(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.
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!
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.
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. 🏳️⚧️⚧️
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.
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.
And this is what I went to the PV of - the nature of gothic @blackburnmuseum.bsky.social. It is stunning - urge people to visit.
September 13, 2025 at 6:58 AM
And this is what I went to the PV of - the nature of gothic @blackburnmuseum.bsky.social. It is stunning - urge people to visit.
Oh, I’ve had a few tricky days & was spiralling downwards this morning. Decided to goth up to cheer up.
September 12, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Oh, I’ve had a few tricky days & was spiralling downwards this morning. Decided to goth up to cheer up.
Woke up early thinking I’m now 50, not nearly 50. Actually 50. 🤦🏻♀️
Couldn’t go back to sleep. Soon after 7am brought an enormous breakfast cookie handmade by the lady & cup of tea.
Should go back to sleep but want to read my new books. This has not changed I was 5.
#old #croning #books #50years
Couldn’t go back to sleep. Soon after 7am brought an enormous breakfast cookie handmade by the lady & cup of tea.
Should go back to sleep but want to read my new books. This has not changed I was 5.
#old #croning #books #50years
September 4, 2025 at 8:30 AM
A glass of pink fizz to remember John J Johnstone in the glow of a beautiful sunset, as glowy & warm as his soul. A statue of antinous is all that is needed
August 29, 2025 at 7:17 PM
A glass of pink fizz to remember John J Johnstone in the glow of a beautiful sunset, as glowy & warm as his soul. A statue of antinous is all that is needed
Thought need some cheering up. Fascists in news just 🤬.
My friend got me this & @0tralala.bsky.social said ‘you need to move your hand, you’re covering the cock’.
My friend got me this & @0tralala.bsky.social said ‘you need to move your hand, you’re covering the cock’.
August 22, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Thought need some cheering up. Fascists in news just 🤬.
My friend got me this & @0tralala.bsky.social said ‘you need to move your hand, you’re covering the cock’.
My friend got me this & @0tralala.bsky.social said ‘you need to move your hand, you’re covering the cock’.
August 14, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Impala sanctuary in kisumu. In my ignorance didnt realise climate change via floods & nile were cause Lake Victoria Nyanza to rise. #kenya
August 11, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Impala sanctuary in kisumu. In my ignorance didnt realise climate change via floods & nile were cause Lake Victoria Nyanza to rise. #kenya
Goodbye Nairobi & hello Kisumu and the hospital (now closed) where I was born. A couple of attempts to land the plane meant I got great views of #lakevictoriakenya. Good job not a nervous flier!
August 9, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Goodbye Nairobi & hello Kisumu and the hospital (now closed) where I was born. A couple of attempts to land the plane meant I got great views of #lakevictoriakenya. Good job not a nervous flier!
Visit to Book bunk libraries in Nairobi written up on linked in: www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-deb...
August 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Visit to Book bunk libraries in Nairobi written up on linked in: www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-deb...
2nd day & up museum hill to homo sapiens’ ancestral remains from millions of years ago. Nairobi national museum full of school kids - all ages & all parts of Kenya.
Yet, again, travelling means I find out more about the British empire & independence negotiations that were in London than I ever knew
Yet, again, travelling means I find out more about the British empire & independence negotiations that were in London than I ever knew
August 7, 2025 at 10:12 AM
2nd day & up museum hill to homo sapiens’ ancestral remains from millions of years ago. Nairobi national museum full of school kids - all ages & all parts of Kenya.
Yet, again, travelling means I find out more about the British empire & independence negotiations that were in London than I ever knew
Yet, again, travelling means I find out more about the British empire & independence negotiations that were in London than I ever knew
First day in #Nairobi after all night flight - knackered. Hotel in central business district. Black kites fly above. House martins swirl nearby. Storks all over parks. Dramatic sunset.
Had a nairobean breakfast (pictured) & Kenyan chicken curry later - liking the African chapatis with everything.
Had a nairobean breakfast (pictured) & Kenyan chicken curry later - liking the African chapatis with everything.
August 6, 2025 at 4:59 AM
First day in #Nairobi after all night flight - knackered. Hotel in central business district. Black kites fly above. House martins swirl nearby. Storks all over parks. Dramatic sunset.
Had a nairobean breakfast (pictured) & Kenyan chicken curry later - liking the African chapatis with everything.
Had a nairobean breakfast (pictured) & Kenyan chicken curry later - liking the African chapatis with everything.
