(Dr) Debbie Challis
@poisonchallis.bsky.social
The ancient world in the modern, in so many ways. Cultural historian and creative producer FRHistS: https://www.debbiechallis.com.
Pinned
Current mood.
Visited @womenslibrary.bsky.social and bought a badge that reads ‘get your filthy laws off my body’.
Wonderful library too.
Visited @womenslibrary.bsky.social and bought a badge that reads ‘get your filthy laws off my body’.
Wonderful library too.
Visited my first love. Remember fondly that moment when 17 yo - a few months after visiting Athens- of seeing the Parthenon sculptures and wishing for the blue & sun of Greece again. One day!
November 11, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Visited my first love. Remember fondly that moment when 17 yo - a few months after visiting Athens- of seeing the Parthenon sculptures and wishing for the blue & sun of Greece again. One day!
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
PS I may return to this thread with practical examples of how counter-narratives work.
In the meantime, listen to my three-part pod on Aesop. It is ALL about how narratives are constructed to access the inaccessible.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
In the meantime, listen to my three-part pod on Aesop. It is ALL about how narratives are constructed to access the inaccessible.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
AESOP II - A dolphin and a seagull were hurling insults at each other
Podcast Episode · Alex Andreou's Podyssey · 07/08/2025 · 1h 12m
podcasts.apple.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:44 PM
PS I may return to this thread with practical examples of how counter-narratives work.
In the meantime, listen to my three-part pod on Aesop. It is ALL about how narratives are constructed to access the inaccessible.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
In the meantime, listen to my three-part pod on Aesop. It is ALL about how narratives are constructed to access the inaccessible.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
🧵 A remarkable discovery by Portico Library volunteer Rebecca Lamb has revealed that Charles Dickens signed the Library’s Strangers’ Book in May 1844 — confirming that one of the world’s most celebrated novelists once stepped inside Manchester’s oldest subscription library...
November 6, 2025 at 12:11 PM
🧵 A remarkable discovery by Portico Library volunteer Rebecca Lamb has revealed that Charles Dickens signed the Library’s Strangers’ Book in May 1844 — confirming that one of the world’s most celebrated novelists once stepped inside Manchester’s oldest subscription library...
Some good news!
In his victory speech, Mamdani said:
New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.
In his victory speech, Mamdani said:
New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.
November 5, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Some good news!
In his victory speech, Mamdani said:
New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.
In his victory speech, Mamdani said:
New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
🏛️ PODYSSEY SEASON 2 - All the details! 📜
What. Where. When.
🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/6Aw1...
🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a... @sturdyalex.bsky.social
What. Where. When.
🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/6Aw1...
🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a... @sturdyalex.bsky.social
Podyssey Season 2 - All The Details
Podcast Episode · Alex Andreou's Podyssey · 04/11/2025 · Bonus · 9m
podcasts.apple.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:26 AM
🏛️ PODYSSEY SEASON 2 - All the details! 📜
What. Where. When.
🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/6Aw1...
🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a... @sturdyalex.bsky.social
What. Where. When.
🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/6Aw1...
🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a... @sturdyalex.bsky.social
My day. Exciting but shattered now after installing @porticolibrary.bsky.social then a v atmospheric Polidori #Vampyre reading in the reading room with Byron’s vampire fragment on display.
October 31, 2025 at 8:29 PM
My day. Exciting but shattered now after installing @porticolibrary.bsky.social then a v atmospheric Polidori #Vampyre reading in the reading room with Byron’s vampire fragment on display.
The lady and I decided a ladder would have been easier for a museum heist but guess not much for a plot for Wallace & Gromit.
V much recommend going to newly opened The Harris in Preston. Great to see it’s so busy too. Funded @heritagefunduk.bsky.social.
V much recommend going to newly opened The Harris in Preston. Great to see it’s so busy too. Funded @heritagefunduk.bsky.social.
October 28, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The lady and I decided a ladder would have been easier for a museum heist but guess not much for a plot for Wallace & Gromit.
