Catherine Clarke
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cathamclarke.bsky.social
Catherine Clarke
@cathamclarke.bsky.social
6.4K followers 3.3K following 2.4K posts
Writer, academic. Professor & Director @chppc.bsky.social & @vch-home.bsky.social. Beach hut days. New book: #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems, Penguin Allen Lane, 04.09.25.
https://www.catherineclarke.info/ / https://www.history.ac.uk/people/catherine-clarke
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cathamclarke.bsky.social
There's still time to get your copy and join us for a #TimeTravelAdvent! 25 chapters = a few minutes of immersive time travel for each day in December, leading up to (and including) Christmas Day. I'll be sharing posts on here every day, too. #AdventCalendar #book #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems
November 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Lovely to be a #Christmas gift pick for #poetry lovers at @foylesforbooks.bsky.social!
(Pssst - the #history buffs in your life would love it too!)

#AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
That Sunday evening feeling...
Kingston Lacy this afternoon.
November 9, 2025 at 7:08 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Every year we tell Dad we reckon it's the best #bonfire ever. But this year, I think it really was... ❤️🔥🎆
November 8, 2025 at 8:10 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
A full spectrum of #swans in #Christchurch today!
A black swan on the river Two white swans on a small pond
November 7, 2025 at 7:48 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
When you have to nip to the shops, so get the ferry across the river - and there's a passenger without a ticket... #Christchurch #WickFerry #Stour #seagull
Photo of a seagull sitting on a small boat
November 7, 2025 at 3:40 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
This is a humble request for a favour. If you've read my new book, A History of England in 25 Poems - thank you so much! I would be so grateful if you could take a few minutes to leave an honest review online. Thank you 🙏😊
Picture of the book cover for A History of England in 25 Poems, with text: 'Poems, most especially, have the power to open a direct portal between us and moments in the past. Poems aren't just a bridge to the events of history, but into the experiences, emotions and imaginations of those people living and breathing through it.'
November 7, 2025 at 9:20 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
I like my #WilliamMorris notebook but am persistently troubled by the floorplan implied in the logo (on every page). What does William keep at home in the tiny windowless room without a door? Is the large space without an entrance useful / beautiful? This distracts me a lot in meetings.
Notebook with William Morris pattern cover Logo reading "William Morris at home" on a sort of floor plan
November 6, 2025 at 8:33 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Want to hear me say 'buttocks', 'cock and balls', 'vulva', 'farting' & 'flatulence', for FREE? Listen to my #audiobook preview on Am*zon! Has the algorithm been making mischief with its sample selection? I think so! (The preview on Google is just the Introduction, which probably makes more sense...)
The audiobook preview for A History of England in 25 Poems
November 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Selected History Day swag! What an incredible buzz and an amazing opportunity to explore archives and collections from across the UK, right here in Senate House. Thank you @ihrlibrary.bsky.social and @senatehouselib.bsky.social! #HistDay25
Badges, flyers, postcards, bookmarks and a book
November 4, 2025 at 2:58 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
An inadvertently Bay City Rollers look for my Historical Research Lecture @ihr.bsky.social today...
November 4, 2025 at 11:49 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Looks like this is a thing! The US edition of my book, coming on August 4, 2026, with Pegasus Books. More info:
www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Hist...
(PS not actually my 'first book', but the others were academic ones...) #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems #history #poetry #book #new
Book cover for the US edition of A History of England in Twenty-Five Poems by Catherine Clarke. The background image is AN OLD BRIDGE AT HENDON, MIDDLESEX, by Frederick Waters Watts, 1828, British painting, oil on canvas.
November 3, 2025 at 2:54 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
I'm very much looking forward to giving this #public #lecture at CCCU in #Canterbury on Wednesday 26 November. All very welcome - book your free place via the link:
www.canterbury.ac.uk/events/2025/...
@cccubookshop.bsky.social #history #book #event #free
Poster for the event. Information at: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/events/2025/a-history-of-england-in-25-poems Poster for the event with bio and talk abstract. Available at: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/events/2025/a-history-of-england-in-25-poems
November 3, 2025 at 9:42 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
I began my morning singing the Faure Requiem for All Souls Day at #Christchurch Priory. An incredibly powerful service of lifting up sadness, memory, thankfulness and hope. When words run out, music and liturgy are a gift. #AllHallows #AllSouls
My copy of the Requiem music, held up with a view of the Priory nave beyond.
November 1, 2025 at 1:06 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Is this the most beautiful thing @britishmuseum.bsky.social? Whenever I visit, it takes my breath away - pure magic. Gold oak wreath with a bee and two cicadas, 350-300 BC. Exact provenance unclear (unethical trading and collecting practices in the early 20thC). www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
Detail of the wreath: gold oak leaves and acorns, with a gold bee Gold oak leaves and acorns on the wreath The full wreath, in its glass exhibit case
October 31, 2025 at 9:18 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
As a big #Beano fan, I just knew my son would love the Tring Tiles - like the Gospel meeting Dennis the Menace. If Christ was fully God and fully human, what did that mean when he was 10 years old? This #medieval comic strip imagines all the mischief. One of my favourite things in the British Museum
My son stand in front of the tiles The tiles, depicting apocryphal scenes from the childhood of Christ Young Jesus is making pools by the river Jordan. A bully messes them up. Mary has a stern word and Jesus restores the bully to life (apparently rather reluctantly) with a touch of his foot
October 29, 2025 at 12:05 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Book of the Week in The Idler - bringing #Bagpuss, farting farm animals and medieval singing monks... Join me for A Drink With The Idler this Thursday, 30 October. Book here: www.idler.co.uk/product/a-dr...
