iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

‘What’s the matter, Vice Chancellor? You seem awfully tense.’ Apparently the King of Italy is visiting tomorrow. What shall I show him? ‘You could always ask the Italian Department... Oh, no, you shot them last week for speaking funny and not wearing proper hats, didn’t you...’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

On this day in 1934 Virginia Woolf unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Gandalf in Fritz Lang’s abortive Lord of the Rings project. After she repeatedly insisted on correcting the hobbits’ grammar, the role was finally given to Arthur Askey.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Films that should have been made, no 16: Jacques Tati’s Apocalypse Now. ‘Ok, Marlon, so he comes at you with the big knife, but you duck, he misses, and he chases you around the room. His wet feet make this really loud squelching noise… we fade up the end music from Benny Hill… Better, non?’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Very pleased to see hard(back) evidence that this tricksy creature is indeed loose in the world. It was a joy to work with the brilliant @ellierycroft.bsky.social to bring it into existence.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

‘ardest game in the world, wizarding, innit. You’ve got to have a second career lined up, just in case it all goes arse upwards with the sorcery…’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

‘Yep, I think the bastard’s finally gone...’ (Faith, Hope, and Charity say farewell to 2025 and prepare to come out of hiding and try again in 2026.) Happy New Year everyone!

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

A happy New Year to all in the child-boiling community who celebrate 🥂🥳

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Just a couple more days to enjoy ‘2025: The Immersive Experience’, tickets selling fast…

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

On ‘World’s Worst Jobs’ tonight we talk to Gino Capelletti, the man charged each year with taking down the Christmas decorations at the Vatican.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

‘Brace, Death Star ahead!’ ‘I’m pretty sure it’s just a réification of our engagement with material historical conditions, Han…’ (Lost footage of Georg Lukács’s failed Star Wars pilot found in Budapest attic.)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Visitors left ´confused’ by new Marxist Santa’s grotto.´They told our Sandra that whether she’d been good or bad just disguises the false consciousness behind an essentially feudal system of gift allocation’, said one angry mum who reached out on X to complain of long delays & arguments with elves.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Exceptionally sad news for scholars of early English Drama. The great Jean-Paul Debax, a towering figure in Tudor theatre Studies in France, and a kind, generous scholar, has passed away at the age of 90: the last of the founders of the delightful Tours Tables-Rondes.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

I was deeply sorry to learn, very belatedly, of the passing earlier this year of Prof Marie-Helene Besnault, a stalwart of the long-running Table-Ronde on Tudor drama at the University of Tours. The kindest of souls and most generous of hosts to we travelling Brits. God speed M-H.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

‘Will he have cakes… and tea? Perhaps camomile? He’d surely like that best. No? (OTD in 1957 John Betjeman auditioned for the role of Sauron in Leni Riefenstahl’s doomed Lord of The Rings project. His ‘lack of chemistry’ with co-star Conrad Veidt (Frodo) allegedly blighted the project from the start

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

OTD in 1953 historian AJP Taylor guested on Radio 4’s ‘Beat the Experts’. Wrongly billed as ‘author of ‘How Warts Begin’’, he faced 38 unanswerable questions on swimming pool hygiene, verrucas & how best to touch toads, before hitting host Robert Robinson with an egg sandwich & storming out.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

‘If I can just lever all these little cogs out, the whole thing will work a lot better...’ ‘You do know that’s not how clocks work, don’t you?’ (‘Allegory of University Management’, 2025)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

´Pope arrives in Oxford to challenge old Exam results.´ ‘He just appeared in the quad, announced he was infallible & refused to leave until we’d regraded him to a First’, observed a shaken Dame Eleanor Fitzbadderley, Mistress of Boverille College. ‘& then his attack-deacons drank all the sherry...’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

‘And if they don’t have the crispy duck; I’ll just take the chicken in black bean sauce...’ (‘Many would argue that Sir Delivier la Roux’s storied career rested on completing one of the easier Grail Quests...’)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

OTD in year 650 of the Third Age: Owing to a persistent glitch in the world-leading University of Numenor course allocation software, Galadriel found herself registered for both Troll Studies A and B and ‘Living Under Bridges: New Perspectives/New Directions’ in Semester 2...’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

‘No, he definitely wants it to be called, ‘The Great D’Artagnan and His Three Older, Less Interesting Friends...’’ The little shi…. Look, he’s not here yet; change it to ‘The Three Musketeers’ and there’s a tenner in it for you... (‘The stories Behind Great Book Titles’ number 15)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

A fine birthday weekend with old friends and carnivorous plants…

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

(‘When Great Writers Met’ 17: George Eliot and H.D.) Wha?. I thought you’d be a man... ‘Well, I thought you’d be a pencil...’ Hmmm....oh no, here comes Caryl Phillips. ‘Wha...she’s a bloke now? I think I need a drink.’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Breaking: University of Narnia announces acting VC and Professor of Swordplay, Reepicheep McPherson is to step down with immediate effect after allegations emerge of inappropriate relationship with Wonderland exchange student.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

(‘And last of all there was Hope, to make all the rest bearable...’) ‘Come on out you little shite, you must be in there somewhere!’ (‘Pandora and Her Box’, 2025’)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

(Charlotte took great pleasure in switching the online Proust and Conrad conversation simulation to ‘stick-fighting’ mode during the weekly free-study period...) ‘You, sir, are a bounder and a cad. ‘Heart of Darkness’? ‘Fart of Darkness’ more like!’ ‘You take that back, you French Jessie!’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

