New Career Path

In September I shall be embarking on a new career direction and going back to teaching and university, when I begin a PGCE at University of Wales, Trinity St. Davids.

Book Update

I am delighted to be able to announce that I have been awarded a Scouloudi Publication Award from the Institute for Historical Research for my forthcoming book: Statesmen in Caricature: The Great Rivalry of Fox and Pitt the Younger in the Age of the Political Cartoon, which will be published by I.B. Tauris in 2019!

Book Title

I have finally got a title for the book I have been writing from my PhD. thesis:

Statesmen in Caricature: The Great Rivalry of Fox and Pitt the Younger in the Age of the Political Cartoon

Hopefully it will be published in 2018! . . . Watch this space for more news. 

Subversive, Satirical and Scandalous: An Introduction to Eighteenth Century Caricature

I will be giving a talk on eighteenth-century caricature at Romsey Abbey on Wednesday 31 May for the 2F's Committee raising money for Abbey Funda. The talk will be in the Church Rooms starting at 19:30. Tickets £6 on the door and include pudding!

J.S. Bach St. Matthew Passion

Wow! What a Start to Passiontide!

I have just been listening to a superb rendition of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BVW244) at Romsey Abbey. 

It was a complete rendition of the 1736 Score on period instruments by the orchestras of the Bishop’s Consort under the direction of the Rt. Revd David Stancliffe (former Bishop of Salisbury), and led by Emily White and Morag Johnson.

Hugo Hymas san the part of Evangelist and Ben Rowath the part of Christus.

The whole performance was very moving and made great use of Romsey Abbey’s unique acoustic. Bishop Stancliffe’s aim was to recreate the feel of the 1736 performance, through the use of period instruments and two choirs of four people. This was particularly effective and provided a clarity that massed choirs can find hard to match. There is a great sense of crossover with the Evangelist joining in the church’s corales and Christus ends by singing of entombing Jesus in his own heart.

The performers all generously gave their time for free with a retiring collection being taken in aid of Relieving the Famine in Burundi.

Cost of Illustrations for Academic Texts

Is it just me or do the fees charged by some institutions for using images from their collections appear somewhat exorbitant. The would-be author certainly needs to take care when selecting sources for their illustrations, even for work which in its original form is out of copyright.  My advice would be to shop around as not all institutions charge the same rates, and some will even grant free academic licences!

• With the cost of illustration being so high, both in terms of copyright fees and permissions and the fees publishers charge for colour, how long will it be before hyperlinks and QR codes to images on their host institution’s websites replace illustrations in academic textbooks and journal articles?
• Would this be desirable?
• Do small black and white copies of coloured originals continue to serve any useful purpose in the age of the eBook and electronically accessed journals?
• Are such fees stifling research?

Food for thought . . . 

Emeritus Professor W.A. Speck R.I.P.

I was saddened to learn of the death of Bill Speck in February 2017. He will, I'm sure be sadly missed by the whole community of eighteenth-century studies. I first met him at the University of Nottingham at a meeting of the Historical Association, a society which he was a great advocate and past President. I would later work alongside him co-convening the University of Nottingham Interdisciplinary Eighteenth-Century Research Seminar (2009-2011). His passion for History, and the Eighteenth-Century in particular, was infectious and he rapidly became a friend and mentor. He was a regular and popular figure at the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Annual Conference, where we continued to meet after I left Nottingham. His work has left an indelible mark upon the history of the reign of Queen Anne, and his later work on the poet Robert Southey demonstrated his intellectual talent and adaptability, publishing across the length and breadth of the long eighteenth-century. 

Rest in Peace Old Friend.