Wendy Ugolini

🔎 Dr Jean Smith chairs a seminar on 'Gendered experiences of the Second World War' with Judith Lewis, @wugolini.bsky.social and @drkatevigurs.bsky.social on 8 September. Free to attend, registration required 👇 www.swwresearch.com/post/gendere... @dsdkings.bsky.social @kingsartshums.bsky.social

Delighted to be speaking at the Second World War Research Group's Global Seminar Series on 8 Sept. I'll be talking about the experiences of British servicewomen in SWW Egypt and Sri Lanka. Info here: www.swwresearch.com/post/gendere...

For those interested in the Recording Angel memorial behind Andy Burnham's historic selfie, I gave a paper on it @histparl.bsky.social last year 🤣 historyofparliament.com/2025/05/27/t...

Commemoration at #SWW grave of Norwegian sailor, Ingvar Edvardsen, as part of Norway Day, Edinburgh @cwgc.bsky.social

Inspired choice by @mattchorley.bsky.social for @warmovietheatre.com Used to watch the repeats with my Liverpudlian grandfather who was in the Home Guard. He would speak comedically about his own HG experiences in Huyton but I sometimes wonder if he felt obliged to do so.

Before I left London many moons ago, I went to an exhibition of Lucian Freud's 'recent work' at Whitechapel. It seems fitting that now I'm visiting my daughter - in London - that we should see Freud's early drawings 😍

‘Ugolini’s close personal connections with her subject matter shine through the pages….’ Louise Miskell reviews Wendy Ugolini’s Wales in England, 1914-1945. (2024). tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

‘Daly has produced a highly readable, and often poignant, account of those Italian emigrants...' Wendy Ugolini reviews Selena Daly’s Emigrant Soldiers. Mobilising Italians abroad in the First World War (2025). www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Delighted to be included in the @thenacbs.bsky.social "30 for 75" list: articles celebrating the contribution of the Journal of British Studies to the field #SWW

Thrilled by this insightful review of 'Wales in England 1914-1945' by Louise Miskell for Immigrants & Minorities journal. It was, indeed, 'a labour of love'! ❤️

Goodbye St Andrews!

Have received a generous review of my book 'Wales in England 1914-1945' in The Welsh History Review: ✍️ a seminal study ✍️ an essential text which opens up a whole new field of Welsh cultural study Thank you Simon Brooks!

Looking forward to this: events.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/insti...

Tom Chadwick's 'The Christ Child'. Chadwick was killed at El Alamein in 1942, 2 days after his brother Hector. He'd set out to find Hector's grave when his scout car was hit by shell fire. @CWGC inscription: 'In Their Death They Were Not Divided' © @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social

A beautiful piece of writing by @danigaravelli.bsky.social which reminds me that my original fascination with the Second World War began sitting at the feet of various great aunts & uncles visiting my nana's bungalow.

Many congrats to our wonderful PhD student, Dr Avril Newton, on her formal graduation yesterday. Her excellent thesis focuses on the banking/insurance sector in #FWW Britain.

What do you call a cluster of #SWW historians @thenacbs.bsky.social?

Arrived for @thenacbs.bsky.social at Montreal last night. Looking forward to an exciting few days of papers and my panel with Juliette Pattinson & @linseyrobb.bsky.social #FWW ##SWW

Thanks to Drs George Hay @cwgc.bsky.social & Talat Ahmed @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social for speaking to the CWGC #SWW report, 'Remembering the Dead of the British Empire' at our round table event.

Early morning @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social

Tomorrow! Commemorating the dead of the Second World War – Commonwealth War Graves Commission round table. More information and tickets (free): edin.ac/4pOlSyx #History #Classics #Archaeology #HCA #Edinburgh #SWW #WWII #War #CWGC

My book, 'Wales in England 1914-1945', is available at its lowest price yet: a whacking ✨️65% off✨️. How ideas of Wales and Welshness influenced two generations of English soldiers, writers, and politicians: www.amazon.co.uk/Wales-Englan...

A favourite pic from my recent inaugural @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social - with my gorgeous friend and colleague @agroundwater.bsky.social Thanks to everyone who came ❤️

Remembrance #Edinburgh

View from teaching room @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social #AutumnLeaves

Thanks to everyone who came long to my inaugural lecture last week @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social : friends, family, and colleagues. It was a wonderful evening!

