

We are relaunching – and we have big plans.

inkcap.co.uk

Enjoyed this interesting @nytimes.com piece on fake AI videos of animals being improbable. But really it isn't a new phenomenon. COME WITH ME BACK TO 1903. 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...

Are A.I.-Generated Videos Changing How We See Animals?

nytimes.com

Yesterday I finished reading @gralefrit.bsky.social's Be Funny Or Die, which I've been dipping into since it came out. It's excellent, and among other things it made sense of something that's bothered me for years: why do people cut drama a lot more slack than comedy?

Here's this year's first big charity push, pals. I'm running the Leeds Half in May in support of @mariecurieuk.bsky.social and in memory of my lovely mum-in-law Sue, who so sadly died this month. It's an amazing charity. Throw all your spare money my way, please. www.justgiving.com/page/richard...

It's 2026, & growing a science newsletter isn't getting any easier. Time for some [grimaces] SELF-MARKETING. Hello! Once a week, I publish a newsletter to 30,000+ folk, trying to make them go "wow!" at sciencey stuff. You can sign up for free here: everythingisamazing.substack.com Thx/sorry.

Last month I got interested in whether those 18th&19th century frost fairs were exclusively a London thing - turns out they weren't. You can read about my quest here, and if you know about any I've missed (particularly in Yorkshire!) let me know jacquelinesaville.substack.com/p/frost-fair...

Frost Fairs outside London

Why should the Thames get all the fun?

jacquelinesaville.substack.com

Here’s a poem called ‘Message to the 14-Year-Old Me’.

To every writer, artist & [insert your creative thing here] who feels they maybe shouldn't be posting stuff that *isn't* 'How Do We Stop The Fascists' right now: One of the tools of Evil People is hopelessness - where everyone's so exhausted they forget what Better looks like. Please remind them.

I notice that a fair few listeners to @gidcoe.bsky.social have decided to keep the lights up until Candlemas, so it’s not just me open.substack.com/pub/jacqueli...

What if we kept all the Christmas cheer going?

January hasn't always been such a bleak month

open.substack.com

there have been better days to launch an ambitious project to fund original scripted audio comedy from the likes of joel & ben (pictured), but it’s been in the diary for ages. please take a look at our store: Leadmojo.co.uk/smelt

Beyond The Joke@beyondthejoke.bsky.social · 7mo ago

beyondthejoke.co.uk/content/1704...

For those who might be interested, Ilkley Oxfam bookshop had a near full set of PG Wodehouse’s Blandings books this afternoon. Newest paperback editions, in the classic literature section.