Graham Palmer
@grahampalmer.bsky.social
A writer, attempting to make sense.
(All you have to do is cross out the wrong words - Mark Twain)
Find me at: grahampalmer.co.uk
(All you have to do is cross out the wrong words - Mark Twain)
Find me at: grahampalmer.co.uk
Pinned
Graham Palmer
@grahampalmer.bsky.social
· Apr 19
Cracked Voices
A new song cycle
www.cracked-voices.co.uk
"Two voices weave their songs between simple and spacious clarinet and piano... Palmer's stories and poems truly bring these cracked voices to life; Jenni Pinnock’s compositions take them to another level."
- International Times
Visit: www.cracked-voices.co.uk
- International Times
Visit: www.cracked-voices.co.uk
A small town's Ghost of Christmas Past
Find out how Santa didn't get stuck up the chimney grahampalmer.co.uk/the-ghost-of...
#Christmas2025 #history #skystorians @bho.bsky.social
@fakehistoryhunter.net @balhnews.bsky.social @hertshistory.bsky.social @jennipinnock.com @britishlibrary.bsky.social
Find out how Santa didn't get stuck up the chimney grahampalmer.co.uk/the-ghost-of...
#Christmas2025 #history #skystorians @bho.bsky.social
@fakehistoryhunter.net @balhnews.bsky.social @hertshistory.bsky.social @jennipinnock.com @britishlibrary.bsky.social
The Ghost of Royston's Christmas Past - Graham Palmer
Meet Prof, Mitchell F.O.S., Royston's 'champion smile producer of the twentieth century'. A man who may well have won Britain's Got Talent if he was alive today.
grahampalmer.co.uk
December 14, 2025 at 2:54 PM
A small town's Ghost of Christmas Past
Find out how Santa didn't get stuck up the chimney grahampalmer.co.uk/the-ghost-of...
#Christmas2025 #history #skystorians @bho.bsky.social
@fakehistoryhunter.net @balhnews.bsky.social @hertshistory.bsky.social @jennipinnock.com @britishlibrary.bsky.social
Find out how Santa didn't get stuck up the chimney grahampalmer.co.uk/the-ghost-of...
#Christmas2025 #history #skystorians @bho.bsky.social
@fakehistoryhunter.net @balhnews.bsky.social @hertshistory.bsky.social @jennipinnock.com @britishlibrary.bsky.social
'Albert's Bridge' was the first Stoppard I came across. I was immediately hooked. For intellectual clout and humour as a playwright, he stood out head and shoulders. Tom Stoppard RIP. #writingcommunity #writing
"Success is less about applause and more about improved tomorrows." (Tom Stoppard)
"Success is less about applause and more about improved tomorrows." (Tom Stoppard)
November 29, 2025 at 7:59 PM
'Albert's Bridge' was the first Stoppard I came across. I was immediately hooked. For intellectual clout and humour as a playwright, he stood out head and shoulders. Tom Stoppard RIP. #writingcommunity #writing
"Success is less about applause and more about improved tomorrows." (Tom Stoppard)
"Success is less about applause and more about improved tomorrows." (Tom Stoppard)
There ought to be a way of dry-cleaning and disinfecting words...
- Aldous Huxley (Eyeless in Gaza)
#writingcommunity
- Aldous Huxley (Eyeless in Gaza)
#writingcommunity
November 26, 2025 at 3:31 PM
There ought to be a way of dry-cleaning and disinfecting words...
- Aldous Huxley (Eyeless in Gaza)
#writingcommunity
- Aldous Huxley (Eyeless in Gaza)
#writingcommunity
Blind research can be so serendipitous! While investigating a crime, I've found its female victim living in a posh North London Asylum along with TS Eliot's first wife...the same place that Stevie Smith was to write a poem about. @balhnews.bsky.social @poetrysociety.org.uk #writingcommunity
November 19, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Blind research can be so serendipitous! While investigating a crime, I've found its female victim living in a posh North London Asylum along with TS Eliot's first wife...the same place that Stevie Smith was to write a poem about. @balhnews.bsky.social @poetrysociety.org.uk #writingcommunity
Congrats to David Szalay on his 2025 Booker Prize (an interesting chat on BBC Today)...not the first émigré caught between worlds to win. I've dusted off an archive piece about Kazuo Ishiguro's early days. #writing @thebookerprizes.com
@faberbooks.bsky.social
grahampalmer.co.uk/we-are-all-b...
@faberbooks.bsky.social
grahampalmer.co.uk/we-are-all-b...