Holiday Sketches is on for another month @porticolibrary.bsky.social. It’s not closing in July after all.
Thanks so much for the kind comments from visitors. Am so happy to put Mary Severn Newton’s work on display & have nuanced conversations about the eastern Mediterranean - Ottoman & Greek.
Thanks so much for the kind comments from visitors. Am so happy to put Mary Severn Newton’s work on display & have nuanced conversations about the eastern Mediterranean - Ottoman & Greek.
July 28, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Holiday Sketches is on for another month @porticolibrary.bsky.social. It’s not closing in July after all.
Thanks so much for the kind comments from visitors. Am so happy to put Mary Severn Newton’s work on display & have nuanced conversations about the eastern Mediterranean - Ottoman & Greek.
Thanks so much for the kind comments from visitors. Am so happy to put Mary Severn Newton’s work on display & have nuanced conversations about the eastern Mediterranean - Ottoman & Greek.
There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak had me staying up to finish it last night. Not to read the last 100 pages in a rush but because I had to read a section, put it down, go & potter, process & think about what I’d read.
And I’ll never get it out of my head. The best kind of book. #booksky
And I’ll never get it out of my head. The best kind of book. #booksky
July 6, 2025 at 7:57 AM
There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak had me staying up to finish it last night. Not to read the last 100 pages in a rush but because I had to read a section, put it down, go & potter, process & think about what I’d read.
And I’ll never get it out of my head. The best kind of book. #booksky
And I’ll never get it out of my head. The best kind of book. #booksky
Last night saw the première & screening of The Portico Library films from our Dynamic Collections project People, Purpose & Place in Historic Books. I provided the comedic interlude. And yes, only a few months until I am 50 😳😁.
youtube.com/clip/Ugkx2ti...
youtube.com/clip/Ugkx2ti...
June 27, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Last night saw the première & screening of The Portico Library films from our Dynamic Collections project People, Purpose & Place in Historic Books. I provided the comedic interlude. And yes, only a few months until I am 50 😳😁.
youtube.com/clip/Ugkx2ti...
youtube.com/clip/Ugkx2ti...
With a portrait by Mary Severn. So happy.
June 19, 2025 at 7:12 AM
With a portrait by Mary Severn. So happy.
This is so me giving public talk. Weirdly crossed legs that are back to front. Eyes closed, hand gestures. 🤣. Thanks for to all who came to @porticolibrary.bsky.social last night.
Looks like holiday sketches will be on til end August now so still time to see it.
#greece #rhodes #19thcentury
Looks like holiday sketches will be on til end August now so still time to see it.
#greece #rhodes #19thcentury
June 18, 2025 at 9:39 AM
This is so me giving public talk. Weirdly crossed legs that are back to front. Eyes closed, hand gestures. 🤣. Thanks for to all who came to @porticolibrary.bsky.social last night.
Looks like holiday sketches will be on til end August now so still time to see it.
#greece #rhodes #19thcentury
Looks like holiday sketches will be on til end August now so still time to see it.
#greece #rhodes #19thcentury
Been knocked out by Covid for past week & wfh when feel up to it. Now okish.
Finally planned talk for PV on Holiday Sketches & Mary Severn Newton @porticolibrary.bsky.social. Even made a video on travel, Rhodes, people then, now & between.
Made a few places publicly available. Link below.
Finally planned talk for PV on Holiday Sketches & Mary Severn Newton @porticolibrary.bsky.social. Even made a video on travel, Rhodes, people then, now & between.
Made a few places publicly available. Link below.
June 15, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Been knocked out by Covid for past week & wfh when feel up to it. Now okish.
Finally planned talk for PV on Holiday Sketches & Mary Severn Newton @porticolibrary.bsky.social. Even made a video on travel, Rhodes, people then, now & between.
Made a few places publicly available. Link below.
Finally planned talk for PV on Holiday Sketches & Mary Severn Newton @porticolibrary.bsky.social. Even made a video on travel, Rhodes, people then, now & between.
Made a few places publicly available. Link below.
Visited @chawtonhouse.bsky.social where I sat in #JaneAusten’s favourite reading & people watching spot, discovered much more about her sister writers & the lady got a bonnet.
#booksky
#booksky
May 30, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Visited @chawtonhouse.bsky.social where I sat in #JaneAusten’s favourite reading & people watching spot, discovered much more about her sister writers & the lady got a bonnet.
#booksky
#booksky