Alan Ford
@alanford56.bsky.social
Historian of religion, interested in Irish history, religious hatred (studying it, that is...), how you write Irish history, and St Patrick and how he has been used (and abused) by Irish historians. Oh, and also classical music.
‘And on the 8th day, God created FC Koln’.
Annual service in Cologne Cathedral for FC Koln.
God didn’t listen: they were relegated.
Annual service in Cologne Cathedral for FC Koln.
God didn’t listen: they were relegated.
November 16, 2025 at 8:54 AM
‘And on the 8th day, God created FC Koln’.
Annual service in Cologne Cathedral for FC Koln.
God didn’t listen: they were relegated.
Annual service in Cologne Cathedral for FC Koln.
God didn’t listen: they were relegated.
Ah, nineteenth-century Gothic novels--amazing stuff!
November 4, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Ah, nineteenth-century Gothic novels--amazing stuff!
OK... OK... I know. I should have put the ladder away as soon as I had finished using it...
October 16, 2025 at 8:42 AM
OK... OK... I know. I should have put the ladder away as soon as I had finished using it...
Neutrally and factually recounted in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, as it is below, you can't help wondering what the psyychological impact of this bizarre upbringing was.
September 28, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Neutrally and factually recounted in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, as it is below, you can't help wondering what the psyychological impact of this bizarre upbringing was.
Wild alpine Monkshood (Aconitum) walking above Lermoos, Austria.
August 2, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Wild alpine Monkshood (Aconitum) walking above Lermoos, Austria.
Municipal lawn mower, Kirchplatz, Ehrwald, Austria.
Mows all day. At night tethers itself to charger. Then next morning starts again.
Not entirely sure, though, that this approach to public lawn mowing would work in inner city Nottingham...
Mows all day. At night tethers itself to charger. Then next morning starts again.
Not entirely sure, though, that this approach to public lawn mowing would work in inner city Nottingham...
August 2, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Municipal lawn mower, Kirchplatz, Ehrwald, Austria.
Mows all day. At night tethers itself to charger. Then next morning starts again.
Not entirely sure, though, that this approach to public lawn mowing would work in inner city Nottingham...
Mows all day. At night tethers itself to charger. Then next morning starts again.
Not entirely sure, though, that this approach to public lawn mowing would work in inner city Nottingham...
At last!
Edible History--Eat and work at the same time
Ella Hawkins, 'One British Archive: Creating an Edible Archive', Journal of British Studies, 64 (2025)
Edible History--Eat and work at the same time
Ella Hawkins, 'One British Archive: Creating an Edible Archive', Journal of British Studies, 64 (2025)
July 21, 2025 at 1:25 PM
At last!
Edible History--Eat and work at the same time
Ella Hawkins, 'One British Archive: Creating an Edible Archive', Journal of British Studies, 64 (2025)
Edible History--Eat and work at the same time
Ella Hawkins, 'One British Archive: Creating an Edible Archive', Journal of British Studies, 64 (2025)
Women's Attire in Irish Universities, Part 2
Alfred O'Rahilly, President of UCC, reputedly enforced the requirement that female students wear long stockings, by prowling through the Quadrangle feeling their knees through their long skirts....
Here he is writing to the UCC Women's Society:
Alfred O'Rahilly, President of UCC, reputedly enforced the requirement that female students wear long stockings, by prowling through the Quadrangle feeling their knees through their long skirts....
Here he is writing to the UCC Women's Society:
July 7, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Women's Attire in Irish Universities, Part 2
Alfred O'Rahilly, President of UCC, reputedly enforced the requirement that female students wear long stockings, by prowling through the Quadrangle feeling their knees through their long skirts....
Here he is writing to the UCC Women's Society:
Alfred O'Rahilly, President of UCC, reputedly enforced the requirement that female students wear long stockings, by prowling through the Quadrangle feeling their knees through their long skirts....
Here he is writing to the UCC Women's Society:
Scholarly solipsism
Ah isn't that nice. My brother David has sent me a copy of his latest book. And he has signed it with a note to my wife Johanna and me...
