Latest Posts
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Discovering Archives and Collections: A Day in Pictures
Within the Department of History, we are lucky enough to work with some fantastic partners in the archives and collections sector. Each year, a small and eager cohort of part 3 students embark on one of our placement modules: Discovering… Continue reading
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Asian and Middle Eastern History Day 2023
On Friday 15th September, the Department of History hosted students from the Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School, for our Asian and Middle Eastern History Day. Students were treated to a diverse set of talks from academics in our department, and… Continue reading
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Long Read: Little Known Historical Leisure Activities to try, by Dr Jacqui Turner and Prof David Stack
If you enjoyed our piece in The Conversation this month and would like to hear more, here is the long read which also includes a little more history and things not to do … Leisure is an essential component of modern… Continue reading
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Exploring the Historical Elements of the Franchise, by Luke Walters
Luke Walters, one of our Pirate PhD students, has continued from Christos Giannatos’ investigation of the historical accuracy of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, with two short videos. Pirates Codes (From Pirates of the Caribbean:… Continue reading
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Pirate Bites: How true are the pirate representations in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, by Christos Giannatos
After having the privilege to showcase our third year students’ creative assessment last week, this week we have looked to one of our doctoral researchers, Christos, to find the truth in the representations of pirates in the first film in… Continue reading
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Pirate Portfolios: Creative Assessment on a History Module, by Dr Richard Blakemore
We have been sharing some piratical material on this blog recently, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the first Pirates of the Caribbean film in 2003, much of it related in some way or another to an undergraduate module that… Continue reading
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Pirate Legends Resurfaced: The Black Pearl and Real Pirate Ships, by Luke Walters
Despite the countless interpretations of the pirate ship, from Captain Kidd’s Adventure Galley to Captain Hook’s Jolly Roger, it has above all else been characterised as a theatrical stage. Images of dashing rogues rejoicing on deck swearing and drinking, all… Continue reading
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Pirate Legends Resurfaced: The Golden Age of Videogame Pirates, by Luke Walters
It has been said that “dead men tell no tales”, though if one looks at the wider history of the so-called Golden Age of Piracy and how it has affected our perception of maritime predation, this is evidently not the… Continue reading
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14 July 1789: The storming of the Bastille and the birth of the people of Paris as political force, by Prof Joël Félix
The storming of the Bastille was one of a series of unexpected events that led to the downfall of the Old Regime in France between May and August 1789. News from Versailles of popular minister Jacques Necker sacking had caused… Continue reading
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Dead Men Film No Reels: A Short History of Pirate Films, by Dr Richard Blakemore
When I began to teach a module on the history of piracy in 2017, I shamelessly called it ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ to piggyback on the global film franchise, though with the subtitle ‘Empire, Slavery, and Society, 1550-1750’ to show… Continue reading




