Ian Mortimer
@IanJamesFM
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English historian & novelist. Author of 21 books, incl. 4 Time Traveller's Guides. Enthusiasms include history, archaeology, Dartmoor, art, music & running.
Devon
Joined May 2011
I don't think Twitter is moving in the right direction. Its vision seems to be about exploitation, profit and stirring antagonism. Nothing suggests it will have higher standards of decency. I am therefore mothballing my account. My thanks & apologies to all my followers.
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Very proud today - younger son Oliver’s 200th parkrun and elder son Alexander’s 100th - so I was thrilled to join them for the occasion, at Southampton parkrun. @Sotonparkrun
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Just off to Barton St David in Somerset to do a talk on my next book 'Medieval Horizons', which comes out in February. Third time talking on this subject, second rewrite. Hope I've got it okay now. Much harder to memorise a speech when I've performed it differently in the past.
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No they're not structural. But I'm not sure of their purpose. I only have copies - since photographing four glass plates like this at my grandmother's house in the early 1990s, they have been lost. Goes to show you can never take the lasting qualities of anything for granted.
@IanJamesFM That’s quite a connection! What’s the purpose of the cross hatched wooden slats? Supports perhaps? Great photos btw.
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That guess would be wrong with regard to the start date. No one knows when the area started to be inhabited nor when this area strated to be used for charcoal burning. Terminal date not a problem.
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Considering there's no firm evidence of habitation in the area between prehistoric times and the 10th century, let alone charcoal burning on this spot, no.
@IanJamesFM Is it not a clumsy way of saying in use from about AD 500 - 1948?
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Don’t quite understand the value of presenting a date range of 1448 years. Playing safe, no doubt, but ‘Circa’ too. Might as well have said “post Ice Age”. In Fingle Woods, Dartmoor.
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Mesmerising watching - and agree with a lot of it - but a little surprised given his views that he has remained a member for more than fifty years. (Perhaps, he says hopefully, there may still be a centre-right out there - somewhere - to rebuild).
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Congratulations, Paul and all the parkrun team. Was thinking of you this morning as I ran at my local Parke, here in Devon. Happy 18th birthday.
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Difficult to believe these two pictures are of the same house. Since the 1860s, when the Read family lived there, it's been extended at both ends, re-roofed, re-faced at both levels, doorways have been removed & windows replaced. Not much left. (Hamsell Farm, Penshurst, Kent)
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This makes me so sad. It is infuriating. The answer to a crisis is never to 'sell off the family silver' - or, in this case, to try to generate growth by relaxing protections of natural treasures. It is never anything more than a short-term fix - and one easily abused.
⚠️😡Make no mistake, we are angry. This Government has today launched an attack on nature. We don’t use the words that follow lightly. We are entering uncharted territory. Please read this thread. 1/13
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One of my favourite views. Actually, two of them. (At the Warren House, on Dartmoor)
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One long dead twisted hazel that has now produced one new leaf. The embodiment of optimism. Appropriate image on my birthday.
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Western experts say nuclear attack unlikely. Those with their fingers on the button say they will use them. I believe the latter: when a nuclear-armed dictator finds himself staring at defeat, his supporters will expect him to use their most powerful weapons, rather than give up.
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Thank you!
@MrsMeliaHistory @MissFolorunsho @IanJamesFM writes the Travellers Guide series, Ian Mortimer, brilliant books and clips on @BBC_Teach hope that helps? Advertised it and Helen Castor at webinar yesterday. 🙌🏻
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It is a disservice to democracy when elected politicians - albeit neutral ones - don't stop to think about the absolute rubbish that comes out of their mouths on TV. What a plonker.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle: “We should not let anything overshadow the most important event the world will ever see and that is the funeral of her majesty” 😳 #bbclaurak
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It doesn't especially bother me, as someone who approves of constitutional monarchy, but it's striking how the BBC has gone from singing the merits of 'both sides journalism' just two weeks ago, to not even a tiny debate on republicanism since the Queen's death.
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Oh for the elegance of 1910, when, instead of cancelling things willy-nilly, Statements were made. Black Ascot, where every racegoer wore (vastly extravagant) mourning for Edward VII
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This is well worth watching… dangerous views being expressed on live Russian TV.
Russian chat shows always had the “NATO shill guest” who said relatively sensible things and could then be torn down by the others. But Boris Nadezhdin here speaking some dangerous truths, you wonder if he might simply get arrested soon. https://t.co/KwF8xqaEn4
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