Book of the Week: A History of England in 25 Poems Article, beginning with a photo of Bagpuss https://www.idler.co.uk/article/book-of-the-week-a-history-of-england-in-25-poems/
October 27, 2025 at 1:06 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Had a great time this morning with @cerysmatthews.bsky.social on BBC 6 Music, talking about #poetry and #history and my new history book #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems. Brilliant to time travel with some of the very earliest poems in the book! Also: cheese! #IYKYK www.penguin.co.uk/books/461263...
Me and Cerys Ate some cheese! https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/461263/a-history-of-england-in-25-poems-by-clarke-catherine/9780241765982 Book cover
October 26, 2025 at 1:09 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
'Upon Saint Crispin’s day!' Today, 25 October, is the anniversary of the Battle of #Agincourt. One chapter in #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems starts with the early 15th-century Agincourt Carol as a way into the medieval battle - taking us beyond the familiar story... #medieval #history #StCrispinsDay
The flag of St George blowing in the breeze - after the depiction of the battlefield in the Laurence Olivier film of Henry V. Illustration by Edward Bettison. St Crispin’s Day, 1415. King Henry V and his men gather after battle to receive word from the French herald. The day is England’s: victory against all the odds and triumph over the flower of French nobility. The red-cross flag of St George unfurls and ripples in the breeze, against blue sky, billowing clouds, and, in the distance, a castle known as Agincourt. The green fields of battle roll away, still scattered with bodies in their colourful liveries, while a few stray horses gallop into the woods. As Henry accepts victory, voices break into song. ‘Our king went forth to Normandy, / With grace and might of chivalry’ – the opening lines of the Agincourt Carol, celebrating the triumph of England and the king. But this king is Laurence Olivier, and the battlefield panorama is in brilliant Technicolor. The words of the Agincourt Carol are sung to a setting by composer William Walton. This is the 1944 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V, made to boost British morale during World War Two, just as another invasion of France was looming, and released in the autumn following D-Day. England the underdogs: honour, courage, and victory against the odds. Agincourt: a byword for patriotic pride and valour. The Agincourt Carol, composed shortly after the battle, glories in victory for England – ‘Anglia’ – and its brave king, at this pivotal moment in what proved to be the Hundred Years War. But Englishmen weren’t the only ones pitted against the French on the battlefield. The story of Agincourt we’re familiar with – via Olivier and Shakespeare before him – is a carefully-crafted one of unity and co-operation. Shakespeare’s play features a cast of diverse characters: Gower the Englishman, Captain Jamy the Scot, Macmorris the Irishman, and Fluellen (Llewellyn) the Welshman – bickering and japing but nevertheless coming together to fight. Longbowmen, including those from Wales, were Henry’s secret weapon and a decisive factor in victory. Yet, in 1415, relations between neighbours in Britain were far from comfortable. Back across the Channel, the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr had threatened English control for over ten years. Political tensions and resistance to the English crown rumbled on. The Agincourt Carol trumpets English triumph, but there’s another, unspoken, story here about those others on the battlefield and troubles back home. What happens if we read around the edges of this exuberantly patriotic, jingoistic verse? The poem points us to something not just about England’s belligerent history with France, but also its fractious, predacious relationships with its neighbours within Britain, too.
October 25, 2025 at 12:41 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
I'd love to see you online for 'A Drink With The Idler' (and me!) on Thursday 30 October, 6-7pm. We'll be chatting about #history, #poetry, #England - and you can ask me anything! Book here: www.idler.co.uk/product/a-dr...
Screenshot of the event booking page at https://www.idler.co.uk/product/a-drink-with-the-idler-catherine-clarke-on-english-poetry/ Screenshot of the event booking page at https://www.idler.co.uk/product/a-drink-with-the-idler-catherine-clarke-on-english-poetry/
October 24, 2025 at 8:20 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
Big ambitions in the #library yesterday...
I had the shelfmarks for the #books I wanted written on the back of this postcard. For the record, I don't want to read faster, but #reading better (not necessarily more 'efficiently') is always the goal. And I love this old Pelican cover (see AltText).
In the library by an old wooden card catalogue and a book trolley. My hand holding a poscard with an old Pelican Book cover on it, titled Read Better, Read Faster, plus: 'Paper work and reading matter are threatening to engulf modern society. People in every walk of life find it necessary not only to cope with their professional papers, and to follow their "trade interest", but to absorb the increasing daily and weekly rounds of newspapers, magazines, periodicals and books...'
October 23, 2025 at 12:55 PM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness
Fred and Ginger (Isn't This a Lovely Day, from Top Hat)
October 22, 2025 at 10:47 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
I'm always looking for portals into the past... Here's A Telescopic View of the Great Exhibition of 1851, currently in the excellent #SpinelessWonders exhibition @senatehouselib.bsky.social. Surprisingly immersive - I could hear the bustle of the crowds! #portal #TimeTravel #history #Victorian
Front of the Telescopic View depicting a man drawing a curtain aside. There is a round hole to look through The round hole closer up, with the concertina layers of paper beyond The 3D effect looking inside The 3D effect with figures and exhibits
October 22, 2025 at 10:43 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 9:39 AM
cathamclarke.bsky.social
What kind of #AdventCalendar do you want this year? Join me and #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems for a #TimeTravelAdvent: one chapter (and a time machine into #history) for each day of December, right up to Christmas Day. I'll be posting on here as you read along.
The Drake No / Yes Meme No: Fancy face creams Yes: Time travel
October 22, 2025 at 9:27 AM