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oispooky.bsky.social
πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸ’» PR Manager @britsciassoc.bsky.social 🀼 1880s boxing & wrestling historian πŸ₯Š London's Cockney, Cumbrian, Caribbean & US pugilists ✍🏻 Hezekiah Moscow, Alec Munroe, Sugar Goodson, Jack Wannop πŸ“š Agent - Curious Minds πŸ–οΈ Clacton πŸ–€ www.grapplingwithhistory.com
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Thinking about a key transitional moment in my childhood being when I stopped having to go to bed *before* The Bill and started being allowed to go to bed *after* The Bill

I love Lindsey's book The Facemaker and will have today's podcast on for the school run! My grandfather Tom Cox was 'lucky' to have 'only' been SHOT THROUGH THE NECK and survived (WW2, not WW1). Mentally and physically scarred for his remaining 43 years, but both were hidden from the world.

As only an occasional bylined writer of magazine articles, it never gets any less exciting getting proofs through before publication. A designer put my words and photos into a LAYOUT! Did a title! Such a buzz. Buy BBC History August issue please! Nice beach read. Plus Jem Smith's muscles! πŸ‘ŠπŸ»πŸ₯Š

Delighted to announce my new podcast series History’s Heroes is launching today on BBC Sounds and wherever you get your podcasts. Also coming to BBC Radio 4 later this year! Episode 1 is Saving Face With Harold Gillies Episode 2 is Katharine Hepburn: Queen of the Screen

What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders? The average author income is about seven grand a year.

A man is on trial in 2025 for the rape and murder of a woman born well before the end of the Victorian era: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

It's been four hours and I'm still laughing at Plus Dancers.

Came home to a letter from a Reform voting neighbour trying to drum up anti-LGBTQ sentiment and get Clacton Pride on 28 June cancelled. "Waste of public money when only 2% of people are gay" apparently. It's a GREAT family event. Once had a Meat Loaf impersonator. I've sent a very angry email back.

Ah, THIS is England! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Son's dad is away for a week. I have to work. So Jack started Monday by vomiting milk and yoghurt over himself and the car, colouring his belly blue, almost knocking himself out running into parents' sofa then washed himself off in the bird bath. New exotic diseases to come as we find them πŸ™πŸ»

Morning. If you're planning to pick an argument with a friend, family member, or perhaps a colleague, this week, please try to avoid doing so while on a large ship. See also, while in the pub near some upright pokers. Or if the colleague is a bear: grapplingwithhistory.com/2021/06/11/w...

My dad Geoff with his dad Tom in about 1956. Not their olde house or olde stocks. Helpful captions by my sister. Dad says it's the only photo where his dad's got something in his hand other than a cigarette. A time where men who didn't wear a shirt and tie to work always wore one on their days off.

Nobody suits a baseball cap worse than me (massive head, English, not 8yrs old) but my boyfriend randomly brought a probably-dead guy's 2023 Barry Manilow Las Vegas souvenir (longer run than Elvis!) hat back from a Clacton charity shop the other day and for some reason I now feel willing to change πŸ€·πŸ»β€β™€οΈ

ICYMI: On the @vulgarhistory.bsky.social #podcast I chatted with Ann Foster about ancient geography, Renaissance maps, my beloved #StarTrek, and a 17th-century science fiction novel written by one Lady Margaret Cavendish, a lady who preferred ... bears. πŸ’™πŸ“š πŸ—ƒ #ancient #earlymodern #histsci #HAMH

Regret to inform you that Horsham has gone woke

I'm at a car park to the west of Surrey. This is pleasingly inexplicable.

Speaking of which, @oispooky.bsky.social is everywhere

I sincerely hope this quote is on the book’s cover

Ooh this is nice. A piece I wrote a few years ago! That sketch shows Jack Wannop in his last professional boxing match (one of the few he won πŸ˜‚). Poor lanky Josh Cosnett, indeed.

Confirmed my first book deal yesterday - should hopefully be able to talk about it in a few weeks πŸ₯Šβ˜ΊοΈ Here's a press release-worthy quote, which I think sums the vibe up nicely: "F**king hell, who BOXES A PUMA?" - @sophiemhistory.bsky.social More soon... πŸ˜‚

I'm 10-15yrs older than loads of the other parents pushing toddlers in the park. And know someone my age with a 23yr old kid. And also have a friend six years older with a baby younger than mine πŸ˜‚

Dropping Like Flies: Reform Loses Nine Councillors in Six Weeks hopenothate.org.uk/2025/06/13/d...