Simon Pulleyn
@simonpulleyn.bsky.social
Read LitHum at Balliol. Former Lecturer in Classics at Merton. Honorary Research Fellow at Dept of Greek and Latin, UCL. Solicitor (nowadays non-practising). Fellow, Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. Gay. 🏳️🌈
Comments in personal capacity only.
Comments in personal capacity only.
I think of a student back in the 90s, theatrically indignant because a colleague of mine had recorded her assessment mark as gamma double plus when in fact it was gamma triple plus.
November 12, 2025 at 7:27 AM
I think of a student back in the 90s, theatrically indignant because a colleague of mine had recorded her assessment mark as gamma double plus when in fact it was gamma triple plus.
Reposted by Simon Pulleyn
The future Pope Leo XIV in 1982.
November 11, 2025 at 3:40 PM
The future Pope Leo XIV in 1982.
Does anyone know anything about orchids? I got this one from a kind neighbour. Two of its four leaves look unhealthy. The others are lustrous. I have watered it sparingly. I gather they prefer very little water. But it looks to my inexpert eye like dehydration. Thoughts?
November 9, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Does anyone know anything about orchids? I got this one from a kind neighbour. Two of its four leaves look unhealthy. The others are lustrous. I have watered it sparingly. I gather they prefer very little water. But it looks to my inexpert eye like dehydration. Thoughts?
Occasionally you come across people who have faces that seem to belong to another century and another world.
The crucifer at Mass this morning looked like Albrecht Dürer in his self-portrait in the likeness of Jesus.
The crucifer at Mass this morning looked like Albrecht Dürer in his self-portrait in the likeness of Jesus.
November 9, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Occasionally you come across people who have faces that seem to belong to another century and another world.
The crucifer at Mass this morning looked like Albrecht Dürer in his self-portrait in the likeness of Jesus.
The crucifer at Mass this morning looked like Albrecht Dürer in his self-portrait in the likeness of Jesus.
Human rights champion Bindman dies at 92
London firm Bindmans announces death of founder.
www.lawgazette.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Fr Hubert Bonnet-Aymard is the Superior of the Marist community that runs Notre Dame de France in Soho. In this photo, he is in the foreground with red chasuble. He has in the past been good to me. I saw him today and he is grievously ill with cancer. Please pray for him.
November 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Fr Hubert Bonnet-Aymard is the Superior of the Marist community that runs Notre Dame de France in Soho. In this photo, he is in the foreground with red chasuble. He has in the past been good to me. I saw him today and he is grievously ill with cancer. Please pray for him.
But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
November 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
I’m watching the brilliant Anna Maxwell Martin in the deeply creepy Midwinter of the Spirit. She plays an Anglican priest training facing a load of diabolists. There’s a scene where she runs into church.
And crosses herself.
The. Wrong. Way. Round.
Does nobody advise properly on this stuff?
And crosses herself.
The. Wrong. Way. Round.
Does nobody advise properly on this stuff?
November 4, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I’m watching the brilliant Anna Maxwell Martin in the deeply creepy Midwinter of the Spirit. She plays an Anglican priest training facing a load of diabolists. There’s a scene where she runs into church.
And crosses herself.
The. Wrong. Way. Round.
Does nobody advise properly on this stuff?
And crosses herself.
The. Wrong. Way. Round.
Does nobody advise properly on this stuff?
Reposted by Simon Pulleyn
@dannybate.bsky.social
Your book finally made it all the way up north to Scandinavia and Stockholm!
This reader is delighted!
Your book finally made it all the way up north to Scandinavia and Stockholm!
This reader is delighted!
November 2, 2025 at 4:30 PM
@dannybate.bsky.social
Your book finally made it all the way up north to Scandinavia and Stockholm!
This reader is delighted!
Your book finally made it all the way up north to Scandinavia and Stockholm!
This reader is delighted!
“Thy wounds surpass not the Great Physician’s skill.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem
Catechetical Lecture 2.6
St Cyril of Jerusalem
Catechetical Lecture 2.6
November 1, 2025 at 1:38 PM
“Thy wounds surpass not the Great Physician’s skill.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem
Catechetical Lecture 2.6
St Cyril of Jerusalem
Catechetical Lecture 2.6
Woke up. Realized it was Halloween today. Felt like:
October 31, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Woke up. Realized it was Halloween today. Felt like:
It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it? All those Morningside facades …
October 31, 2025 at 10:08 AM
It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it? All those Morningside facades …
She’s right. It was such an anthem for our generation.
Or at least that’s how I recall it. It came out in 1986, the year I went to Oxford. I am transported straight back to that time and place.
youtube.com/shorts/L8TbK...
Or at least that’s how I recall it. It came out in 1986, the year I went to Oxford. I am transported straight back to that time and place.
youtube.com/shorts/L8TbK...
The Reverend Richard Coles plays Don't Leave Me This Way on a church organ
YouTube video by Reverend Richard Coles
youtube.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:19 PM
She’s right. It was such an anthem for our generation.
