Kirsty Hooper
@booksonspain.bsky.social
Warwickshire-based researcher, writer, linguist, genealogist & musician (longtime flugeller, budding trombonist). Current project: Spanish London: Culture, Commerce and Community in the C19 City. Also like 🐈⬛🥾📷🎺🎶 www.khgenealogy.co.uk
Pinned
Kirsty Hooper
@booksonspain.bsky.social
· Nov 11
Hello new followers! I'm a linguist, historian & genealogist specialising in Anglo-Spanish (Galician, Basque, Philippine) connections. I work part-time in Mod Langs @ Warwick Uni & part-time for my own research & #genealogy business. Currently finishing a book on London's C19 Hispanic community...
I made a social media Christmas card for my awesome band Royal Spa Brass. We aren't on BlueSky so I'm sharing it here 🎺🎄❄️🎅
December 22, 2025 at 7:17 PM
I made a social media Christmas card for my awesome band Royal Spa Brass. We aren't on BlueSky so I'm sharing it here 🎺🎄❄️🎅
Reposted by Kirsty Hooper
'For humanities departments to continue to matter, they must challenge the modern world rather than accommodate it. Indeed, the most useful lesson the humanities have to offer today is a profoundly countercultural one: Difficulty is good, an end in its own right.' 2/2
December 15, 2025 at 12:44 PM
'For humanities departments to continue to matter, they must challenge the modern world rather than accommodate it. Indeed, the most useful lesson the humanities have to offer today is a profoundly countercultural one: Difficulty is good, an end in its own right.' 2/2
The Victorians loved their Spanish Christmas treats and I wrote about it for our department blog 🍷🌰🍊
¡Feliz Navidad! Spanish Food and Wine and the Victorian Christmas
On the first day of Christmas (well, December) the SMLC gave to me… reflections on the Spanish influences on Christmas in Britain, by Kirsty Hooper. A piece likely to make readers rather peck…
warwicklanguages.wordpress.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:20 PM
The Victorians loved their Spanish Christmas treats and I wrote about it for our department blog 🍷🌰🍊
Every year my brass band plays for the awesome Carols at Warwick Castle and last year they filmed us for a documentary called 'A Warwick Castle Christmas'. It's on ITV this Sunday at 7pm. Exciting!!! 🎄 🎺 🏰
December 5, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Every year my brass band plays for the awesome Carols at Warwick Castle and last year they filmed us for a documentary called 'A Warwick Castle Christmas'. It's on ITV this Sunday at 7pm. Exciting!!! 🎄 🎺 🏰
Did you know Spanish food and drink was a central part of a Victorian Christmas? And what did a wine pig (pictured) have to do with it? Read the festive blog I wrote for Warwick SMLC to learn more!
warwicklanguages.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/f...
warwicklanguages.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/f...
¡Feliz Navidad! Spanish Food and Wine and the Victorian Christmas
On the first day of Christmas (well, December) the SMLC gave to me… reflections on the Spanish influences on Christmas in Britain, by Kirsty Hooper. A piece likely to make readers rather peck…
warwicklanguages.wordpress.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Did you know Spanish food and drink was a central part of a Victorian Christmas? And what did a wine pig (pictured) have to do with it? Read the festive blog I wrote for Warwick SMLC to learn more!
warwicklanguages.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/f...
warwicklanguages.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/f...
Reposted by Kirsty Hooper
As is now traditional at this time of year, we are pleased to announce our special Black Friday offer: One year’s membership of the the Society for #OnePlaceStudies, with all of its brilliant benefits, for the same bargain price that it has been ever since we launched – just £10! #OnePlaceWednesday
November 26, 2025 at 5:03 PM
As is now traditional at this time of year, we are pleased to announce our special Black Friday offer: One year’s membership of the the Society for #OnePlaceStudies, with all of its brilliant benefits, for the same bargain price that it has been ever since we launched – just £10! #OnePlaceWednesday
Today's #BirdOfTheDay asks for pairs of the same #bird, so here's one of this summer's house sparrow fledglings politely awaiting lunch. (I need to clean my windows!!)
October 28, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Today's #BirdOfTheDay asks for pairs of the same #bird, so here's one of this summer's house sparrow fledglings politely awaiting lunch. (I need to clean my windows!!)
Reposted by Kirsty Hooper
NEW ARTICLE: 'Pirates, Slave Traders or Patriots? Imperial Exceptionalism, Maritime Tensions and the Emergence of the Spanish Sea Novel, c. 1830-1870' by @booksonspain.bsky.social @warwick-smlc.bsky.social
Read it #OA online: bit.ly/MLO-Hooper
Read it #OA online: bit.ly/MLO-Hooper
October 27, 2025 at 12:31 PM
NEW ARTICLE: 'Pirates, Slave Traders or Patriots? Imperial Exceptionalism, Maritime Tensions and the Emergence of the Spanish Sea Novel, c. 1830-1870' by @booksonspain.bsky.social @warwick-smlc.bsky.social
Read it #OA online: bit.ly/MLO-Hooper
Read it #OA online: bit.ly/MLO-Hooper
I saw that today's #BirdOfTheDay is the #heron so here's the beauty I met this summer at Barston Lake in #Warwickshire. What a poser!
