Looking forward to this history of a college some people tried so hard to discredit in its early days that they accused it of “scattering the seeds of evil.”

A good summary of the disaster happening at UK Unis “…another messy, confused decline of something Britain was genuinely once good at, which contributed billions to the economy while projecting soft power abroad” theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

My 76-year-old Teddy has successfully survived an operation to re-attach his legs at the admirable Kate Healey's teddy-bear hospital. A tricky operation since unlike today's models he is stuffed with straw and has leather pads. He is waving in anticipation of coming back home!

open.spotify.com/episode/6jjTJP…

Save St John's Voices - Stop cutting opportunities for female singers in Cambridge - Sign the Petition! chng.it/7CGMYMjg via Change.org UK
Sir Richard Evans, Former President of Wolfson College Cambridge and Regius Professor Emeritus of History, University of Cambridge

Save St John's Voices - Stop cutting opportunities for female singers in Cambridge - Sign the Petition! chng.it/YHcK6hBH via Change.org UK

A beautiful appreciation of Jim Sharpe by brilliant Lyndal Roper. theguardian.com/books/2024/mar…

open.spotify.com/episode/6jjTJP…

On the podcast this week... Sir Richard Evans on the real history behind 'The Zone of Interest', Benjamin Woolley on the mother-and-son duo who changed the face of the Jacobean court, Anna Reid on the bid to topple the Bolsheviks and Saul David on the evolution of the British Army.

“In invoking the verdict or judgment of history, politicians are, as so often, demonstrating their own ignorance and misunderstanding of how historians work.”

📑 The Weekend Essay with Sir Richard Evans

newstatesman.com/the-weekend-es…

Wonderful tribute to my sadly departed colleague, Jim Sharpe. Not only was he great social historian, but he was also a great communicator, both as a lecturer and someone who conveyed complex ideas to the wider public. #earlymodern #twitterstorians engelsbergideas.com/notebook/sharp…

David Wootton remembers the late, great James Sharpe engelsbergideas.com/notebook/sharp…

It is with great sadness that I have received confirmation from the Department of History at York University of the passing of Professor James Sharpe last Tuesday. He will be deeply missed!💔

Amid the current furore, a reminder that to talk of Jewish control or influence in the press is to engage in a classic antisemitic conspiracy theory with a long history, back to the Nazis in the 1920s, and beyond: gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/anti…

Saw 'The Zone of Interest' in the cinema yesterday. Question: when two empty beds were shown, why were they made up in the Anglo-American way, with blanket, folded-over sheet and rectangular pillow, and not the German way, with square white duvet and pillow and no blanket?

Crossing the bridge over the chalk stream at the bottom of our garden, I spotted a white egret wading in the water. I thought they lived in Africa.

When and why did 'behaviour' cease to be a collective noun, as in 'his behaviours were objectionable' instead of 'his behaviour was objectionable'. I suspect psychiatrists are to blame.

Dr Samuel Johnson: 'No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.' Why should scientists earn millions with their patents while scholars in the humanities are expected to publish their books without charge?

On 1 February we mark the 90th anniversary of our institution, which was formed in the 1930s in response to the existential threat of Nazi antisemitism. Find out more about this remarkable history, and our work today via today's The Guardian Daniel Boffey theguardian.com/world/2024/jan…