Loving Michael Frayn's Copenhagen at the Hampstead Theatre tonight. A chance to see Richard Schiff in performance - the actor who is at least partially responsible for my son being called Toby.

Who is this eighteenth-century Spanish reader marking up English dramatic criticism in an early C18 Tonsons editions of the works of #Addison?

Samurai This major exhibition reveals the real story of the samurai, from medieval battlefields to modern blockbusters.

Another highlight of the Easter vacation was getting to the Samurai exhibition at the BM. Kids were most impressed by Darth Vader's guest appearances. Now wondering if it's too early to show them The Hidden Fortress...

Shakespeare Bought One Property in London. Now We Know Exactly Where.

Shakespeare Bought One Property in London. Now We Know Exactly Where. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/w...

The Japanese ‘first lady of vengeance’ who inspired Kill Bill Meiko Kaji’s headstrong action heroes have shaped films from Star Wars to Aliens – and earned adoration from Tarantino

What an incredible honour to interview Lady Snowblood herself - Meiko Kaji - during her first NYC visit in decades. Thanks so much to @japansociety.org, @wewantsounds.bsky.social & @arrowvideo.bsky.social for helping bring this dream feature to life!

www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2026/0...

Made it back to Edinburgh last week for the first time since ISECS 2019. Lots of fond memories. But this was the first time I made it up Arthur's Seat.

Performance: a tentative unravelling, a commons | King's College London Professor Kélina Gotman explores the strands that have underpinned ‘performance’ discourse over the past 150 years.

Professor Kélina Gotman, Professor of Performance and the Humanities in @kingsenglish.bsky.social, explores some of the strands that have underpinned ‘performance’ discourse over the past 150 years at this Inaugural Professorial Lecture on 18 May.

🔗 Register ⬇️

I used to do a research skills class where I told the History undergrads why they shouldn't use Wikipedia for their essays. Now it's probably better than where they are getting their information from

Last seminars of term yesterday and we were discussing William Henry Ireland's "Authentic Account" of forging Shakespeare documents. I always love its bizarre combo of apology and self-aggrandisement - the essence of eighteenth-century celebrity culture.

Winners of A-Level writing competitions announced | King's College London The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures announced the winners of its annual A-Level writing competitions, with the successful writers seeing their work published in the Department’s…

🏆️ Congratulations to this year's winners of the @kingsdllc.bsky.social A-Level writing competitions!

The winners' pieces were published in the department's student magazines on Comparative Literature, French, German, and Spanish and Portuguese.

🔗 Read more ⬇️

Most of these articles are available through open access. Many thanks to all our contributors!

Not to mention Carole Nataf's article on George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon - from which the gorgeous shells on our issue cover are taken.

Also a fascinating article by Jacob Donald Chatterjee on Thomas Nettleton's Some Thoughts Concerning Virtue and Happiness (1729).

Cover of Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 49.1 with colourful illustration of shells.

I hope all BSECS members are enjoying their copies of JECS 49.1. A privilege, as ever, to edit the journal. This issue has a real pan-European feel, with articles on British novel-reading in 18thc. Sweden, depictions of card games in German visual satire, and the Swiss author, Albrecht von Haller.

If you find yourself in Paris on the 10-12 June 2026, you might like to attend @isecs-sieds.bsky.social 'Reframing the Enlightenment: intellectual & political disputes today', at the Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris
Details ⬇️
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️

Been enjoying teaching some pretty obscure stuff this week: Vanella in the Straw, anyone? It's a deeply nasty poem from 1732 about Prince Frederick's mistress, Anne Vane. Next week back to more canonical territory courtesy of Lord Byron.

In a few hours I’ll be reading live from the Overture of my next book in a virtual talk at U Edinburgh’s History & Games Lab.

This is the first time any part of the book has been read in public, or by anyone outside of my circles of trusted first readers (& MIT’s peer reviewers)

Goethe the radical reactionary | The Observer Matthew Bell’s Goethe: A Life in Ideas reveals a restlessly inventive thinker who admired autocrats and shunned Christianity

💡 'Bell does a very successful job of bringing us back to the themes that connect the wildly diverse ensemble of Goethe’s writings.'

Rowan Williams reviews Goethe: A Life In Ideas by Professor @matthewgbell.bsky.social from @kingsdllc.bsky.social for @theobserveruk.bsky.social ⬇️

buff.ly/XJfj8Zc

I'm really grateful to all our contributors for their reflections on the eighteenth century in recent popular culture. Chapters on The Great, Bridgerton, and much more. Also interviews with figures from the creative and heritage industries. I'm really proud of it.

The 18th Century Today Exploring how 18th-century forms and narrative are taken-up, recycled and re-visioned in contemporary media, this book asks which histories are told and by whom…

First, I was really pleased that the essay collection I co-edited with @maddypelling.bsky.social was published by @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social back in December. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/18th-cent...

So there have been a few fun milestones and projects coming to completion over the last year that I hadn't properly publicised due to social media disillusionment. I'll try to do them justice here over the next week or so.

Really pleased that my third-year course, Inventing Celebrity, has received a BSECS teaching prize. It's a joy to teach. Just marking the mid-semester assignments now, and dare I say it, even that's a pleasure!

Finally joined bluesky after a few years of increasing scepticism about social media. Will try to keep this a space for thoughtful and fun conversation!

Many thanks to BSECS - lovely to have my teaching recognised. And it turns out this was the push that I needed to join bsky!