The University of Northampton History department is home to the Searchlight Archive, a unique archive collection of material documenting the activities of British and international fascist and racist organisations from the 1930s onwards. It is one of the most extensive and significant resources of its type in Europe. Daniel Jones, the Searchlight Collections Officer recommends: […]

Pisces and Diagram for Friday (left) and Libra and Taurus (right) in an Astronomical Miscellany, shortly after 1464, German. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XII 8 (83.MO.137), fols. 56v-57 As an (elder) Millennial, my generation loves a horoscope – while the generation that followed us, Gen Z, are markedly more sceptical about astrology. Most of my […]

On the 8 May 1968 a series of dawn raids were carried out by ‘more than 100’ Metropolitan Police detectives, led by DS Leonard ‘Nipper’ Read. The target of these raids was organized criminal gang that surrounded two East End gangsters that have passed into London folklore and garnered more column inches, True Crime books […]

The Cratchits sit down to Christmas dinner  If, like me, you tuned in to watch the BBC’s latest adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol, I’m sure it will have left a lasting impression.  Over three nights a star-studded cast presented a much darker version of the tale of Scrooge than we are used […]

Senior lecturer Mark Rothery writes about his recent interactions with the media, and what that means for historical research. Mark also discussed some of these themes on TALKRadio –select the 4:30-5:00 clip and go to three minutes in.  On 4th February this year the new Times Online history correspondent published an article called ‘Snowflakes are […]

[No spoilers!] I’m a big fan of the Alien film series. I have been hooked every since watching Alien 3 in the cinema as a teenager, and the original 1979 film is one of my all-time favourites. So I was excited to see Alien: Romulus, which is currently on general release. After several disappointing sequels […]

The Northampton branch of the Historical Association is run by the University of Northampton, and this year we are joining forces with the Leicester branch to provide a combined programme. The joint talks will be online but we are also keen to hear from local schools who would like to host an event. All talks […]

This Halloween, senior lecturer Caroline Nielsen explores the sad story of a spooky storyteller… A young woman is sitting in a chair reading a story which has made her nervous. Engraving by R. Graves after R.W. Buss. Credit: Wellcome Collection. This is the time of year when most of us begin to think about ghost […]

Matthew McCormack from History has co-edited a new book on new approaches to teaching the subject. Co-edited with Ruth Larsen (Derby) and Alice Marples (British Library), Innovations in Teaching History: Eighteenth-Century Studies in Higher Education is now out with University of London Press. The book contains seven chapters, which provide case studies for how to […]

Dominic Cummings has been in the news lately, you may have noticed. He drove, whilst infected with COVID-19, from Islington to County Durham, with his family. He then took them on a tour of County Durham, whilst infected, and after having been discovered defended his actions, supported by the PM and the government he advises. […]

17 October 1961 In Black History month it is worthwhile underscoring how minority histories have often tended to be overlooked, covered up, or subsumed under majority narratives and ‘official’ memory. At the time of the Bataclan terrorist attack in Paris in 2015, for instance, the press and media all lamented what they claimed was the […]

Hello, I’m Dr Rachel Moss, lecturer in medieval history at the University of Northampton. I’m also an enthusiastic cook, and today I’m bringing together my love of history and food with a little lesson in baking medieval biscuits of happiness. The recipe for these biscuits comes from Hildegard von Bingen. You might not have heard […]

[No spoilers!] I’m late to the party with the TV show The Traitors, but my family have recently discovered it and binged the first two series on iPlayer. In the unlikely event that you haven’t heard of it, the show has been a hit on the BBC, having first appeared on Dutch TV as Der […]

This month, a member of Northampton’s history team begins his term as president of a national scholarly society. Professor Matthew McCormack will serve as President of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies until 2026/27. The British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (known as BSECS) is a meeting-place for anyone who works on the global long eighteenth […]