We are all Butlers - Graham Palmer
I caught up with Kazuo Ishiguro in 1995. Six years earlier The Remains of the Day had won the Booker prize and it was two years since Merchant Ivory’s adaptation had hit the big screen. He had just pu...
grahampalmer.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Congrats to David Szalay on his 2025 Booker Prize (an interesting chat on BBC Today)...not the first émigré caught between worlds to win. I've dusted off an archive piece about Kazuo Ishiguro's early days. #writing @thebookerprizes.com
@faberbooks.bsky.social
grahampalmer.co.uk/we-are-all-b...
@faberbooks.bsky.social
grahampalmer.co.uk/we-are-all-b...
Reposted by Graham Palmer
In 1886, Francis and Pollie Parsons printed Toby from the heart of London’s East End. They mocked corruption, defended workers and refused to be silenced. Graham Palmer tells their tale of satire, scandal and courage – worth rediscovering today.
eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi...
eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi...
Rise and silencing of the East End’s pioneering paper
“That’s the way to do it!” Toby, a paper named after Punch’s dog bit back at power – until satire, scandal and love brought it to heel
eastangliabylines.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 10:00 PM
In 1886, Francis and Pollie Parsons printed Toby from the heart of London’s East End. They mocked corruption, defended workers and refused to be silenced. Graham Palmer tells their tale of satire, scandal and courage – worth rediscovering today.
eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi...
eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi...
In East Anglia Bylines this week I track down Toby, the Victorian ‘watchdog’ whose bark would land its owner in prison... eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi... @balhnews.bsky.social @historyworkshop.org.uk @britishlibrary.bsky.social @thebhp.bsky.social @bho.bsky.social
November 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
In East Anglia Bylines this week I track down Toby, the Victorian ‘watchdog’ whose bark would land its owner in prison... eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi... @balhnews.bsky.social @historyworkshop.org.uk @britishlibrary.bsky.social @thebhp.bsky.social @bho.bsky.social
I was sad to hear that the inspirational music teacher Adrian Jacobs has passed away. A keystone of the original 1980s iteration of Royston Arts Festival, he is acknowledged by the the world-renowned trumpeter Alison Balsom as a seminal influence on her early days. @classicfm.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I was sad to hear that the inspirational music teacher Adrian Jacobs has passed away. A keystone of the original 1980s iteration of Royston Arts Festival, he is acknowledged by the the world-renowned trumpeter Alison Balsom as a seminal influence on her early days. @classicfm.com
'I had thought it was about writing what I knew, but after a time I discovered the more I acknowledged all that I didn't know, the closer to some truth I seemed to get.' - Richard Flanagan (First Person, 2017) @writerscentre.bsky.social @thebookerprizes.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:43 AM
'I had thought it was about writing what I knew, but after a time I discovered the more I acknowledged all that I didn't know, the closer to some truth I seemed to get.' - Richard Flanagan (First Person, 2017) @writerscentre.bsky.social @thebookerprizes.com
Reposted by Graham Palmer
730 years ago, on the 23rd of October 1295, the kingdoms of France and Scotland formed the Auld Alliance against England. If either country were attacked by England, the other would invade English territory in turn. It was renewed in 1326 by Robert the Bruce but never formally revoked. #otd 🗃️
October 23, 2025 at 6:35 AM
730 years ago, on the 23rd of October 1295, the kingdoms of France and Scotland formed the Auld Alliance against England. If either country were attacked by England, the other would invade English territory in turn. It was renewed in 1326 by Robert the Bruce but never formally revoked. #otd 🗃️
Forget the Beatles, the Liverpool poets told it as it was. Brian Patten may have shuffled off yesterday, but his 'length of time' lives on... @writerscentre.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEoB...
Brian Patten - So Many Different Lengths Of Time
YouTube video by HoneyboyWalter
www.youtube.com
September 30, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Forget the Beatles, the Liverpool poets told it as it was. Brian Patten may have shuffled off yesterday, but his 'length of time' lives on... @writerscentre.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEoB...
@roystonmuseum.bsky.social This might be useful to you... bsky.app/profile/brit...
Applications for SHAPE Involve and Engage are now open. This innovative public engagement programme allows UK-based researchers to work in partnership with a gallery, archive, library or museum (GLAM organisation). Application deadline is 15 Oct. Learn more: https://bit.ly/47XA41y
September 7, 2025 at 11:58 AM
@roystonmuseum.bsky.social This might be useful to you... bsky.app/profile/brit...
My new best friend...
August 19, 2025 at 1:32 PM
My new best friend...
Is this how much we value knowledge? www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....
