Paul Craddock
@pwcraddock.bsky.social
Medical Historian and Filmmaker. Author of Spare Parts. One half of commonfilms.co
It's now 2025. We visited the RCO a few weeks ago to film John's instruments in the their care, and being used by the extraordinary eye surgeon (and magician!) Ananth Viswanathan. It's been nearly 10 years since John's death and it's a privilege to have had a part documenting his remarkable legacy
September 23, 2025 at 1:46 PM
It's now 2025. We visited the RCO a few weeks ago to film John's instruments in the their care, and being used by the extraordinary eye surgeon (and magician!) Ananth Viswanathan. It's been nearly 10 years since John's death and it's a privilege to have had a part documenting his remarkable legacy
In 2015, Roger Kneebone (left) and I (behind camera!) were privileged to film John McKenzie (right), who over a lifetime made thousands of tiny ophthalmic surgical instruments in his shed. You can see some of his collection in the foreground. John died shortly after we made this recording ... 1/3
September 23, 2025 at 1:46 PM
In 2015, Roger Kneebone (left) and I (behind camera!) were privileged to film John McKenzie (right), who over a lifetime made thousands of tiny ophthalmic surgical instruments in his shed. You can see some of his collection in the foreground. John died shortly after we made this recording ... 1/3
We sometimes celebrate the eighteenth century as a time of individualism (big issue today too!). And the stories of Matthew and Anne Boulton are both stories of strong individuals. But when it came to the girl who sold her tooth for a guinea, they don't even bother to find out her name 2/4
May 1, 2025 at 11:25 AM
We sometimes celebrate the eighteenth century as a time of individualism (big issue today too!). And the stories of Matthew and Anne Boulton are both stories of strong individuals. But when it came to the girl who sold her tooth for a guinea, they don't even bother to find out her name 2/4
I tried to write about a girl with no known name, no description. Bloody hard to do! Nothing to go on but the fact that in 1787 she sold one of her teeth to the industrialist Matthew Boulton. He paid a dentist to prise it from her mouth and transplant it into his own daughter, Anne ... 1/4
May 1, 2025 at 11:25 AM
I tried to write about a girl with no known name, no description. Bloody hard to do! Nothing to go on but the fact that in 1787 she sold one of her teeth to the industrialist Matthew Boulton. He paid a dentist to prise it from her mouth and transplant it into his own daughter, Anne ... 1/4
I can oblige! We've finished the rough cut of the film and I'll be sure to share when it's done (though it's really rather more upsetting than I thought it'd be)
April 29, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I can oblige! We've finished the rough cut of the film and I'll be sure to share when it's done (though it's really rather more upsetting than I thought it'd be)
We're making a film about a man who started collecting other people's pocket diaries after discovering something dark in his own childhood diary – something he'd repressed. More about that later. For now, I wanted to share a few of my favourite tender, funny or laconic close-ups!
April 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM
We're making a film about a man who started collecting other people's pocket diaries after discovering something dark in his own childhood diary – something he'd repressed. More about that later. For now, I wanted to share a few of my favourite tender, funny or laconic close-ups!
In his novel Stoner, John Williams's eponymous character has a full-time, tenured position as an assistant professor at a the University of Missouri. And he's considered a failure. Today, that kind of stability would be an impossibility for many academics – a dream job. How things have changed!
April 23, 2025 at 4:38 PM
In his novel Stoner, John Williams's eponymous character has a full-time, tenured position as an assistant professor at a the University of Missouri. And he's considered a failure. Today, that kind of stability would be an impossibility for many academics – a dream job. How things have changed!
In Summer 1931, there was a new sideshow in Blackpool, Lancashire. ‘Brides and bridegrooms straight from the altar starve for 30 days’. The deal: newlywed couples were challenged to stay in glass 'coffins' without food for a month. If they made it, they'd win £250 (about £18,000 today) 1/2
April 19, 2025 at 10:55 PM
In Summer 1931, there was a new sideshow in Blackpool, Lancashire. ‘Brides and bridegrooms straight from the altar starve for 30 days’. The deal: newlywed couples were challenged to stay in glass 'coffins' without food for a month. If they made it, they'd win £250 (about £18,000 today) 1/2
This is Tony Webb and his wonderful wife Cecily. Tony is 90 and the only remaining master carver of stone AND wood left in the United Kingdom (to his knowledge) 1/4
January 26, 2025 at 9:59 PM
This is Tony Webb and his wonderful wife Cecily. Tony is 90 and the only remaining master carver of stone AND wood left in the United Kingdom (to his knowledge) 1/4
The World Transplant Games Federation are a gorgeous lot of people and they're doing a Big Christmas Challenge – if you donate something between 3rd and 10th December, 'a generous match funder' (who knows!) will commit the same amount. Have a gander: wtgf.org
November 27, 2024 at 10:08 PM
The World Transplant Games Federation are a gorgeous lot of people and they're doing a Big Christmas Challenge – if you donate something between 3rd and 10th December, 'a generous match funder' (who knows!) will commit the same amount. Have a gander: wtgf.org
20th August 1978, the 'Transplant Olympics'. First ever competitive sporting event for transplant recipients. There is now a 'World Transplant Games' every year, alternating Summer and Winter. Next year: Dresden, Germany – 7th-24th August! 1/3
November 27, 2024 at 10:08 PM
20th August 1978, the 'Transplant Olympics'. First ever competitive sporting event for transplant recipients. There is now a 'World Transplant Games' every year, alternating Summer and Winter. Next year: Dresden, Germany – 7th-24th August! 1/3
The word 'scientist' was coined in 1834 ... as a joke! Read the story on my first ever substack column!
open.substack.com/pub/paulcrad...
open.substack.com/pub/paulcrad...