(Meanwhile in the Senior Common Room) ‘What’s that old son? ‘Decolonising the curriculum’? Yes, we did that in ‘57. Swapped Kipling for Buchan. Never looked back. We were such radicals back then. Help yourself to an Empire Biscuit, they’re delicious...’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

(CSI Narnia returns with a feature-length episode, Thursday on 5) ‘Good work Reepi. That enhanced cctv footage clinches it. Lucy, Mr Beaver, get down to ‘Tumnus’ Goatburgers’ now and bring that SOB in. We’ve got our goddam rustler at last.’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

‘So, darling, you closed Russian just before the rise of Putin, and Media Studies as Twitter went global. Now you say English isn’t vital for modern life. Remind me again what you said at interview about being a visionary...’ (‘Britain’s Worst Vice Chancellors’ returns tonight at 7.00)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Controversial new crime drama tonight on 5: Jesus PI Christ: But only you, Martha, knew Mary’s habit of removing her spectacles before yoga, & could switch her halo for that cheese wire without Leo there barking Martha: It's uncanny. Do you know everything? Christ: (looks to camera. winks. Fade out)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Cautionary Tales from the Opticians' museum. 'Danger number 7: Overconfidence’) Surgeon: ‘You see how with experience I have learnt to remove the cornea by touch alone, with the patient completely oblivious to the procedure' Unknown Orphan: 'Aaaaaaaargh'

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Now there’s a life fully lived!

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

OTD in 1901 DH Lawrence failed the audition to paint Queen Victoria’s final state portrait. ‘Can you try ‘n show something on thy face ‘tween rapture and ecstasy, ma’am… Imagine a gret rough beast were ‘aving its way with you…’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Unlikely friendships #27. Virginia Woolf met lifelong scrabble partner Sophia Loren while captaining Young WMCC on their controversial 1923 ‘bodyline’ tour of Sardinia. As Vita Sackville West pitched balls at chin height at startled Italians, Woolf took 7 slip catches, including Loren (for 5).

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

‘Look ‘ere, that cove Dickens’s only gone & put us in ‘is new book. The Dodger’s got whole sections just to ‘is self; Bill’s in it, even I get a walk on… ‘And what of me? Do I and my exotic, eccentric chocolate factory perhaps feature at all….?’ Sorry, Willy, not a word. ‘Tosser!’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

‘I am Edward the Black Prince, feared throughout Europe!’ You’re wearing a leather trilby with a stuffed lion on top, mate! ‘Want to make something of it? I’ve also got this six foot broadsword.’ Fair point, well made your madge…

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Turning Points in Western History no. 5 Caesar: What will you give, oh Quatraformaggio of Napoli? Speak or all die. Q: All lands from here even unto Eboli. C: Mine already. Q:1m gold crowns in tribute? C: Yadda. Q:Grandma’s recipe for a tasty tomato-and-cheese-topped snack? C: Hmmm. Tell me more...

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

OTD in 1929 Virginia Woolf was sacked as scriptwriter for Fritz Lang’s abortive ‘House of the Dragon’ movie after mischievously writing herself a role as Mrs Dallowaera the Green Dragon and improvising lines about soft furnishings with a startled Otto Hightower (Buster Keaton).

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

‘It’s celebration time in the blue camp as Azathoth brings back the bonus dinner ingredients after the bush tucker challenge. Remember he chose the Oreo cookies and the sugar puffs, and that’s gone down well’ (rare pilot footage from ‘Aleister Crowley’s ‘’I’m a Celebrity’’, Anglia TV, 1961)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

‘Stay with me, Sheila. It’s Prof Godfrey. You’ve lost a lot of blood, but the ambulance is on its way. Before it gets here, though, we need you to just come and change the toner cartridge in the photocopier for us. Sheila? Oh ffs...Has anyone got smelling salts?

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

‘Wait, Graham, I need to be fully in the moment to find the right mood….’ ‘Ffs Sophie, it’s ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’ not bloody Wagner...’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

OTD in 1924: Scholars are forced to reconsider the early career of DH Lawrence as lost footage emerges of his appearance in Mack Sennett’s ill-fated Addams Family movie project. Sennett finally pulled the plug when Lawrence insisted his character be renamed John Thomas Cox.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Actually, Rupert, what the cards say is, ‘unless you put down that guitar and bring me a martini you’ll suddenly be eaten by a walrus’... or possibly some other large marine carnivore, it’s not an exact science.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Number three in our occasional series, 'Guinea Pigs That Look Like Timothy Spall'.

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

Blimey, it’s a stuffed woodwose!

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

‘Aye, without the mask I can pretty much go anywhere without any fuss. But I mostly come here for a quiet pint of mild and a go at the crossword. Linda does a lovely cheese cob.’ (Dr Victor von Doom interviewed for Hello Magazine’s ‘My favourite Places’, The Dog and Duck, Ripley, June 2018)

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

‘Christ, it’s the cops; everybody just look normal. ... FFS Gary, have you never seen a guitar being played?’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

‘Look it’s that dreadful Mister Gladstone. Go and bite him.’

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Greg Walker @gregmw4.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

And in other news, friends of Thomas The Tank Engine react with concern after images of an apparently tired and emotional train appear on Instagram of the aftermath of Ringo Starr’s birthday party...

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