James Connolly
@drjamesconnolly.bsky.social
Historian at UCL SELCS specialising in modern France and Europe, the First World War, and military occupation. Other interests include film, TV, gaming, and comedy (especially puns). Very occasional stand-up comedian (5 performances so far).
Pinned
www.manchesterhive.com
Just to make this as easily accessible as it was 'elsewhere', here's the link to the Open Access version of my book 'The Experience of Occupation in the Nord, 1914-1918': www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781...
I'll be performing at this - really looking forward to it! It'll be my sixth time doing stand-up, almost a year exactly since I first tried it. Also my fifth different set, which is admittedly a slightly abnormal way of approaching things.
NEXT TUESDAY London's funniest Arts and Humanities researchers will make you laugh your ass off at LOLs In Translation. Tickets selling fast so get one now!
wegottickets.com/event/679150
wegottickets.com/event/679150
LOLs in Translation - standup comedy from Arts and Humanities researchers
A new night of research-based comedy from the team behind Science Showoff, but this time we've shown science the door to find out about HUMANS.
Join Steve Cross and a team of philosophers, linguists...
wegottickets.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I'll be performing at this - really looking forward to it! It'll be my sixth time doing stand-up, almost a year exactly since I first tried it. Also my fifth different set, which is admittedly a slightly abnormal way of approaching things.
"You have to very watch out" is my son's cute sign that he has internalised the French I speak to him (being a literal translation of "Tu dois faire très attention").
November 1, 2025 at 9:10 AM
"You have to very watch out" is my son's cute sign that he has internalised the French I speak to him (being a literal translation of "Tu dois faire très attention").
Currently with my four-year-old at a play café. It's half term, so absolutely packed. I count 17 mums and 1 grandad; I'm the only dad.
October 29, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Currently with my four-year-old at a play café. It's half term, so absolutely packed. I count 17 mums and 1 grandad; I'm the only dad.
Responding to peer review feels like someone's telling you to unpack a full suitcase you spent ages packing, remove all underwear and every third sock, add twenty new pairs of shoes plus clothing clearly wrong for that destination BUT MAKE SURE IT ALL FITS BACK IN NICELY AND THE ZIP STILL CLOSES.
October 8, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Responding to peer review feels like someone's telling you to unpack a full suitcase you spent ages packing, remove all underwear and every third sock, add twenty new pairs of shoes plus clothing clearly wrong for that destination BUT MAKE SURE IT ALL FITS BACK IN NICELY AND THE ZIP STILL CLOSES.
I was about to share the story of how I got conned by a man selling me a broken mirror, but it reflects badly on me.
October 1, 2025 at 12:59 PM
I was about to share the story of how I got conned by a man selling me a broken mirror, but it reflects badly on me.
Absolutely love losing hours of painstaking word-cutting and editing because a file didn't save correctly 🙃
September 26, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Absolutely love losing hours of painstaking word-cutting and editing because a file didn't save correctly 🙃
Le fait que les journalistes se sentent obligés de nier cette histoire ridicule, c'est mauvais cygne...
September 24, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Le fait que les journalistes se sentent obligés de nier cette histoire ridicule, c'est mauvais cygne...
My four-year-old who can just about write his own name just criticised my handwriting in a birthday card for his friend. Feels like there's some kind of allegory here. Or simply a a clear insight into quite how bad my writing is.
September 21, 2025 at 7:12 AM
My four-year-old who can just about write his own name just criticised my handwriting in a birthday card for his friend. Feels like there's some kind of allegory here. Or simply a a clear insight into quite how bad my writing is.
After 4 years of speaking in French to my son, I finally managed to encourage him to say a whole sentence in French. Unfortunately, it's for the following rapid-fire conversation, which he finds hilarious and we're repeating loads:
Him: Papa a pété?
Me: Papa a pas pété!
Him: Papa a pété?
Me: Papa a pas pété!
September 9, 2025 at 5:27 PM
After 4 years of speaking in French to my son, I finally managed to encourage him to say a whole sentence in French. Unfortunately, it's for the following rapid-fire conversation, which he finds hilarious and we're repeating loads:
Him: Papa a pété?
Me: Papa a pas pété!
Him: Papa a pété?
Me: Papa a pas pété!
My son starts primary school tomorrow. I got a particular pleasure ironing his Dunnes Store polo shirt, knowing that whilst he'll be the third generation Connolly to start school in London, even in a superficial way there'll still be a link to the familial homeland.
September 3, 2025 at 8:07 PM
My son starts primary school tomorrow. I got a particular pleasure ironing his Dunnes Store polo shirt, knowing that whilst he'll be the third generation Connolly to start school in London, even in a superficial way there'll still be a link to the familial homeland.
Not normally a fan of these types of signs, but this one isn't bad - and an odd find in a South London play café.
August 23, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Not normally a fan of these types of signs, but this one isn't bad - and an odd find in a South London play café.
Overheard on a train: "I was in the reserve marines... And it was Jeremy Hunt's dad, Nick Hunt, who was the admiral in charge..." I guess his dad was getting the swear mispronunciations long before the famous journalistic slip-ups of a few years ago.
August 20, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Overheard on a train: "I was in the reserve marines... And it was Jeremy Hunt's dad, Nick Hunt, who was the admiral in charge..." I guess his dad was getting the swear mispronunciations long before the famous journalistic slip-ups of a few years ago.
I get sleep apnoea, but I think I'd be too self-conchious to do this.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Conch blowing could help to alleviate sleep apnoea, study suggests
Experts on condition affecting millions of people in UK give cautious welcome to findings but say more research needed
www.theguardian.com
August 11, 2025 at 7:12 AM
I get sleep apnoea, but I think I'd be too self-conchious to do this.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Today, my almost four-year-old son learnt how to ride a bike without stabilisers. He also, in a discussion about height, asked, "Are you the smallest man ever?" I was a proud but small man today.