October 27, 2025 at 8:38 AM
I saw that today's #BirdOfTheDay is the #heron so here's the beauty I met this summer at Barston Lake in #Warwickshire. What a poser!
New article klaxon! Find out about the origins of the Spanish sea novel - a response to C19 Spain's declining global influence & attachment to the slave trade. It's been nearly ten years in the works and now you can read it on @modlangopen.bsky.social @warwick-smlc.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/3hv68ewz
tinyurl.com/3hv68ewz
Pirates, Slave Traders or Patriots? Imperial Exceptionalism, Maritime Tensions and the Emergence of the Spanish Sea Novel, c. 1830–1870 | Modern Languages Open
tinyurl.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:59 PM
New article klaxon! Find out about the origins of the Spanish sea novel - a response to C19 Spain's declining global influence & attachment to the slave trade. It's been nearly ten years in the works and now you can read it on @modlangopen.bsky.social @warwick-smlc.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/3hv68ewz
tinyurl.com/3hv68ewz
Reposted by Kirsty Hooper
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
Gorgeous writing, encouraging us to find meaning in the 'minuscule and mundane'
Sunday read: "And so I stand beside the latch, comforted by the collective thumbprint. Through the imperceptible hollowing of its burnished curve, it cradles an immortality defined through touch" www.digest.andymarshall.co/andy-marshal...
October 12, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Gorgeous writing, encouraging us to find meaning in the 'minuscule and mundane'
Reposted by Kirsty Hooper
So, the plan is to cut English, the arts, and sociology - the degrees that actually study culture - while on another part of your platform claiming to “defend” British culture.
It’s performance nationalism with a reading age of seven.
It’s performance nationalism with a reading age of seven.
October 8, 2025 at 4:31 AM
So, the plan is to cut English, the arts, and sociology - the degrees that actually study culture - while on another part of your platform claiming to “defend” British culture.
It’s performance nationalism with a reading age of seven.
It’s performance nationalism with a reading age of seven.
Happy Monday! After years of looking at probate inventories I have found my first female surveyor - Jane Davis was one of 3 people who valued an estate in Solihull in 1701. Not sure yet who she was - maybe a housekeeper or relative? Still, chuffed! #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #Warwickshire #Wills
September 1, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Happy Monday! After years of looking at probate inventories I have found my first female surveyor - Jane Davis was one of 3 people who valued an estate in Solihull in 1701. Not sure yet who she was - maybe a housekeeper or relative? Still, chuffed! #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #Warwickshire #Wills
Immersed in Spain's 18th-century Catastro de Ensenada land register and chuffed to see this clerk tested his pen in the corner of the page just like I do ✒️ (this entry is for the lugar d'A Torre in Panton, Galicia)
August 13, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Immersed in Spain's 18th-century Catastro de Ensenada land register and chuffed to see this clerk tested his pen in the corner of the page just like I do ✒️ (this entry is for the lugar d'A Torre in Panton, Galicia)
Just back from a wonderful second visit to glorious #Ardnamurchan. Of all the views, this is my favourite: Camas nan Geall (Bay of Pledges). 6000 years of human history beneath all that green.
August 10, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Just back from a wonderful second visit to glorious #Ardnamurchan. Of all the views, this is my favourite: Camas nan Geall (Bay of Pledges). 6000 years of human history beneath all that green.
It's a month since I checked in here, but I've been busy with my #OnePlaceStudy #Genealogy and #LocalHistory. I had fun recreating this Edwardian postcard of Meeting House Lane in #BalsallCommon #Berkswell #OldnallEnd. Amazing how much remains the same 120 years later!
March 14, 2025 at 9:43 AM
It's a month since I checked in here, but I've been busy with my #OnePlaceStudy #Genealogy and #LocalHistory. I had fun recreating this Edwardian postcard of Meeting House Lane in #BalsallCommon #Berkswell #OldnallEnd. Amazing how much remains the same 120 years later!
Tonight! If you're feeling the English winter ❄️, come and hear about the Balearic sunshine 🌞
Free next Wednesday evening (12 Feb)? Come and hear my latest 'Encountering Spain' talk about pre-WWI British travellers in Spain for Instituto Cervantes. This time we are going to the Balearic Islands! The talk is free and online and you can sign up here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/encounteri...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/encounteri...
