Coin used as Leeds bus fare was 2,000‑year‑old currency The coin was handed down to Peter Edwards from his grandfather in the 1950s.

This is the sort of thing a cashless society robs us of, the opportunity to try to get away with paying the bus fare in Carthaginian currency www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Worth noting that TikTok is absolutely rammed with videos like this. Gen Z being radicalised rapidly.

Fall of Sparta | The Ancients

Fall of Sparta - The Ancients | Acast
shows.acast.com/the-ancients...

My photo shows a hood-shaped silk cap from Viking-era York in a display case at the Yorkshire Museum. It is made from a rectangle of plain-woven, hand-spun, undyed silk, shaped by a centre seam. The silk is yellowy-brown in colour with a shiny lustrre. There are holes in places where the fabric has deteriorated. It is displayed on a perspex frame in a display case. Next to it are some small raw lumps of orange amber. It was one of thousands of artefacts excavated by York Archaeological Trust between 1976-1981 at 16-22 Coppergate in York. The dig uncovered Viking Age houses and 1000s of every day objects.

A rare and wonderful survival from Viking-era York!

A delicate hood-shaped silk cap, c. AD 900.

Silk was an exotic material in 10th-century Britain, imported to York from Persia via a network of Viking trade routes. Yorkshire Museum
📷 by me

#Archaeology

Agree with all the other recommendations, and I would add his 1985 novel A Maggot. Feels like a lot of his techniques came together in a dazzling, but dense, tale.

East of Eden was my top book of 2025 but French Lieutenant’s Woman was a close second! (More of my thoughts on my Instagram @ drlauravarnam). I’d like to read more Fowles- any suggestions?

It is arguably one of the more serious omissions in Thucydides’ narrative that we don’t get to hear the weasely, fig-sucking statements of the leaders of different members of the Delian League every time that Athens launches another aggressive campaign.

This year's Christmas cake is done. I clearly can make no claim to culinary or artistic skill, but it's made with real affection for the season, some of the decorations belonged to my grandparents and it's had a snifter of brandy twice a week since October. Merry Christmas!

#CharlesDickens
#TheHauntedMan
#ChristmasBooks

Right, then...

Today is a nice anniversary for #CharlesDickens Christmas ghost stories. First published #OTD in 1843 - A Christmas Carol, the first of his immortal Christmas Books. And also #OTD in 1848, The Haunted Man - his fifth and final Christmas novella. A wonderful treasury!

New discoveries at Hadrian's Wall are changing the picture of what life was like on the border of the Roman Empire The British northern frontier was the edge of the Roman world — and a place of violence, boredom and opportunity, experts told Live Science.

New discoveries at Hadrian's Wall are changing the picture of what life was like on the border of the Roman Empire

www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

Industrial Landscape 2 (Stockport), painting by Bill Smith, b.1948 in Motherwell, London-based artist.

Just finished An Affair of the Heart by Dilys Powell. A wonderful evocation of her bittersweet love affair with the reality of Greek village life either side of the second World War, and how it changed her and her existence. Lyrical and romantic, this was a beautiful gift from @SharonGoodwin17 .

Thank you, Nigel. I am really moved by how this has become a hardy Advent perennial for a fair few people. #Advent

On Advent Sunday it's time to greet my regular seasonal companion In The Bleak Midwinter by @revrachelmann.bsky.social. A daily poem and reflection which still, after repeated readings, offers precious moments in a frantic period, and which feels more valuable each year.

The 14th century west tower of St Botolph’s Church at Barford in Norfolk. 📸 My own. #SteepleSaturday #Barford #Norfolk

Translation update: just received word that “Love, War, and Diplomacy: The Discovery of the Amarna Letters…” will be translated into Czech; hopefully this will be the first of many such translations! 😎👍

It's been nearly six years since he left us, and the loss of his eloquence and wit are still keenly felt, at least by me. Remembering cultural polymath (and one of my heroes) Clive James. Born #OTD in 1939.

This 3,300 year-old Mycenaean terracotta chariot was found in a rock-hewn tomb at Megalo Monastiri, in the region of Larissa, Greece. Dated ca. 13th century BCE. Archaeological Museum of Volos, Greece. 📷 Athenologio.

A brilliant selection of birthday reading. Looking forward to getting stuck in.

Wuthering Heights: 'Erotic' first trailer of Emerald Fennell's film released The trailer shows the characters engaged in longing stares, with sexualised imagery throughout.

Oh for heaven's sake, another 'bold reimagining' which actually leaves nothing to the imagination...just read the bloody book. Everything you need and more is in there.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Aw.
If it's not just me complaining, it must be really bad!

Anyway Nikolaj, Nik, Nikky darling, if you didn't use real history and real people for your little Temu-Game of Thrones, you wouldn't have to do so much defending ;)

Finished this on the beach. One of my very favourite books. A beautiful opening, intricate plotting with an epic scope, ingenious storytelling and fabulous characters. My copy is 40 years old and I love picking it up to enjoy it all over again. #TheWomanInWhite #WilkieCollins

Poet Ted Hughes was born #OTD 1930 in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire. Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998. His poetry is dominated by nature, especially by animals, though his approach is more mythical than naturalistic. (Pic by Jane Bown 1966.)

“He was still bleeding when he was put in his coffin”. A victim of the Peterloo massacre, 1819. John Lees was a 22-year-old cotton spinner. There were many like him in the north of England. He attended the St Peter’s Field meeting on Monday 16 August 1819, where 80,000 people had come to hear…

Remembering John Lees, a victim of #Peterloo
about1816.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/h...

It's a bit faded now, and a few repairs have been needed, but I'm enjoying a canter through this postmodern classic for the umpteenth time. Always fun to be had in this book about books and reading. #ItaloCalvino

Andrea Ashworth wrote a classic of Mancunian literature. Why did she vanish from view? My search for the author of ‘Once in a House on Fire’ led to the other side of the world - and to a tantalising revelation

Been looking forward to reading this all week, and it was as rewarding as I hoped. Great stuff by David Barnett for ManchesterMill.
My search for the author of ‘Once in a House on Fire’ led to the other side of the world - and to a tantalising revelation manchestermill.co.uk/andrea-ashwo...

Some of the surviving fresco decoration from the House of Livia, the wife of Augustus, on the Palatine Hill in Rome. The frescoes date to around 30 BC. 📷 My own. #FrescoFriday #Rome

A tombstone for Cornelius Victor - a senior centurion from Pannonia who served in the Roman army for 26 years, and died aged 55. The tombstone was found at Vindolanda Fort, and is now part of the collections at Chesters Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall. 📷 My own. #EpigraphyTuesday