The Plashing Vole

I had the pleasure of diving back into my late teens last night, courtesy of my friend Phil, who stuck me on the guest list (consisting of, ...

OK. I gather someone who was in a middle-ranking band has died. I actually had to switch off Radio 4's flagship Today  programme because...

In return for the Animated Communist Manifesto, @thehumandory sends me the Mickey Mouse Midsummer Night's Dream . It's 20 minutes lo...

Karl Marx meets Walt Disney to explain The Communist Manifesto.  If only the reader was an animated as the, well, animation. Seriously man, ...

Good news, everybody! Paul Uppal - aka The Secretive Millionaire - has been found alive and well. Turns out he was merely in the cellars at ...

I've been stuck in this office for nearly ten hours, and I need some diversion. I had a lovely visit from a departing student, and a ser...

A couple of days ago, I posted a rather rambling piece on what your average sleep-deprived bleary-eyed and dyspeptic lecturer wants to see ...

The big news in my bookish life is that there is no book news! I've been so busy that I've had no time for reading, nor even for buy...

I'm now becoming seriously worried about the safety and whereabouts of Paul Uppal MP. Caption contest? Normally he's all ove...

Occasionally, I get fan mail and requests. One reader, whom we'll call Bruno di Gradi because that's his online identity, suggested ...

Given that I'm in a walking group known as the Map Twats, I was always likely to love this animated historical map of Europe. I try to f...

A marking playlist isn't quite as simple as you might think. Anything too catchy is distracting. Anything too soporific means you may wa...

OK, I posted an awful lot about the School Games last week, and I enjoyed the event hugely. But I have one more thing to say. While I was ...

I'm deep into the marking - one dissertation left to do, then it's the forty-odd English Renaissance pile, then further mountains of...

It's my blog, I can post whatever I want! Rest of the School Games fencing photos here . Click these ones for larger versions. A ...

Yet more photos from the 2012 School Games fencing event. Emily Ruaux means business Calm down, calm down Jessica...

Even more fencing photos from the School Games. Rest here , click these to enlarge. Only 30-40 more to come! Don't worry, I'll get ...