Another favourite summer road trip on the bike. Good news that it’s now more accessible, but I’ll miss the quirkiness of climbing down a rickety ladder wearing a hard hat to visit the ethereal Neolithic underworld of the flint mines of Grimes Graves. theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/a…

Cromwell's birthday today. It's not about heroes. As a Leveller-sympathiser of Irish Catholic extraction I see him 'warts & all.' But he's a fascinating figure, if only because how in late middle age after a lifetime of failure & obscurity he shaped the paradigm of his generation

Like most History teachers, I've only just finished the GCSE content, with the exams only a few weeks off. It'd take a brave decision from exam boards to decide that we'd be doing 'better History' if we focused on a smaller curriculum done with more rigour.

Usual suspects are calling for a national holiday for St George's day. Maybe redefined as the patron saint of Brexit. Interesting that in the middle ages Edmund the Martyr and Edward the Confessor were rather more plausible contenders for the role of national saint.

Most summers I take a road-trip on my bike to visit the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, have a pint & a pie in the nearby Falcon pub where Cromwell raised his regiment, and on to the family home in Ely. My students joke it's my version of a pilgrimage🤣
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

This: As a resolutely atheist teacher I've sometimes allowed students & colleagues to use my classroom for private prayer. Unlike the attention-hungry head of Michaela Academy, I think this is evidence of an inclusive school community; not a divided one.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Interesting reading. I suspect misconceptions about Britain's knowledge of the Holocaust and the support given not restricted to school students. Myths embedded in a wider national narrative of Britain as champion of human rights & safe-haven for refugees.

Anniversary of 1912 Titanic sinking. One event students always seem to know something about. Maybe because of1997 film. For History teachers shows the power of narrative and empathy as a way in to developing themes like class & immigration.
youtu.be/oOxMrNQmLcg?si… via YouTube

I love teaching History - but I also love some quality pottering about in the holidays. I combined the two today when I picked up this gem - a biography of ‘free-born’ John Lilburne published in 1961 - in the 2nd hand bookshop at Kenwood House.

Much is being made of the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale. Nothing glorious about an imperialist deal in 1904 which confirmed British control of Egypt and French control of Morocco. Much like the 1885 Berlin Conference; no representatives of these countries involved.

This article causing a bit of a stir. Fascinating stuff- must look into it further. Hopefully Christopher Hill’s work will be due a much-deserved rehabilitation. theguardian.com/education/2024…

The pitfalls of:
National Covenant vs Solemn League & Covenant.
Engagement vs Solemn Engagement.
Humble Petition & Advice vs Humble Petition & Address.
Treaty of Breda vs Declaration of Breda.
...sometimes I do feel sorry for my students trying to revise the English Revolution!

I’d resisted watching Ridley Scott’s Napoleon because of his crass comments about History and historians. But last night I succumbed. Looks spectacular - but complete tosh. Not just as History but as drama too. Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head has a more authentic sense of period.

This is an essential resource for all humanity. To boycott it is ridiculous and dangerous historical ‘what- about-ery’.

Anniversary of 1916 Easter Rising. Why isn’t it part of the Migration, Empire & People GCSE? Significant for all 3 aspects of course; Irish are biggest migrant group making up British identity & the uprising of England’s oldest colony ignited independence movements across empire.

So true: In my pre-teaching career in the print industry I rose to 'senior leadership'. Hated it & felt like a fraud. Lost sight of what I enjoyed & what I was good at . Never going to make that mistake again. Being a decent teacher is all I aspire to now.

No doubt classic film Casablanca will be on TV this Easter. Best scene when the Marseillaise sung in a bar full of Nazis. Genuine passion because many of the actors really were anti-fascist & Jewish refugees; even the main German officer.
youtu.be/cOeFhSzoTuc?si… via YouTube

Whilst the trappings of modern Christmas holidays are a Victorian invention, Easter is much older. Like most aspects of religious practice in the 17th Century, it was an ideological battlefield: Easter eggs were around but regarded by puritans as popery bordering on paganism.

Taking a group of Year12s on an outreach trip to my old college. Hopefully planted a few aspirational seeds. Big thanks to the team at Clare - busting so many preconceptions about access to Oxbridge.

World Tuberculosis day. My dad & my uncle both had TB in the 50s when the NHS was in its infancy. The experience shaped the rest of their lives; not just medically but in their social & political attitudes. A disease of poor living conditions it's sobering that it's now returning