V much recommend going to newly opened The Harris in Preston. Great to see it’s so busy too. Funded @heritagefunduk.bsky.social.
V much recommend going to newly opened The Harris in Preston. Great to see it’s so busy too. Funded @heritagefunduk.bsky.social.
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
BBC News - How a Hollywood tour guide discovered an unknown celebrity grave
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
How a Hollywood tour guide discovered an unknown celebrity grave
The Bride of Frankenstein actress Elsa Lanchester will be celebrated on October 28, her 123rd birthday.
www.bbc.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:08 AM
BBC News - How a Hollywood tour guide discovered an unknown celebrity grave
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
It is so very exciting to match one of Mary Severn’s letters to a portrait, especially one that was unknown! Read more in a new blog.
#womenartists #archives
www.debbiechallis.com/post/mary-se...
#womenartists #archives
www.debbiechallis.com/post/mary-se...
Mary Severn Drawing Eton: An Addendum
Matching a portrait to a letter and identifying the sitter. Archival detectives afoot! A new blog with Peter Bradford too.
www.debbiechallis.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
It is so very exciting to match one of Mary Severn’s letters to a portrait, especially one that was unknown! Read more in a new blog.
#womenartists #archives
www.debbiechallis.com/post/mary-se...
#womenartists #archives
www.debbiechallis.com/post/mary-se...
Got out a first edition of the life & work of Lord Byron (1832) @porticolibrary as it has the 1819 fragment of the Vampire in it for a slow reading session next week.
Got caught smelling the book! 🤣
Got caught smelling the book! 🤣
October 22, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Got out a first edition of the life & work of Lord Byron (1832) @porticolibrary as it has the 1819 fragment of the Vampire in it for a slow reading session next week.
Got caught smelling the book! 🤣
Got caught smelling the book! 🤣
Went to a book event I did not run! Really interesting talk by @bschillace.brandyschillace.com at Social Refuge in Manchester on Intermediaries. New book about the sexologists and a trans woman in Weimar Republic in 1920s & what happened next. Unfortunately a warning for our times. 🏳️⚧️⚧️
October 21, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Went to a book event I did not run! Really interesting talk by @bschillace.brandyschillace.com at Social Refuge in Manchester on Intermediaries. New book about the sexologists and a trans woman in Weimar Republic in 1920s & what happened next. Unfortunately a warning for our times. 🏳️⚧️⚧️
On Friday I received a lovely birthday present from @0tralala.bsky.social. He had been waiting for Tate to take a photo of the only work by Mary Severn Newton in their collection entitled ‘View of Naples’ (T09845). But is it?
www.debbiechallis.com/post/view-of...
www.debbiechallis.com/post/view-of...
View of Naples or a View from Rhodes? Mary's only work in Tate
‘That isn’t Naples, it’s Rhodes!’ I said. Beyond them, across the characteristically bright blue Mediterranean, are the hills of Lycia. We’d seen that view ourselves just earlier this year.
www.debbiechallis.com
October 19, 2025 at 7:58 PM
On Friday I received a lovely birthday present from @0tralala.bsky.social. He had been waiting for Tate to take a photo of the only work by Mary Severn Newton in their collection entitled ‘View of Naples’ (T09845). But is it?
www.debbiechallis.com/post/view-of...
www.debbiechallis.com/post/view-of...
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
It’s #worldmenopauseday and we’re here to welcome you. Or discuss hot flushes, shaving, anger, vertigo & sleep remedies. And our wisdom.
Btw🔥this means something else to us.
#menopause
Btw🔥this means something else to us.
#menopause
October 18, 2025 at 11:34 AM
It’s #worldmenopauseday and we’re here to welcome you. Or discuss hot flushes, shaving, anger, vertigo & sleep remedies. And our wisdom.
Btw🔥this means something else to us.
#menopause
Btw🔥this means something else to us.
#menopause
Yesterday I was sad to read of the death of my Classics teacher Barbara Finney. She was one of the few teachers (in fact people) who did not see being clever and passionate as something to be laughed at or put down. Wrote up some memories of her on linked in:
www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-deb...
www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-deb...