November 10, 2023 at 1:33 PM
The word 'scientist' was coined in 1834 ... as a joke! Read the story on my first ever substack column!
open.substack.com/pub/paulcrad...
open.substack.com/pub/paulcrad...
Came out as working class a few years ago. Since been the 'lived experience' voice a few times (which I found means you're not allowed real expertise or analysis!) So, started a Substack, Common Knowledge, embracing working-class heritage while writing about history!
paulcraddock.substack.com/about
paulcraddock.substack.com/about
November 10, 2023 at 1:15 PM
Came out as working class a few years ago. Since been the 'lived experience' voice a few times (which I found means you're not allowed real expertise or analysis!) So, started a Substack, Common Knowledge, embracing working-class heritage while writing about history!
paulcraddock.substack.com/about
paulcraddock.substack.com/about
Hello BlueSky friends! Here's the 'messenger hare' carving at Beverley Minster in Yorkshire (dated about 1330). It supposedly inspired Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland
October 20, 2023 at 5:54 PM
Hello BlueSky friends! Here's the 'messenger hare' carving at Beverley Minster in Yorkshire (dated about 1330). It supposedly inspired Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland
1970s museum model of a computer (complete with '70s technicians!). In the Science Museum's National Collections Centre in Swindon – had the privilege of filming there a few weeks ago and the lovely team showed off some treasures. Not open to public yet (but will be in a year or two!)
October 19, 2023 at 3:01 PM
1970s museum model of a computer (complete with '70s technicians!). In the Science Museum's National Collections Centre in Swindon – had the privilege of filming there a few weeks ago and the lovely team showed off some treasures. Not open to public yet (but will be in a year or two!)
When I first read Alexander Pope's poem Celia, I was doing my PhD and accepted what my supervisor told me – that it neatly expressed a vacuous 18th-century British culture obsessed with appearance. When I read it now, a bit older, I see something else: Alexander Pope had a teensy problem with women.
October 18, 2023 at 10:11 AM
When I first read Alexander Pope's poem Celia, I was doing my PhD and accepted what my supervisor told me – that it neatly expressed a vacuous 18th-century British culture obsessed with appearance. When I read it now, a bit older, I see something else: Alexander Pope had a teensy problem with women.
Well, here it is on a door!
October 17, 2023 at 8:28 AM
Well, here it is on a door!
Not a deep and meaningful history of medicine post, this, but I thought BlueSky friends might appreciate this: I'm making a film for the Science Museum in London about the (now defunct) Type Archive. They were based in an old animal hospital and had the cutest logo.
October 16, 2023 at 10:49 PM
Not a deep and meaningful history of medicine post, this, but I thought BlueSky friends might appreciate this: I'm making a film for the Science Museum in London about the (now defunct) Type Archive. They were based in an old animal hospital and had the cutest logo.
Marie Anne Leroudier (1838-1908): extraordinary embroiderer whose needle techniques became essential to vascular surgery (used in bypasses, trauma surgery, transplants etc). She taught surgeon/misogynist/eugenicist Alexis Carrel. He got a Nobel prize, while she remained unacknowledged!
October 11, 2023 at 4:57 PM
Marie Anne Leroudier (1838-1908): extraordinary embroiderer whose needle techniques became essential to vascular surgery (used in bypasses, trauma surgery, transplants etc). She taught surgeon/misogynist/eugenicist Alexis Carrel. He got a Nobel prize, while she remained unacknowledged!
Cato Street Conspiracy – closest Britain came to a French-style revolution. The conspirators were executed. But when the Times erroneously hinted surgeon Thomas Wakley was the masked executioner, it led to his attempted murder. He lost everything. Unable to regain his career, he founded The Lancet
October 10, 2023 at 7:27 PM
Cato Street Conspiracy – closest Britain came to a French-style revolution. The conspirators were executed. But when the Times erroneously hinted surgeon Thomas Wakley was the masked executioner, it led to his attempted murder. He lost everything. Unable to regain his career, he founded The Lancet
Fascinating, isn't it, how technicians are depicted in science history. Here are some technicians operating Otto von Guericke's air pump. They aren't people at all, but cherubs! I read it's an artistic convention, but why? Is it to dehumanise poor, low-status assistants?
h/t Steven Shapin
h/t Steven Shapin
October 8, 2023 at 7:18 PM
Fascinating, isn't it, how technicians are depicted in science history. Here are some technicians operating Otto von Guericke's air pump. They aren't people at all, but cherubs! I read it's an artistic convention, but why? Is it to dehumanise poor, low-status assistants?
h/t Steven Shapin
h/t Steven Shapin
Hello friends! It's my first post!
In 1819, journalist William Cobbett exhumed American Founding Father Thomas Paine, and escorted his bones from New York home to Botley (UK). The grand, Romantic gesture was meant to inspire a peaceful British Revolution. But instead cartoonists made fun of him.
In 1819, journalist William Cobbett exhumed American Founding Father Thomas Paine, and escorted his bones from New York home to Botley (UK). The grand, Romantic gesture was meant to inspire a peaceful British Revolution. But instead cartoonists made fun of him.
October 7, 2023 at 7:46 PM
Hello friends! It's my first post!
In 1819, journalist William Cobbett exhumed American Founding Father Thomas Paine, and escorted his bones from New York home to Botley (UK). The grand, Romantic gesture was meant to inspire a peaceful British Revolution. But instead cartoonists made fun of him.
In 1819, journalist William Cobbett exhumed American Founding Father Thomas Paine, and escorted his bones from New York home to Botley (UK). The grand, Romantic gesture was meant to inspire a peaceful British Revolution. But instead cartoonists made fun of him.