Encountering Spain: The Balearic Islands
Explore Spain through British travellers
www.eventbrite.co.uk
February 12, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Tonight! If you're feeling the English winter ❄️, come and hear about the Balearic sunshine 🌞
Free next Wednesday evening (12 Feb)? Come and hear my latest 'Encountering Spain' talk about pre-WWI British travellers in Spain for Instituto Cervantes. This time we are going to the Balearic Islands! The talk is free and online and you can sign up here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/encounteri...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/encounteri...
Encountering Spain: The Balearic Islands
Explore Spain through British travellers
www.eventbrite.co.uk
February 7, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Free next Wednesday evening (12 Feb)? Come and hear my latest 'Encountering Spain' talk about pre-WWI British travellers in Spain for Instituto Cervantes. This time we are going to the Balearic Islands! The talk is free and online and you can sign up here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/encounteri...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/encounteri...
Marking FINISHED* 🎉🎉🎉
* till the next batch, but I’m taking the win
* till the next batch, but I’m taking the win
a man is sitting at a table in a library reading a book
Alt: Troy from Community sitting at a library table and smugly closing up a folder
media.tenor.com
January 30, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Marking FINISHED* 🎉🎉🎉
* till the next batch, but I’m taking the win
* till the next batch, but I’m taking the win
👊
Yes, this administration is dangerous and cruel, but they are also shockingly dim and incompetent.
Opportunities are everywhere.
Make everything as hard as possible. Resist every demand. Refuse entry without a warrant. Don’t take the buyout. Their problem solving skills are 📉
Opportunities are everywhere.
Make everything as hard as possible. Resist every demand. Refuse entry without a warrant. Don’t take the buyout. Their problem solving skills are 📉
January 30, 2025 at 8:50 AM
👊
I haven't used my #OnePlaceStudy log books yet, but my dad did brilliant things at Redbourn School in the 80s, giving every kid an 'alter ego' from the log books a century earlier. The local paper did a story with a photo of him in Victorian costume and the headline "'Orrible Mr 'Ooper Larns 'Em"!!
Has anyone transcribed school log books or used them for research as part of their #OnePlaceStudy?
School log books are a rich resource for family & local history. This 1916 page from Canterbury Rd School, Leyton records a pupil's name & scholarship, names of two student teachers, a lightning strike, & extensive impact of a Zeppelin raid, with 60 panes of glass broken onsite. #documentofthemonth
January 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
I haven't used my #OnePlaceStudy log books yet, but my dad did brilliant things at Redbourn School in the 80s, giving every kid an 'alter ego' from the log books a century earlier. The local paper did a story with a photo of him in Victorian costume and the headline "'Orrible Mr 'Ooper Larns 'Em"!!
I blogged! It's been an entire year since my last #OldnallEnd #Berkswell #OnePlaceStudies blog, so here is my two-year-one-place reflection on what I've learned in 2024 (hint: A LOT) #LocalHistory #Genealogy #Warwickshire
oldnallend.uk/2025/01/27/a...
oldnallend.uk/2025/01/27/a...
A Two-Year, One-Place Reflection: 2024 in Review
Can it really be two years since I bit the bullet and registered my one-place study of Oldnall End with the Society for One-Place Studies? It’s been a great adventure discovering all sorts of…
oldnallend.uk
January 27, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I blogged! It's been an entire year since my last #OldnallEnd #Berkswell #OnePlaceStudies blog, so here is my two-year-one-place reflection on what I've learned in 2024 (hint: A LOT) #LocalHistory #Genealogy #Warwickshire
oldnallend.uk/2025/01/27/a...
oldnallend.uk/2025/01/27/a...
This 📚 🌎
One of the best things you can do right now is read books. Buy them. Borrow them from the library. Gift them.
Read history. Read fiction. Read science writing. Read anything that shows you the world is bigger than what fascists say it is.
Read to remember why your resistance matters. 📚💙
Read history. Read fiction. Read science writing. Read anything that shows you the world is bigger than what fascists say it is.
Read to remember why your resistance matters. 📚💙
January 26, 2025 at 5:42 PM
This 📚 🌎
I ❤️ court rolls. Today I learned there was a house in Berkswell in the 1650s called The Raven’s Nest 🐦⬛🪺
#OnePlaceStudies #LocalHistory #Warwickshire #Berkswell #OldnallEnd
#OnePlaceStudies #LocalHistory #Warwickshire #Berkswell #OldnallEnd
January 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
I ❤️ court rolls. Today I learned there was a house in Berkswell in the 1650s called The Raven’s Nest 🐦⬛🪺
#OnePlaceStudies #LocalHistory #Warwickshire #Berkswell #OldnallEnd
#OnePlaceStudies #LocalHistory #Warwickshire #Berkswell #OldnallEnd