I should watch that, read the book at school but never seen the film

"some of the text now seems obvious, some contentious & some just daft. But in 1967 Morris... created a template that later generations of popular science writers could only hope to match"
He was kind about my first book, but some of his ideas remain quite silly!
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

I’m astonished at what museums have achieved in recent years despite everything. Here Pacific stories at the Box Plymouth: last chance to see Reynolds’ Mai before going to LA, & (top left in blue) the Topaze figurehead that led the 2 BM Rapa Nui statues to England
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

DNA to the rescue again. I think we can now all agree that the Turin shroud was originally wrapped around the body of Jesus, and that before he died he travelled to the Americas, probably with a pet cat and a dog. And he liked bananas
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Big historic DNA study. One striking effect is skin & hair lightening over past 8kya. Graph lines show allele frequency change in >15,000 West Eurasians, dots selected ancient groups.
NB this is only West Eurasia: rest of world would add detail, context & wider trends
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/s...

Sir Neil Cossons obituary Science Museum director and chair of English Heritage determined to impress the value of Britain’s history, architecture and culture on politicians

Maev Kennedy:
"a convincing disguise as a mild, respectable, affable, slightly conventional chap. But over a long & outstanding career... civil servants, trustees & ministers who battled with him over policy & funding discovered he was as tenacious as a terrier"
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

Sir Neil Cossons obituary: leading museum director Modernising director of the Science Museum and chairman of English Heritage who championed industrial archaeology, dies aged 87

Arriving as director of the the Science Museum in 1986, Neil Cossons found "the shop had been losing £200,000 a year, he said, 'though nobody knew because the accounting system was not good enough to pick it up'"
www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

I hope you enjoy it!

lots of company on my dawn walk this morning

The quote on this plaque ("Our house was on the Green, that close-like square, tilted south") is from The Ladder & the Tree, which William Golding wrote for the Listener in 1960. The sentence continues, "with the Swindon road running through it."

You don't mention Swindon in Marlborough

Sometimes I have to stop and work out exactly what’s going on, but the protagonists are doing the same thing so I go with it

Isn’t it. Judy Golding wrote interestingly about it recently ish in the Guardian

Reading the engrossing The Inheritors. Never imagined when I bought this copy 30 years ago that I'd be living round the corner from Golding's house and up the road from Savernake Forest, inspiration for the novel's landscape. Nor that I'd be writing about the event the novel depicts

"leading voice who salvaged the study of the Eastern Roman empire from the prejudices of the Enlightenment"
Warden Keble Coll: "hard not to feel that this towering intellect was wasted in parochial wars over rowing prowess, pudding provision or lawn maintenance"
www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...

Biruté Galdikas obituary Primatologist who devoted her life to the study and preservation of orangutans

“She seemed like someone who had stepped out of the forest temporarily … her heart and mind were still there.”
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

On this day..

on Easter Day 1722 the Afrikaansche Galey, 1 of 3 ships led by Jacob Rogeveen under Dutch West India Company flags, sighted a small island they named Paasch Eyland

But no European set foot on the island then. They anchored offshore on April 8 & landed on April 10, 5 days after Easter

Trump says U.S. strikes will send Iran back to 'Stone Ages' YouTube video by NBC News

“We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong”

Archaeologists would like a word

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6NQ...

Looking forward to the launch! Artemis is a brilliant mission name. My sister and I pitched camp beds in front of the TV to watch Apollo 11 land on the moon. I could never understand why my parents went to bed and missed it

Meanwhile, I think Neil would've been delighted at the news of a federal judge's views on Trump's ballroom: "The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!"
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Sir Neil Cossons, heritage giant who fought to protect England’s monuments and historic buildings He deftly handled New Labour, and likened the role of English Heritage to a ‘brand in a marketplace – just like Avis and Hertz’

RIP museums & industrial archaeology powerhouse & English Heritage chair (“Charming friendly & accessible.. striking contrast to Sir Jocelyn Stevens”), Neil Cossons:
Director Liverpool Museum, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, National Maritime Museum, Science Museum
www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...

rescued a giant bumblebee from the bath, it threatened me with a raised middle leg

Congratulations to Anna Sharples on her first British Archaeology magazine! Lots of interest. Love the new Narrate-Create feature and (separately) Laura Basell's video of diggers caught in site scans @archaeologyuk.bsky.social
reader.exacteditions.com/issues/15542...

What happened here? 1.6m model Pacific memorial pole with apparently only info "provenance Canada" ("Break & re-glue of the human head. Cracks to the human & eagle head. Hole in the eagle chest. General wear & stains) estimate £800–1,200, sold for £35,480
www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk/departments/...

It was a good event, wasn’t it, lots if interesting ideas

Trees! Just photos, feeling the seasons change

Trees!

Just photos, feeling the seasons change

Canadian orangutan scientist Biruté Galdikas was the last of the 'trimates' | CBC News Biruté Mary Galdikas, a Canadian scientist who dedicated her life to the study and conservation of orangutans, has died. She was the last living member of the renowned primatologists known as "trimate...

RIP Biruté Galdikas

"my love of orangutans grew out of my curiosity and urge to understand where we came from, where we're going and how we fit into the universe"

www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Brighton this evening!

Ramses and Hockney’s Gold I enjoyed a couple of press views recently, and I’d recommend seeing both shows if what I say makes them sound interesting – one is free, the other is not cheap. Pay per view first. I’ve been out of London for a long time now, and before going to Ramses in Neon’s box below Battersea Power Station, I previously saw the site in 2007.

Ramses and Hockney’s Gold

I enjoyed a couple of press views recently, and I’d recommend seeing both shows if what I say makes them sound interesting – one is free, the other is not cheap. Pay per view first. I’ve been out of London for a long time now, and before going to Ramses in Neon’s box…

I wrote it. But it’s not a personal blog post, it’s published in a MSM magazine. That means it’s edited by a professional editor (not every turn of phrase is necessarily mine, though I was able to address the edit). Headlines, subheads (the bit below the headline) etc are written by other editors

Not my headline