Ah isn't that nice. My brother David has sent me a copy of his latest book. And he has signed it with a note to my wife Johanna and me...
July 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Scholarly solipsism
Ah isn't that nice. My brother David has sent me a copy of his latest book. And he has signed it with a note to my wife Johanna and me...
Ah isn't that nice. My brother David has sent me a copy of his latest book. And he has signed it with a note to my wife Johanna and me...
... except that he hasn't.
He dedicated it to Johanna and... errr... to himself.
He dedicated it to Johanna and... errr... to himself.
July 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
... except that he hasn't.
He dedicated it to Johanna and... errr... to himself.
He dedicated it to Johanna and... errr... to himself.
Nice to be told about new jobs, but not quite sure about the AI here:
(a) I am retired
(b) I am totally unqualified for any of these jobs
(c) Can't imagine anyone having the set of skills for these jobs
(a) I am retired
(b) I am totally unqualified for any of these jobs
(c) Can't imagine anyone having the set of skills for these jobs
June 26, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Nice to be told about new jobs, but not quite sure about the AI here:
(a) I am retired
(b) I am totally unqualified for any of these jobs
(c) Can't imagine anyone having the set of skills for these jobs
(a) I am retired
(b) I am totally unqualified for any of these jobs
(c) Can't imagine anyone having the set of skills for these jobs
Exciting headline award winner
May 3, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Exciting headline award winner
Mysteries of the English language, no 809
April 11, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Mysteries of the English language, no 809
Did you know that Margaret Thatcher had Invincible knickers?
Lovely obit of Captain Tony Hallett in today's Times.
Lovely obit of Captain Tony Hallett in today's Times.
March 5, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Did you know that Margaret Thatcher had Invincible knickers?
Lovely obit of Captain Tony Hallett in today's Times.
Lovely obit of Captain Tony Hallett in today's Times.
Interesting question...
March 2, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Interesting question...
And here is the proof that He did...
March 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM
And here is the proof that He did...
'Fat sparrow' Netsuke
Japan, Edo period
Japan, Edo period
March 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM
'Fat sparrow' Netsuke
Japan, Edo period
Japan, Edo period
Who needs Ozempic or Wegovy, when you can have this?
February 6, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Who needs Ozempic or Wegovy, when you can have this?
Bloom County by Berke Breathed
It was funny back in the 1980s
We aren't laughing now...
It was funny back in the 1980s
We aren't laughing now...
January 24, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Bloom County by Berke Breathed
It was funny back in the 1980s
We aren't laughing now...
It was funny back in the 1980s
We aren't laughing now...
I kid you not.
It's the Rosy-Faced Lovebird!
It's the Rosy-Faced Lovebird!
January 8, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I kid you not.
It's the Rosy-Faced Lovebird!
It's the Rosy-Faced Lovebird!
How did he get away with it?
From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, my brief bio of that paradoxical puritan and serial sexual predator, Stephen Jerome.
From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, my brief bio of that paradoxical puritan and serial sexual predator, Stephen Jerome.
January 7, 2025 at 4:47 PM
How did he get away with it?
From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, my brief bio of that paradoxical puritan and serial sexual predator, Stephen Jerome.
From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, my brief bio of that paradoxical puritan and serial sexual predator, Stephen Jerome.
So then, how do you interpret this?
1. Example from 1949 of the subservience of a prominent Catholic UCD historian, Robin Dudley Edwards, to the Ab of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid;
or
2. Dudley's famous sense of mischief at work.
1. Example from 1949 of the subservience of a prominent Catholic UCD historian, Robin Dudley Edwards, to the Ab of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid;
or
2. Dudley's famous sense of mischief at work.
December 16, 2024 at 5:40 PM
So then, how do you interpret this?
1. Example from 1949 of the subservience of a prominent Catholic UCD historian, Robin Dudley Edwards, to the Ab of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid;
or
2. Dudley's famous sense of mischief at work.
1. Example from 1949 of the subservience of a prominent Catholic UCD historian, Robin Dudley Edwards, to the Ab of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid;
or
2. Dudley's famous sense of mischief at work.