We hope that you all had a lovely Easter!

We’ve allowed ourselves to go “part-time” for a few days here at Wrightington Towers, and are feeling the benefits!

Along with catching up on the inevitable dropped balls from the end of term and some general life admin (bleurch!), we’ve even managed to get some relaxation in! We’ve both indulged in a bit of fiction (yes - both of us!! But don’t worry - Robert’s has been nothing later than the early 1960s, so you don’t have to check the horizon for incoming Horsemen of the Apocalypse). I got to enjoy some time with my lovely Spawn and lovely ex-Spouse, Robert’s reacquainted himself with his paintbrushes, and we’ve even managed to chat with each other In Real Life, rather than via a zoom screen! And I’m pleased to report that Robert has now made his first ever bread - and jolly nice it was too (check out that crumb!). We hope that your Easter was similarly restorative, whatever it entailed.

But enough on Life at Wrightington Towers. Let’s get down to business. At the risk of repetition…

Hwæt!

What do you get if you cross a mead hall, a bard, a hero, a king, a dragon, a monster, and his mother? Well that’ll be our shiny new Short & Sweet, now open for registration!

Beowulf

This will, of course, complement our 10-week Anglo-Saxon England course, but each stands in its own right - so not doing one doesn’t preclude being able to do the other!

This is the latest in our new strand of “Wrightington Notes” Short & Sweets. We’ve had some very positive feedback on the courses in this strand so far, and enthusiastic requests for more (for which thank you on both counts!). For those of you who’ve not yet joined us for one of these, they differ from our usual Wright History courses in three significant ways.

First, each has as its main “spine” a lovingly-selected narrative text. We give you a synopsis of the plot (we’ve read it so that you don’t have to!), slowing down at key moments to explore historical contexts and key themes within the narrative (for more on our modus operandi on these courses, see here).

Secondly, these courses feature my historiographical research approach as well as Robert’s, so we present them together. That’s right - I’m released from my handmaiden’s dungeon, and share the screen in Robert’s hallowed study sanctuary!!*

*[You can perhaps imagine how disconcerting Duffy, a creature of fixed habits, finds this, but she’ll get used to it. Possibly…]

There are several ways we might describe this (me hogging some limelight…? Some respite for Robert’s vocal chords…?) but it’s perhaps best seen as along the lines of a supermarket “twofer” - you, O Denizens, get two historians for the price of one!

Thirdly, these courses have elicited exceptionally lively Q&A sections. We have, therefore, decided to include the discussion elements of this strand’s future courses - if and when appropriate and useful - in the catch-up recordings, so that those who can’t join us at point of broadcast aren’t missing out on what have proven thus far to be especially fruitful conversations. Please rest assured that recordings are only available to those who have registered for the course (as opposed to being “out in the wild” on the interweb!), so in practice, the discussions are no more public than they would be if everyone who registers were attending “live”.

NB We’ll also be recording the discussion elements of our upcoming Shakespeare’s Sonnets (and yes: there is still time to register for that!)

Our other newly-available Short & Sweet is in our standard format - i.e. purely Robertian Pearls of Wisdom (TM)!

You may have noticed that we’ve both made liberal use of eighteenth-century satirical cartoons over the years - within course presentations and to illustrate various blog posts (including this one!). It was but a matter of time before we cooked up a course specifically dedicated to them… and here it is!

Hogarth, Gillray, and Daumier:

The not-so-subtle art of satire

Fancy a fix of satirical treatments of scurrilous shenanigans and sensational politics, with a side-order of outrage (faux or otherwise) at shocking moral standards? Well here you go!

Finally, a little housekeeping…

As some of you know, we’ve been having sporadic and unpredictable difficulties with our booking elves for some time now, and rectifying the erratic omissions takes more time than is tenable. We’ve therefore made the decision to stop sending weekly reminders of the joining instructions throughout each course from now on. Robert has finally convinced me that this is no longer as crucial as it was when everyone was still getting used to Zoom (not least by reminding me that we all used to manage perfectly well with simply making a note in our diaries and/or making an inbox folder for must-keep emails!). I hope that you will understand, but if this causes any difficulties, do please let me know, and we can think again.

Phew! Well that’s our news for now. We look forward to seeing those of you who will be joining us next term soon, and wish you all a very happy Spring!

To see all courses now available in calendar order, click here.