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Alex Hutchinson

@alexthearchivist.com

1.8K followers 630 following 210 posts

Chocolate historian, author, broadcaster, archivist. Formerly the archivist at Nestle.co.uk, but now archiving at YorkshireTea.co.uk Published: HarperCollins.co.uk Rep'd: knightayton.co.uk Trustee: yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk Or: alexthearchivist.com

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Nov 19

I'm on the telly today talking about coffee history in Yorkshire. I had some truly delicious coffee on this shoot.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Antiques Road Trip - Series 29: 12. Resplendent and Rare

Roo Irvine motors along the roads of North Yorkshire with her rival, Mark Hill. In their second battle, Mark gets flustered over a very rare find.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Mar 10

Ah, you've picked the perfect location. Not too close to town, but not too far from St Helen's woods or the park. My primary school (Elphinstone) was just round the corner from Ore station. What's the literary scene like these days? Is it still thriving? When I was there it was chock full of poets.

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Mar 10

Someone is tearing up a French manuscript from c.1637 and selling the pages on Etsy for scrapbooking.

As an archivist, this is giving me nightmares. Are there any French historians out there who can reassure me this is a worthless copy...?

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1...

Wow C.1637 Antique French Large Handwritten Page Beautiful Hand Made Paper 1 Sheet Mixed Media Junk Journal Art Scrapbook Original Ephemera - Etsy

This Paper Collage item by Inkedpaperart has 2331 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from San Tan Valley, AZ. Listed on Mar 10, 2025

www.etsy.com

Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Mar 8

Such a shame about the timing, but huge congratulations on both of those things! I grew up in Hastings in the 1990s and miss it terribly because it's wonderful. I'm envious of your move, but shall salve my envy with the enjoyment of going out and looking for your novel. Good luck with the move 🤞🏻

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Mar 4

Now why don't they make these anymore?!?

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 16

It's hardly dropped any needles!

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 16

Yes, my Christmas tree is still up. Thanks for asking.

A three foot live fir tree (or is it a spruce?) which I got in a pot in Lidl at the end of November 2024. In the icy cold of my living room the tree has thrived. I've taken down the Christmas decorations, but left up a string of warm white lights. It is sitting on a box in front of a set of bookshelves which are home to the complete works of Charles Dickens, whose writing I love, but whose life I despair of.

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 9

Susanna Clarke is going to be at the York Literature Festival next month. I'm going to see her speak!

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

You can also use the 'pin' emoji. 📌

Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

Two of my all-time favourite books!!! We're clearly soul mates. What are your feelings toward I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith?

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

Excellent! Thank you, I'm going to look up all of these.

Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/458935...

The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman

Sally Lockhart, trying to put her troubled past behind her after her fiancé's death, has settled ...

app.thestorygraph.com

Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/6b1df1...

Victory in the Kitchen: The Life of Churchill's Cook by Annie Gray

This is the story of a woman who was not a royal, not rich, not famous, simply someone who worked...

app.thestorygraph.com

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/455021...

Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell

Winner of the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionWinner of the 2022 Slightly Foxed Best F...

app.thestorygraph.com

Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/b0065e...

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. T...

app.thestorygraph.com

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/273158...

Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes

app.thestorygraph.com

Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/5b165b...

The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

Why stories make us human and how to tell them better.There have been many attempts to understand...

app.thestorygraph.com

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/80dac8...

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

Julian Fellowes's Belgravia is the story of a secret. A secret that unravels behind the porticoed...

app.thestorygraph.com

Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/c655f3...

Jane Austen, the Secret Radical by Helena Kelly

A brilliant, illuminating reassessment of the life and work of Jane Austen that makes clear how A...

app.thestorygraph.com

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/28f438...

Pandemic 1918: The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History by Catharine Arnold

In January 1918, as World War I raged on, a new and terrifying virus began to spread across the g...

app.thestorygraph.com

Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/fecd44...

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

All children mythologize their birth…So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's col...

app.thestorygraph.com

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

app.thestorygraph.com/books/5c92d9...

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

The Daughter of Time is a 1951 detective novel concerning a modern police officer's investigation...

app.thestorygraph.com

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

If you need inspiration, these are some of the books which have kept me turning the pages with anticipation or fascination over the last few years:

app.thestorygraph.com/books/b5f945...

The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery by Catherine Bailey

When the 9th Duke of Rutland died alone in the cramped family archives on April 21, 1940, his son...

app.thestorygraph.com

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

Paging #BOOKSKY

This is an open call for book recommendations so gripping I won't be able to think about anything else. Preferably books available both in print and on Audible.

I'll read anything, but I'm not keen on visceral suffering right now.
Life is throwing me lemons, please send lemonade.

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Alex Hutchinson @alexthearchivist.com · Feb 8

We have a literary festival here in York @yorklitfest.bsky.social

If you would be so kind 🙏🏻

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Reposted by Alex Hutchinson

Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · Jan 31

Radical publishing notion, right here: if your publishers are making a living from publishing and selling your books, then you, the author, should be making a living from writing them.

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