Chris Callow

‘Digger’ isn’t necessarily a good film, but as a historian what is has to say about the challenges of depicting the past is so fascinating that I had to blog about it. salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2026/10/15/_...

The police are investigating. They will have their lines of enquiry. Please share this image widely so that everyone knows what it looked like.

We're pleased to present the Earlier Middle Ages seminar schedule for this autumn! Event registration pages will very shortly be available on the IHR website. And please note that no sign-up is required for this week's David Wilson lecture with Sarah Semple (info: www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...).

Another article on the Rold gold.

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Having a nice time - saw lots of bears.

In 2021, income tax personal allowance was frozen at £12,570. If aligned with inflation, it would now be £16,070. A minimum wage earner in England will pay extra £980 in income tax & NIC in 2026-27. Govt can easily increase personal allowance by £3,000, worth £600 to basic rate taxpayer.

theconversation.com/how-the-emoj...

This summer's floods and heatwaves have shown the urgency of the climate crisis. We've gathered together 50+ organisations to call for stronger action on transport. Read our joint statement 👇

It's time to play: spot the former mini hydro power station. These were sometimes used to generate electricity on farms in the first half of the 20th century. #Iceland #photography #streetphotography #nature #landscape #naturephotography #landscapephotography #abandoned #decay #river #history

The #historic settlement of #Grenjaðarstaður in #Aðaldalur is one of #Iceland’s largest #turf houses, around 30 km south of #Husavik. The #house is available for booked group visits, but today you can tour it with Darren and guide Styrmir Franz Snorrason.

Working on #MedievalWales or the March but don't how your research fits with the #IMC2027 communities theme? Worry not! We would like to hear from you regardless of the topic so that we can highlight the latest exiting research. #MedievalSky #Medieval #Medievalist #MedievalHistory #MedievalStudies

"...massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate."

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.

Eleven funded PhD projects are now available as part of the  North Sea Heritage in Transitions (NHT), which launched last month.

‘One​ morning in October 1552, Felix Platter left his hometown of Basel for Montpellier, where he was to study medicine. He was fifteen years old. Things started to happen to him, and he wrote them down in his daybook.’ @erinmaglaque.bsky.social on a Renaissance diary: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Working on Britain and/or Ireland in the 12th-14th Centuries? I'm putting together an @imc-leeds.bsky.social panel proposal for #IMC2027 on Borderland Communities of Rebellion. Details attached, but by no means exhaustive! If you'd like to chat, or have any questions, please get in touch.

"This study examines AI’s ability to write essays analysing Old English poetry; human markers assessed and attempted to distinguish them from authentic analyses of poetry by first-year undergraduate students in English at the University of Oxford." link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Down with this sort of thing.

I’m yearning for the days when a casual sweater felt necessary.

It gladdens my heart to see that men have been leaning on other men’s shoulders since at least the 1930s. I’d love to see earlier examples. FAO @tricksterprince.bsky.social @apartridgeqotd.bsky.social

A rare and fragile survival from Viking-age York! A delicate silk cap made of hand-spun, undyed silk, c. AD 875-950 Silk was an exotic material imported via a vast network of Viking trade routes. Found during excavations at Coppergate in 1980. Yorkshire Museum 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface

Google translate has got a bit confused here. Though it is good to see a mention of the rare place-name Sakka. nafnid.arnastofnun.is/leit/ornefni...

Good news.

Flekka lasted only 18 months as an outlaw in the wilds of Hornstrandir. And while she suffered a humiliating capture she gets to live on, unlike so many Icelandic outlaws. #grettir

🚨General registration is now open for the Gender & Medieval Studies conference on Gender & Creativity in Oxford in Sept! We have an amazing line up of speakers, so please register asap to avoid disappointment! (Numbers are limited!). Link via GMS website medievalgender.co.uk/2026-oxford/

So. Boring.

A very exciting museum job - working with the BM’s amazing early medieval collections. You’ll be working with an excellent and supportive curator too (which we know matters!!) Fixed term till Dec 28. bmrecruit.ciphr-irecruit.com/applicants/v...

"Chimpanzees are important and deserve our concern." When she recorded this video years ago, that was the message Dr. Jane hoped you would share. And all these years later, for World Chimpanzee Day today, we want you to share that same message with your followers.

Today is World Chimpanzee Day! 🐒

We are seeking to appoint two independent members to our Collections Committee, for up to 4 years: One with significant experience in the management of historic collections in museums or heritage sites One with significant experience in the digital humanities. Closes 24 August: lnkd.in/e38mtWDf

Pre-Panini.

Great to hear my Birmingham colleague Dr Simon Yarrow talking about saints with @gregjenner.bsky.social : www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

grapevine.is/icelandic-cu...

FUCK AI.

Quite significant. A kind of textile factory?

Just back from the printers, very excited! Being sent out to Staffordshire Record Society members soon.

10 Years of Brexit 🇬🇧🇪🇺 On the night of the Brexit ref in 2016, as the result came in, this young woman was asked how she felt. Her mixture of anger, grief, shame, shock and despair spoke for millions of us that night — and everything she feared might happen came true. #RejoinEU 🇬🇧🇪🇺

#MapOnATuesday is the c. 1911 map of Greater Birmingham coloured to show ward boundaries as proposed. Some of the boundaries differ from those finally adopted. Ref – MAP/456336 #LibraryofBham

One of my favourite funding schemes! We are offering up to £300k for international interdisciplinary research on the theme of mobilities - the movement of people, things and ideas. Apply by 7 October. Please help spread the word! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Midnight in Iceland, June 20th.

Is binning expert correspondents in eastern Europe a good idea at a time like this? Disinformation on the rise, Russia interfering in many countries, threatening several and actually at war with one? Well, BBC News management seems to think so. It's disposing of me and 4 of my colleagues.

One of the largest data centers in the country is rising from the desert of southern New Mexico. At 1,400 acres, it could swallow New York's Central Park While there might be enough land, there isn't enough water. Locals concerned Project Jupiter will destroy the chile & pecan farming ✏️ @npr.org

A really good article IMO. Brings together diverse evidence to show how one place had a long-term significance.

'(Ironically, the history degree has proven hugely valuable in a business that is all about first-hand reporting, detecting narrative bias and the second source.)' Weird use of 'ironically'. Surely this value is also part of why so many lawyers have studied history at university.

In a new exhibition in the Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen, "Vølvens Varsel", this silver mount is believed to depict Loki wrapped in his son's intestines. Peter Pentz believes it's a rare early depiction of the god. It's c. 2.5cm, and was found near Skanderborg 4 years ago. www.dr.dk/nyheder/sene...