Reflections from Singapore on the 80th anniversary of when the Imperial Japanese Army formally surrendered to the Allied forces: www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

Move over, Miss Marple.

Delighted to have signed a contract with @edinburghup.bsky.social to produce a scholarly edition of Fred Urquhart’s war-time letters. Urquhart, an accomplished writer, was a lover of men and admirer of flamboyant women. His letters offer a Rabelaisian account of the British #SWW home front.

Slightly belated, but I have a promotion code from @oxfordacademic.bsky.social for my book, Wales in England 1914-1945: fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...

Amazon UK is apparently 'price pulsing' my book. This means some days it is £90, but today it is £31!!! Grab this bargain whilst you can 😁

At the Scottish National War Memorial (Edinburgh Castle) for VJ Day 80th anniversary commemoration service. Is there more of a concerted effort this year to pay attention to VJ Day? Or were previous significant anniversaries the same?

On the recommendation of Richard Lloyd Parry, I have just read 'Summer Flowers' (1947) by Tamiki Hara, a starkly mesmerising survivor's account of Hiroshima, immediately after the atomic bombing: www.fpri.org/wp-content/u...

Hadley is correct.

The film critic Dilys Powell is often mentioned on the @warmovietheatre.bsky.social podcast. A relatively unknown name these days, she is one of the biographical studies in my book, Wales in England 1914-1945.

My book, 'Wales in England 1914-1945. A Social, Cultural, & Military History', is currently available at a more affordable price (✨️58% off✨️). How ideas of Wales and Welshness influenced two generations of English soldiers & writers: www.amazon.co.uk/Wales-Englan...

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As a Council member of the Army Records Society, I'd like to draw your attention to our new round of Fellowships. Deadline for proposals is 11:59pm (GMT) on 2 Nov 2025. More detailed info here: www.smh-hq.org/opps/jobs.html

Nice to see a mention here of Richard Llewellyn, author of How Green Was My Valley (1939). When Dean and Llewellyn attended a wartime meeting betw ENSA & the BBC, the latter appeared in a green suit & violet tie, causing one wag to comment: "How keen was my valet!".

The Lascaris War Rooms, Valletta commemorate Malta's pivotal role in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, beginning 9 July 1943:

Your excruciating wait is almost over!! In just 143 days you will be able to read my new book, Encounters in Wartime Italy: A Social History of Invasion, Liberation, and Occupation, which Oxford University Press will publish on 10 November 2025!! Preview it on the OUP website: lnkd.in/e4tMffRX

My book, 'Wales in England 1914-1945. A Social, Cultural, & Military History', is currently available at a more manageable price (47% off). In case you can no longer wait to hear how ideas of Wales and Welshness influenced two generations of English soldiers: www.amazon.co.uk/Wales-Englan...

If it's a departmental poster, it must be happening...

Visited The Robin Chapel today, an exquisite #SWW memorial to Lt. Robin Tudsbery (1919-45). It is situated within a disabled veterans' housing scheme in Craigmillar, set up by his grieving parents.

Inspired by @warmovietheatre.bsky.social I have watched Mosquito Squadron (1969) for the first time on BBC iPlayer. Main conclusion: Nicky Henson and the Second World War don't mix.

Listening to this podcast on train home (post-Second World War conference) and, as ever, it became particularly moving when John Crace reflected on the impact of the war on his own family members.

Welsh Guards officer and artist Rex Whistler was killed near Caen, Normandy in July 1944. His final artwork was a charcoal sketch of Madonna and Child on the wall of a ruined chapel: "a faint minor chord that no audience ever noticed.” thecatholicherald.com/the-catholic...

Mersa - Keith Douglas (1920-1942) Now from the skeletal town the cherry skinned soldiers stroll down to undress to idle on the white beach... I see my feet like stones underwater. The logical little fish converge and nip the flesh imagining I am one of the dead

Thank you @wugolini.bsky.social for your talk on expression of English Welsh identities during the First World War. As you know this is a concept that I understand - although mine isn't an English Welsh identity, it's a Welsh identity living in England. :-)