The first black student at Oxford University: The University did not start recording the ethnicity of its students until late the following century, so we cannot say with absolute certainty that Cole was the first black student; but his presence in Oxford was remarked upon by contemporaries, suggesting that his appearance was something new. ( Read more... )

Piece in today's Guardian G2 section on the sudden swathe of dystopian movies: why is the future on film always so grim?
I think it makes some good points: As Imran Siddiquee pointed out last year in the Atlantic, it is a world where white people are the ones doing most of the suffering. It is a world where white people get to masquerade as ( Read more... )

I had yesterday off, mostly because it was the only day I could see between now and Christmas that I could take off so as not to lose the leave entitlement.

And I did manage to get quite a bit done: dentist, as aforementioned, making The Famous Aubergine Dip, doing my UK Christmas cards, various items of life administration, some website updates ( Read more... )

Not entirely unknown before, but now I know much more about her (though not as much as I might like*), after reading Pam Hirsch's biography.

Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon is not, perhaps, one of the most well-remembered names of Victorian feminist heroines/female achievers. For example, who hasn't heard about her cousin Florence, the Lady with the ( Read more... )

I've been brooding over some of the comments that followed the post about Arthur Ransome, bolshevism, and the presumed twee cosiness of Swallows and Amazons, and thinking further in particular about conformity, rebellion, and gender identification. Particularly exercised by the notion someone cited that liking Just William = rebellion and liking S& ( Read more... )