Or at least that’s how I recall it. It came out in 1986, the year I went to Oxford. I am transported straight back to that time and place.
youtube.com/shorts/L8TbK...
Or at least that’s how I recall it. It came out in 1986, the year I went to Oxford. I am transported straight back to that time and place.
youtube.com/shorts/L8TbK...
Yikes.
This is getting on for 47 years ago. I remember it as though it were yesterday.
I feel freeze dried from another era.
youtu.be/EfQ5bNA6amQ?...
This is getting on for 47 years ago. I remember it as though it were yesterday.
I feel freeze dried from another era.
youtu.be/EfQ5bNA6amQ?...
King's Singers - BBC Radio frequency changes 1978
YouTube video by Gracchus Pompey
youtu.be
October 28, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Yikes.
This is getting on for 47 years ago. I remember it as though it were yesterday.
I feel freeze dried from another era.
youtu.be/EfQ5bNA6amQ?...
This is getting on for 47 years ago. I remember it as though it were yesterday.
I feel freeze dried from another era.
youtu.be/EfQ5bNA6amQ?...
Ten years ago OTD died Fr John Bernard Gaskell. He was a massive, incalculably positive influence on my life and the lives of countless others. It’s a measure of his remarkableness that I can find no online photo of him.
Requiescas in pace, Fr John.
www.londons100bestchurches.co.uk/2016/06/02/f...
Requiescas in pace, Fr John.
www.londons100bestchurches.co.uk/2016/06/02/f...
Fr John Gaskell RIP | London's 100 Best Churches
www.londons100bestchurches.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Ten years ago OTD died Fr John Bernard Gaskell. He was a massive, incalculably positive influence on my life and the lives of countless others. It’s a measure of his remarkableness that I can find no online photo of him.
Requiescas in pace, Fr John.
www.londons100bestchurches.co.uk/2016/06/02/f...
Requiescas in pace, Fr John.
www.londons100bestchurches.co.uk/2016/06/02/f...
At this time of year, my thoughts turn to Guy Fawkes. He is sometimes said to have married my distant kinswoman Maria Pulleyn, one of the recusant Pulleyns of Scotton.
I think this is not so. But the far more pressing question is:
Does Guy Fawkes presuppose Gal Fawkes?
I think this is not so. But the far more pressing question is:
Does Guy Fawkes presuppose Gal Fawkes?
October 24, 2025 at 2:57 PM
At this time of year, my thoughts turn to Guy Fawkes. He is sometimes said to have married my distant kinswoman Maria Pulleyn, one of the recusant Pulleyns of Scotton.
I think this is not so. But the far more pressing question is:
Does Guy Fawkes presuppose Gal Fawkes?
I think this is not so. But the far more pressing question is:
Does Guy Fawkes presuppose Gal Fawkes?
Misheard lyrics #512 🎼🎶🎤
In Something’s Gotten Hold of my Heart
Gene Pitney and Marc Almond sing:
“Scarlet for me, scarlet for you”
I still hear:
“Towelette for me, towelette for you.”
I worry about myself.
In Something’s Gotten Hold of my Heart
Gene Pitney and Marc Almond sing:
“Scarlet for me, scarlet for you”
I still hear:
“Towelette for me, towelette for you.”
I worry about myself.
October 24, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Misheard lyrics #512 🎼🎶🎤
In Something’s Gotten Hold of my Heart
Gene Pitney and Marc Almond sing:
“Scarlet for me, scarlet for you”
I still hear:
“Towelette for me, towelette for you.”
I worry about myself.
In Something’s Gotten Hold of my Heart
Gene Pitney and Marc Almond sing:
“Scarlet for me, scarlet for you”
I still hear:
“Towelette for me, towelette for you.”
I worry about myself.
When I go to an “academic” talk or read a paper that is just a word salad, I don’t think, “Wow, they must be so smart. I wish I was bright enough to follow it all.” I tell myself that incoherent expression reflects vapid thought. Is this an age thing? Others seem to lap it up.
October 24, 2025 at 12:21 PM
When I go to an “academic” talk or read a paper that is just a word salad, I don’t think, “Wow, they must be so smart. I wish I was bright enough to follow it all.” I tell myself that incoherent expression reflects vapid thought. Is this an age thing? Others seem to lap it up.
I had to go to Selfridge’s to get some perfume for a sterling person. But neither perfume nor Selfridge’s fall within my expertise. Surrounded by a boundless sea of “fragrance” brands, most of which I’d never heard of, much less care about, I felt like a rabbit in headlights.
October 22, 2025 at 8:32 PM
I had to go to Selfridge’s to get some perfume for a sterling person. But neither perfume nor Selfridge’s fall within my expertise. Surrounded by a boundless sea of “fragrance” brands, most of which I’d never heard of, much less care about, I felt like a rabbit in headlights.
Hey ho. Another wasted trip. Turns out they meant “menswear”. 🤷
October 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Hey ho. Another wasted trip. Turns out they meant “menswear”. 🤷
That’s enough volts (ed.).
October 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
That’s enough volts (ed.).
