Published inI like to watch… ShakespeareFarewell to Falstaff: Henry IV, Part TwoIn my instalment on Henry IV, Part One, I claimed that it “is Shakespeare’s most perfectly constructed play.” What to make, then, of this…Apr 11, 2023Apr 11, 2023
The MHS World Cup of Literature 2022: Round 1 Match — Belarus v SpainIt’s time for another instalment of the MHS World Cup of Literature, which I last ran in 2020. This year, I have fifteen students in my…Jul 25, 2022Jul 25, 2022
What I’ve been reading in 2022It’s (just over) half way through the year, so it’s a good chance to take stock of what I’ve been reading and what the highlights have been…Jul 10, 2022Jul 10, 2022
Writing for Wikipedia: a collaborative task for Year 9 English studentsI’ve long been a fan of Wikipedia, which is almost certainly ‘the last best place on the Internet.’ I’m also a big believer in giving…Jun 14, 20221Jun 14, 20221
Published inI like to watch… ShakespeareFalstaff as fail-safe: The Merry Wives of WindsorThere is a legend that has grown around this play that Queen Elizabeth was so taken with the character of Falstaff in Henry IV, Part One…Dec 29, 2021Dec 29, 2021
The alien world: searching for ‘living space’The law of life is movement. The circumscribed dies. Exodus is as necessary anywhere there is life, as ingress. We were the only British…Aug 22, 20211Aug 22, 20211
Commencing countdown, engines onApparently, for astronauts re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere in a Soyuz space capsule after a stay on the International Space Station, the…Aug 10, 2021Aug 10, 2021
Published inI like to watch… ShakespeareHeir-raising exploits: Henry IV, Part OneOkay, let’s get the bold claim out there: this is Shakespeare’s most perfectly constructed play. Is it his best play? Not necessarily…Jul 8, 20212Jul 8, 20212
Published inExploring EkphrasisEkphrastic wanderingsFor a number of years I’ve asked my students to write poems inspired by artworks. My initial incursions in this area came from my…Mar 17, 2021Mar 17, 2021
Re-membering the Past: The Phallic Afterlife of The 1,001 NightsI’d like to say a few words about the penis. I realise that it may not seem like the most polite way to start an article (or a…Dec 20, 20201Dec 20, 20201
The 2020 MHS World Cup of LiteratureEach year as part of the World Literature elective I teach at my high school I run a ‘World Cup of Literature’: a tournament format that…Oct 4, 2020Oct 4, 2020
The Art of the 1,001 NightsAs part of my study of Tales from 1,001 Nights (trans. Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons) with my World Literature students, I wanted to…Sep 30, 2020Sep 30, 2020
Published inI like to watch… ShakespeareLove and revenge in a time of globalisation: The Merchant of VeniceI’m making use of my Coronoavirus social isolation to resurrect my Shakespeare project. My last essay was nearly three years ago, so just…Apr 6, 2020Apr 6, 2020
Artistic Allusions in Far From the Madding CrowdIn her introduction to the Penguin edition of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, Rosemarie Morgan wrote, “Very many of Hardy’s…Jan 18, 20201Jan 18, 20201
The MHS World Cup of Literature 2019This is now my second year of teaching a course at Year 10 called ‘World Literature’. Our Year 10 electives address different…Jul 31, 2019Jul 31, 2019
The MHS World Cup of Literature: Quarterfinals through to finalsOne of the problems sometimes with being a teacher is that you just don’t quite have enough time to do all of the things that you want to…Jan 24, 2019Jan 24, 2019
Winning and losing in sport and life: The Hustler and This Sporting LifeI like films about losers more than winners. The winners get enough time as it is. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Mr Spencer…Dec 5, 2018Dec 5, 2018
A Happy Medium (or, how I learned to stop worrying and love writing online; or, how I got my…The way I like to lay it down sometimes there is too much traction on paper. The ink soaks into the cloth of the page. The words adhere…Nov 28, 2018Nov 28, 2018
The MHS World Cup of Literature: Round 2 ResultsThe decisions have been made for Round Two and we’re ready for the quarterfinals of the MHS World Cup of Literature. But first have a look…Aug 15, 2018Aug 15, 2018
The MHS World Cup of Literature: Round 1 ResultsOkay, so Round 1 of the MHS World Cup of Literature has been completed. The verdicts are in and these are the results:Aug 11, 2018Aug 11, 2018