Library books dumped on Croydon pavement 'unacceptable' - BBC News
Croydon mayor apologises after books were discovered outside a library being cleared by contractors.
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org
August 15, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Is this how much we value knowledge? www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....
Fantastic and heartfelt idea. This young woman should get a gong on the New year's honours list..
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Pupil who invented device to help homeless named 'girl of the year'
Rebecca Young, 12, was recognised for designing a solar-powered backpack with an electric blanket inside.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 14, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Fantastic and heartfelt idea. This young woman should get a gong on the New year's honours list..
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
I always knew Royston had its witches, but I don't think the locals memorialised them. 😀(Spotted on the Herts Memories website). @balhnews.bsky.social @roystonmuseum.bsky.social
August 3, 2025 at 7:13 AM
I always knew Royston had its witches, but I don't think the locals memorialised them. 😀(Spotted on the Herts Memories website). @balhnews.bsky.social @roystonmuseum.bsky.social
A great lyricist and song writer. The pigeons finally got their own back. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....
American musical satirist Tom Lehrer dies at 97, US media report - BBC News
Lehrer, a Harvard-trained mathematician, wrote darkly humorous songs, often with political connotations.
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org
July 27, 2025 at 8:17 PM
A great lyricist and song writer. The pigeons finally got their own back. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....
I was lucky enough to hear this lady scat when she was well into her 80s and she blew me away. She will be missed.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Cleo Laine: Acclaimed jazz singer dies aged 97
She was the first British singer to win a Grammy in a jazz category and performed with all the greats.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 26, 2025 at 6:07 PM
I was lucky enough to hear this lady scat when she was well into her 80s and she blew me away. She will be missed.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Last year I gave a talk at @roystonmuseum.bsky.social about an c18th proto sci-fi novel. The gist of 'Dr Who's Sea Legs' is now online. grahampalmer.co.uk/dr-whos-sea-...
July 26, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Last year I gave a talk at @roystonmuseum.bsky.social about an c18th proto sci-fi novel. The gist of 'Dr Who's Sea Legs' is now online. grahampalmer.co.uk/dr-whos-sea-...
Something to put a breeze under your wings this morning...
July 25, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Something to put a breeze under your wings this morning...
Reposted by Graham Palmer
New to @bsky.app 👋🏾
No better time to join than to share this news:
#TwelfthNight coming to #ShakespearesGlobe this summer. 🌦️
No better time to join than to share this news:
#TwelfthNight coming to #ShakespearesGlobe this summer. 🌦️
February 5, 2025 at 10:34 PM
New to @bsky.app 👋🏾
No better time to join than to share this news:
#TwelfthNight coming to #ShakespearesGlobe this summer. 🌦️
No better time to join than to share this news:
#TwelfthNight coming to #ShakespearesGlobe this summer. 🌦️
Brilliant performance by @janandjon.bsky.social at @folkbytheoak.bsky.social in Hatfield yesterday. Thanks guys!
July 21, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Brilliant performance by @janandjon.bsky.social at @folkbytheoak.bsky.social in Hatfield yesterday. Thanks guys!
It's always nice (and a surprise) to be featured in a
Creative Hertfordshire newsletter. 😃
Creative Hertfordshire newsletter. 😃
July 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
It's always nice (and a surprise) to be featured in a
Creative Hertfordshire newsletter. 😃
Creative Hertfordshire newsletter. 😃
Jo Browning Wroe (bestselling author of 'A Terrible Kindness') shares thoughts on writing, the second book and the myth of the solitary author. #writingcommunity @faberbooks.bsky.social @societyofauthors.bsky.social
@cambridgeindy.bsky.social
@theul.bsky.social grahampalmer.co.uk/building-a-c...
@cambridgeindy.bsky.social
@theul.bsky.social grahampalmer.co.uk/building-a-c...
Building a Cathedral - Graham Palmer
Graham Palmer talks to Jo Browning Wroe (author of the bestseller, A Terrible Kindness) in the first of his new blog-series 'Book Talk'.
grahampalmer.co.uk
July 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Jo Browning Wroe (bestselling author of 'A Terrible Kindness') shares thoughts on writing, the second book and the myth of the solitary author. #writingcommunity @faberbooks.bsky.social @societyofauthors.bsky.social
@cambridgeindy.bsky.social
@theul.bsky.social grahampalmer.co.uk/building-a-c...
@cambridgeindy.bsky.social
@theul.bsky.social grahampalmer.co.uk/building-a-c...
Begs the question, who do I go to if don't want to be cremated but reincarnated instead?
July 2, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Begs the question, who do I go to if don't want to be cremated but reincarnated instead?