In Memoriam: Barbara Finney - The Classical Association | Dr Debbie Challis
Yesterday I was sad to read of the death of my Classics teacher Barbara Finney. Obviously, she was my Classics teacher rather a long time ago as I did my A Level in *coughs 1993-94*. She was one of t...
www.linkedin.com
October 18, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Yesterday I was sad to read of the death of my Classics teacher Barbara Finney. She was one of the few teachers (in fact people) who did not see being clever and passionate as something to be laughed at or put down. Wrote up some memories of her on linked in:
www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-deb...
www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-deb...
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
🧵 A lovely and remarkable homecoming story for a Friday!
An 1863 edition of The Art Journal has been returned to the Portico Library by retired architect Harman Scott, almost a century after it likely left our shelves...
An 1863 edition of The Art Journal has been returned to the Portico Library by retired architect Harman Scott, almost a century after it likely left our shelves...
October 17, 2025 at 11:09 AM
🧵 A lovely and remarkable homecoming story for a Friday!
An 1863 edition of The Art Journal has been returned to the Portico Library by retired architect Harman Scott, almost a century after it likely left our shelves...
An 1863 edition of The Art Journal has been returned to the Portico Library by retired architect Harman Scott, almost a century after it likely left our shelves...
Lovely time at Harmonicon worshiping all things stones in Tidmordrn with some old books from @porticolibrary.bsky.social.
October 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Lovely time at Harmonicon worshiping all things stones in Tidmordrn with some old books from @porticolibrary.bsky.social.
On #worldmentalhealth day, am sharing a post about anxiety & burnout that I have had and reading it in the letters of Mary Severn.
Doing a course on therapeutic concepts has also helped me realise how much trauma I & many many people carry:
www.debbiechallis.com/post/but-now...
Doing a course on therapeutic concepts has also helped me realise how much trauma I & many many people carry:
www.debbiechallis.com/post/but-now...
‘But now I really am quite well’: Admitting anxiety and burnout
Admitting anxiety and burnout and reading about it in the past - how the biography of Mary Severn seems to become autobiographical, again.
www.debbiechallis.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:29 AM
On #worldmentalhealth day, am sharing a post about anxiety & burnout that I have had and reading it in the letters of Mary Severn.
Doing a course on therapeutic concepts has also helped me realise how much trauma I & many many people carry:
www.debbiechallis.com/post/but-now...
Doing a course on therapeutic concepts has also helped me realise how much trauma I & many many people carry:
www.debbiechallis.com/post/but-now...
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
We've got another busy week ahead at The Portico...
To mark this year's #BannedBooksWeek, we'll be exploring Machiavelli, whose work was banned across various states in Europe from the 15th to the 16th Centuries, and how his works have been reimagined today...
To mark this year's #BannedBooksWeek, we'll be exploring Machiavelli, whose work was banned across various states in Europe from the 15th to the 16th Centuries, and how his works have been reimagined today...
October 6, 2025 at 10:17 AM
We've got another busy week ahead at The Portico...
To mark this year's #BannedBooksWeek, we'll be exploring Machiavelli, whose work was banned across various states in Europe from the 15th to the 16th Centuries, and how his works have been reimagined today...
To mark this year's #BannedBooksWeek, we'll be exploring Machiavelli, whose work was banned across various states in Europe from the 15th to the 16th Centuries, and how his works have been reimagined today...
Mary Severn's 'Private Sketches' that depict moments in her working & home life 1859/60 made me LOL. Mary's ability to laugh at herself, her family & great artists - like G. F. Watts - & record it, is part of her immense talent. Uploaded the sketches in my blog
www.debbiechallis.com/post/private...
www.debbiechallis.com/post/private...