August 9, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Today, my almost four-year-old son learnt how to ride a bike without stabilisers. He also, in a discussion about height, asked, "Are you the smallest man ever?" I was a proud but small man today.
An undergrad student contacted me about a document I only reference once in my PhD: a police report on the death of a beggar in Lille, 1917. The student thinks the woman appearing in this report could be their great-grandmother! I sent them photos of the archival documents, but it's a tough read.
August 7, 2025 at 12:18 PM
An undergrad student contacted me about a document I only reference once in my PhD: a police report on the death of a beggar in Lille, 1917. The student thinks the woman appearing in this report could be their great-grandmother! I sent them photos of the archival documents, but it's a tough read.
Mandatory conflict of interest training offers scenarios that just aren't possible in my field. It may as well be: 'John is a time traveller from 2080, researching the 2020s but also trying to ensure that his ancestors become sole custodians of The Spoon of Destiny. Is this a conflict of interest?'
August 4, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Mandatory conflict of interest training offers scenarios that just aren't possible in my field. It may as well be: 'John is a time traveller from 2080, researching the 2020s but also trying to ensure that his ancestors become sole custodians of The Spoon of Destiny. Is this a conflict of interest?'
Reposted by James Connolly
“That’s what history as-a-process-of-finding-out-about-the-past actually is: a series of constant shocks and disorientations. You thought you knew something …, but you are repeatedly confronted with you own ignorance and forced to adapt your ideas.” 🗃️ williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/g...
Glazed and confused
In a piece for the Guardian Jeremy Ettinghausen introduced me to a term I hadn’t come across before: glazing. Ettinghausen’s article draws on eighteen months of chat logs between three …
williamgpooley.wordpress.com
July 29, 2025 at 11:52 AM
“That’s what history as-a-process-of-finding-out-about-the-past actually is: a series of constant shocks and disorientations. You thought you knew something …, but you are repeatedly confronted with you own ignorance and forced to adapt your ideas.” 🗃️ williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/g...
I have a lot of praise for my GP surgery, but they do have a habit of telling me, after various tests, "The doctor will contact you if there's a problem" - then sending an automated message the following day that I assume is bad news but is instead a request to rate my experience.
July 29, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I have a lot of praise for my GP surgery, but they do have a habit of telling me, after various tests, "The doctor will contact you if there's a problem" - then sending an automated message the following day that I assume is bad news but is instead a request to rate my experience.
Slightly shocked to have found dozens of formatting, spelling, and punctuation errors - alongside some minor but genuine factual inaccuracies - in a *fifth* edition of a text. But it goes to show that we all make typos, and small problems can pass by reviewers and editors.
July 23, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Slightly shocked to have found dozens of formatting, spelling, and punctuation errors - alongside some minor but genuine factual inaccuracies - in a *fifth* edition of a text. But it goes to show that we all make typos, and small problems can pass by reviewers and editors.
This is sad to see. I wouldn't be where I am today had I not received AHRC funding - I felt lucky and privileged even back then, but it's even tougher now.
'The number of student-initiated PhD scholarships funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is set to fall by 60 per cent when new doctoral training arrangements come into effect next year, new figures show.' 1/3
‘Student-led’ AHRC PhD places ‘to fall by at least 60 per cent’
Internal modelling released under Freedom of Information enquiry reveals extent of PhD scholarship cuts, with academics fearing impact could be greater still
www.timeshighereducation.com
July 22, 2025 at 9:51 AM
This is sad to see. I wouldn't be where I am today had I not received AHRC funding - I felt lucky and privileged even back then, but it's even tougher now.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend and participate in the big French history conference in Paris that starts today. Sad to be missing out, but I hope everyone has a great time, and I'll be following here somewhat jealously.
July 15, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend and participate in the big French history conference in Paris that starts today. Sad to be missing out, but I hope everyone has a great time, and I'll be following here somewhat jealously.
Reposted by James Connolly
Décès de Jean-Pierre Azéma, immense Historien de la Seconde Guerre mondiale
July 14, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Décès de Jean-Pierre Azéma, immense Historien de la Seconde Guerre mondiale
At a picnic at the primary school where my son will start in September, he was playing football with a much older boy. The boy looked at him then said, "I know what you're going to be when you're older: a YouTuber." Absolutely no idea what that meant, or whether it was an insult or a compliment.
July 14, 2025 at 5:34 PM
At a picnic at the primary school where my son will start in September, he was playing football with a much older boy. The boy looked at him then said, "I know what you're going to be when you're older: a YouTuber." Absolutely no idea what that meant, or whether it was an insult or a compliment.
At the very enjoyable and interesting Occupation Studies Network conference on Thursday and Friday, the question of periodisation and perspectives came up - e.g. do we consider there to be military occupationsvpre-1789, or is the notion intrinsically tied to notions of popular sovereignty?
July 13, 2025 at 8:28 AM
At the very enjoyable and interesting Occupation Studies Network conference on Thursday and Friday, the question of periodisation and perspectives came up - e.g. do we consider there to be military occupationsvpre-1789, or is the notion intrinsically tied to notions of popular sovereignty?
You know you're a modern French historian when you check the time on your phone, see it's 19.40, and then immediately think, "Fall of France." Of course, that is then followed by, "It'd be funny if I received a call (appel) now."
July 9, 2025 at 6:44 PM
You know you're a modern French historian when you check the time on your phone, see it's 19.40, and then immediately think, "Fall of France." Of course, that is then followed by, "It'd be funny if I received a call (appel) now."