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drjamesconnolly.bsky.social
Historian at UCL SELCS specialising in modern France and Europe, the First World War, and military occupation. Other interests include film, TV, gaming, & puns.
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On a train and a posh guy is on the phone to someone: "How's Par-ee? I bet you're sitting in a nice bistro... Which arrondissement are you in?" It really irks me and I can't quite put my finger on why. Too performative? Or that I'd never say that and - maybe because - I've actually lived in Paris?

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Student Louis Malthis was, on balance, not keen on the idea of the Channel Tunnel in 1919. And to think, he didn’t even know how often services would be delayed and cancelled Alison Carrol in the new issue of the Historical Journal 🗃️#FRHistory www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

Today I showed my 3-year-old my copy of Le Petit Prince, which includes handwritten translations of vocab I didn't understand 20 years ago. He understood a lot of the words - a really cool experience that makes me feel slightly less insane for opting for non-native bilingual parenting.

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

The Senegalese Prime Minister refuting Macron's critique of the 'ingratitude' of African states for France's military interventions 'without which none of them would be sovereign countries' by evoking the (often forced) service of Africans to defend French sovereignty in the World Wars.

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

Forgot to say this, but last week I achieved a Francophone parenting goal: we had lunch in a branch of Zizzi's and when I told my three-year-old the name of the restaurant, he burst out laughing.

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

It's exam-writing time at my work (Happy New Year!) so I've come up with the following: 'People often misspell the name of a round metal object thrown by athletes.' Discuss.

submitted 60 days ago • 0 comments

Happy festive season and a merry Christmas to everyone! My book is still free for two weeks, so why not gift yourself a freebie this year? It’s short enough to get through in the post-Christmas haze when your body needs some respite from all the food.

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

Really pleased that this article is out - a chapter that I had to cut from the book for space reasons but that is such an important part of the Italian emigrant war experience. Covers US, Sth America, Europe and North Africa.

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

On my way home from the first UCL French student-staff pub quiz in over 6 years. Had a great time, and my team won by one point... but I did write a few of the questions, ahem. It was great to see students feeling part of the community and having fun.

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

I think was this, linked to a chapter I published here: www.wallstein-verlag.de/978383533211...

submitted 96 days ago • 1 comment

It's lovely when your partner tells you that you really should treat yourself; less so when you realise they're talking about the risk of having caught lice from your toddler.

submitted 96 days ago • 0 comments

Thanks! Full disclosure: Mathis has seen the full routine, which I can send on request but won't share here.

submitted 97 days ago • 0 comments

Look at what arrived in the mail today, and it's not even Christmas yet! 😍 Thankful to Frank Jacob to have been a part of this book. If you want to give it a read, maybe your institution has the digital version: brill.com/display/titl...

submitted 104 days ago • 0 comments

Final bit of shameless self-promotion for today: my most recent article 'A peacetime battleground: national symbols, patriotism and prestige in the French-occupied Rhineland, 1920–23' is now available via Open Access at academic.oup.com/fh/article/3....

submitted 97 days ago • 0 comments

Just to make this as easily accessible as it was 'elsewhere', here's the link to the Open Access version of my book 'The Experience of Occupation in the Nord, 1914-1918': www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781...

submitted 97 days ago • 0 comments

For my first post here, here's a clip of my recent stand-up debut, in which I talk about the First World War and other things. It was part of an event entitled 'LOLs in Translation' run by Dr Steve Cross (video credit to him). Terrifying but fun! youtube.com/watch?v=FCsl...

submitted 101 days ago • 0 comments