Published inI like to watch… Shakespeare·Apr 11Farewell 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 sequel, where we see three of the four major characters run it back and we get further exploration of issues we’d already seen in the first…Shakespeare13 min readShakespeare13 min read
Jul 25, 2022The 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 class so in order to make the numbers work in a 32 country tournament, I’m taking part in round one alongside the students. In…World Literature7 min readWorld Literature7 min read
Jul 10, 2022What 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 (let’s pass over the books that haven’t appealed so much. Everyone who knows me knows that I read quite a few books each…Reading12 min readReading12 min read
Jun 14, 2022Writing 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 students more authentic writing tasks than the deathly boring ‘text response essay’ that they are usually asked to write in English. I therefore thought it…Horror70 min readHorror70 min read
Published inI like to watch… Shakespeare·Dec 29, 2021Falstaff 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 (and possibly Part Two, although the chronology I’m following has this play coming before Part Two) that she commanded Shakespeare to write a new…Shakespeare7 min readShakespeare7 min read
Aug 22, 2021The 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 colony of our kind in the world. There was no other similar place with which we could have reciprocity or exchange. So, when the human cry…Mwc Space14 min readMwc Space14 min read
Aug 10, 2021Commencing 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 experience is a very bumpy ride, like a series of car crashes: For those of us who have experienced living through Covid-induced lockdowns it can feel like you’re…Mwc Reentry7 min readMwc Reentry7 min read
Published inI like to watch… Shakespeare·Jul 8, 2021Heir-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? …Shakespeare30 min readShakespeare30 min read
Published inExploring Ekphrasis·Mar 17, 2021Ekphrastic 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 participation in a program that was administered by the National Gallery of Victoria in partnership with the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, with the participation of…Ekphrasis5 min readEkphrasis5 min read
Dec 20, 2020Re-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 conversation), but you have to admit that they are a fairly common anatomical feature, with approximately fifty percent of the population possessing…1001nights17 min read1001nights17 min read
