4,500 people in the online queue for the first morning of Game of Thrones booking @the-rsc.bsky.social (and a large increase in new membership to secure priority access).

A view through the C12th west doorway of the monastic church at Jedburgh Abbey in the Scottish Borders. Initially founded as a priory in 1138 by David I, it became an abbey in 1154. 📸 My own. #MedievalMonday #JedburghAbbey

And on this day in 1653 Oliver Cromwell stood up in parliament and said 'depart, I say; and let us have done with you'. Thanks to @theatlantic.com for that reminder of the dissolution of the Rump Parliament.

Sunday morning stroll on the Broads

Andy Weir book cover Project Hail Mary

Thank you to everyone who said the book was 5⭐️.

My photo shows a set of Late Iron Age glass gaming pieces displayed on a sandy surface in a display case at the British Museum. The set is made up of 24 coloured glass domes; six each of white, yellow, blue, and translucent green glass. One of the yellow pieces is out of shot in my photo. Each game piece is decorated with five inset spiral motifs in a contrasting colour. Nearly all pieces are uniform in shape; domed with a slightly pointed apex and a flattened base. Dimensions approximately 2.57 cm diameter and 2.2 cm height. The gaming pieces were recovered from a richly-furnished Late Iron Age cremation burial in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, when it was disturbed during the construction of two gas-pipe trenches during the building of the Panshangar Estate in 1965.

Gorgeous glass gaming pieces from Iron Age Britain! 🤩

This unique set of 24 coloured glass domes with flattened base and spiral decoration may have been used for a game similar to ludo some 2,000 years ago.

British Museum 📷 by me

#Archaeology

Four years ago

Thelma & Louise musical! Plus Ben Whishaw in Eurotrash at the Young Vic Yes!
www.youngvic.org/whats-on

John Proctor is the Villain @royalcourt.bsky.social tonight. Long queue for returns, huge energy in the auditorium before curtain up and large glasses of red wine in the bar after. #MeToo

Robert Icke's fresh take on Romeo & Juliet is wonderful. Early scenes between Noah Jupe and Sadie Sink a joyful depiction of first love.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses @nationaltheatre.org.uk . Enjoyable, but Alan Rickman was so good as the sly manipulative seducer playing a game whereas nobody in their right mind is going to resist Poldark for more than a nanosecond.

Voting matters. Living in a constituency with over 60k registered voters in a ‘safe’ seat which changed hands with a majority of 20 (after 3 recounts) and then flipped back with a majority of 200, it’s important to register to vote and show up.

Membership arrangements for Bayeux Tapestry visits at the British Museum.

Excited about the Bayeux Tapestry coming to the British Museum (September 2026 - July 2027). Usually members get free unlimited access to exhibitions, indeed they are still touting this as a key benefit. BUT 2 visits only across the whole run for Bayeux. So that’s one in the eye for members.

Lunar Flyby - NASA

Oh this is great: there’s now an #Artemis II Lunar Flyby Gallery on the NASA images site: www.nasa.gov/gallery/luna... (thx @dpmanchee.bsky.social for pointing it out)

I went on an organised tour of a disused stately home and we were shown round by a charming lady in sensible shoes and a moth eaten cardigan and the American ladies kept asking her if the Baron was married, how old and offspring and I had to tell them afterwards that she was OBVIOUSLY the Baroness.

I made a little Instagram reel about this image because it’s just so frickin’ cool

Close shot of white blossom and deep blue sky.

Obligatory blossom pic🍃

#OneWalkADay
#MentalHealthMatters

My photo shows a Roman ‘Marine Life’ mosaic from the impluvium (pool for catching rainwater) at the House of the Geometric Mosaics in Pompeii. The mosaic depicts an octopus with its tentacles wrapped around a lobster, surrounded by many different kinds of Mediterranean fish. The octopus is depicted in pale cream and beige tesserae, the lobster in shades of orange, the surrouding fish in a palette of neutral browns, greys, and creams, all set against a black tesserae background

A spectacular googly-eyed octopus does battle with a lobster in this 2,000 year-old Roman mosaic from Pompeii 🐙 🦞

Some fantastic fishy onlookers too!

House of the Geometric Mosaics. On display Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples 📷 by me

#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology

Screenshot: Key lunar flyby times, milestones All times Eastern, subject to change based on real-time operations 1 p.m. NASA+ coverage of lunar flyby begins 1:56 p.m. Crew passes distance from Earth record set by Apollo 13 in 1970 2:45 p.m. Lunar flyby begins 7:02 p.m. Orion closest approach to the Moon (4,070 miles) 7:07 p.m. Orion reaches maximum distance from Earth (252,760 miles) 8:35 p.m. Orion enters solar eclipse

NASA #Artemis II flyby coverage schedule; all times in Eastern. You can follow along live on NASA+ (plus.nasa.gov) or on the NASA YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@NASA).

It should be amazing to watch!

A long winter thaws in Harrenhal, and spring is promised...
 
Game of Thrones: The Mad King will play in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 20 July to 5 September
 
Join now for Priority Booking from 14 April 👑 Public Booking opens from 22 April

Alfred Enoch has such a beautiful voice and hearing his Henry V at the RSC is a delight. Paul Hunter leads the comedy troupe and is the best I’ve seen. The sum of the parts greater than the whole on first viewing.

Another wonderful show @orangetreetheatre.bsky.social. The most consistent theatre in London for delivery of outstanding productions. Remarkable debuts from 2 of the actors playing the Van Gogh siblings.

The magnolias in Bute Park, Cardiff are in fine form

Fox family reunited after cubs found hiding in car in Bromley The five cubs had been sheltering beneath a Mustang Mach-E and were found when technicians were fixing the car.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Quite the honour to see a preview of Pale View of Hills and have a Q&A with Kazuo Ishiguro and Camilla Aiko. Loved the film.

In honour of the Sunday Telegraph's editor and offical maddest columnist, we have created the Allister Heath headline generator...
stirring-fox-7e1fab.netlify.app

JONATHAN GROFF as Rosalind! Crashed the website. Involuntary squeaking when I heard about this in the members bar at the South Bank.

Radio 3 in Concert - Víkingur Ólafsson performs Adams - BBC Sounds The Philharmonia is joined by Víkingur Ólafsson to perform John Adams's new Piano Concerto

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... UK premiere of John Adams’ Piano Concerto ‘After the Fall’ with superstar Vikingur Olafsson

Looking forward to seeing the GOT extravaganza in July in Stratford @the-rsc.bsky.social and further announcements tomorrow…. 🤐

I am not going to pretend I enjoyed If I had Legs I'd Kick You. But (spoiler) if I said the only scene I laughed at featured the hamster being run over, does that make me a bad person?