Private Sketches by M.S.: Moments from 1859 & 1860
One of the discoveries in the archive was 'Private Sketches' by Mary Severn. Some cartoons that made me L.O.L. Admittedly, I am a sad nerd who - in my head - lives as much in the 1850s and 1860s as th...
www.debbiechallis.com
October 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Mary Severn's 'Private Sketches' that depict moments in her working & home life 1859/60 made me LOL. Mary's ability to laugh at herself, her family & great artists - like G. F. Watts - & record it, is part of her immense talent. Uploaded the sketches in my blog
www.debbiechallis.com/post/private...
www.debbiechallis.com/post/private...
Being a nosey parker is my favourite pastime. But I dress it up as being a historian.
#archives #romantic
www.debbiechallis.com/post/what-s-...
#archives #romantic
www.debbiechallis.com/post/what-s-...
What's in the Box? Rummaging in the Archives
One of my favourite pastimes is rummaging in archives, even in my own, and finding old things. I have pretensions to be a historian and writer, but really I'm just nosey.
www.debbiechallis.com
October 4, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Being a nosey parker is my favourite pastime. But I dress it up as being a historian.
#archives #romantic
www.debbiechallis.com/post/what-s-...
#archives #romantic
www.debbiechallis.com/post/what-s-...
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
Drum roll, please....
We couldn't be more excited to share that historic transformation plans for The Portico Library have been submitted to Manchester City Council...
We couldn't be more excited to share that historic transformation plans for The Portico Library have been submitted to Manchester City Council...
October 3, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Drum roll, please....
We couldn't be more excited to share that historic transformation plans for The Portico Library have been submitted to Manchester City Council...
We couldn't be more excited to share that historic transformation plans for The Portico Library have been submitted to Manchester City Council...
Satisfying couple of days installing @porticolibrary.bsky.social main exhibition & a pop up for #blackhistorymonth❤️🖤💚 .
Am one of the 5 in portico with African diaspora- the one with guilt obvs - but did one section & used some of my archive too.
Am one of the 5 in portico with African diaspora- the one with guilt obvs - but did one section & used some of my archive too.
October 1, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Satisfying couple of days installing @porticolibrary.bsky.social main exhibition & a pop up for #blackhistorymonth❤️🖤💚 .
Am one of the 5 in portico with African diaspora- the one with guilt obvs - but did one section & used some of my archive too.
Am one of the 5 in portico with African diaspora- the one with guilt obvs - but did one section & used some of my archive too.
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
Well, bless my soul, another long, long post, this time Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders by Terrance Dicks, featuring Blackpool, Indiana Jones and Mr Toad. 0tralala.blogspot.com/2025/09/doct...
Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders, by Terrance Dicks
0tralala.blogspot.com
September 26, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Well, bless my soul, another long, long post, this time Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders by Terrance Dicks, featuring Blackpool, Indiana Jones and Mr Toad. 0tralala.blogspot.com/2025/09/doct...
Reposted by (Dr) Debbie Challis
it's so nice to see what a functioning judiciary looks like
"A transgender woman in the East African nation of Kenya has won a landmark court victory in which the judge not only found in her favour, but ordered the government to pass a Transgender Protection Rights Act."
fuck yeah
"A transgender woman in the East African nation of Kenya has won a landmark court victory in which the judge not only found in her favour, but ordered the government to pass a Transgender Protection Rights Act."
fuck yeah
Kenya transgender rights victory hailed as African first
QNews LGBTIQA+ News
qnews.com.au
September 23, 2025 at 3:35 PM
it's so nice to see what a functioning judiciary looks like
"A transgender woman in the East African nation of Kenya has won a landmark court victory in which the judge not only found in her favour, but ordered the government to pass a Transgender Protection Rights Act."
fuck yeah
"A transgender woman in the East African nation of Kenya has won a landmark court victory in which the judge not only found in her favour, but ordered the government to pass a Transgender Protection Rights Act."
fuck yeah
Watched this & felt like I was in Star Wars watching that message from Princess Leia.
As I was saying…
Jimmy Kimmel is Back!
YouTube video by Jimmy Kimmel Live
youtu.be
September 24, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Watched this & felt like I was in Star Wars watching that message from Princess Leia.