Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Didn’t realise today is the 30th anniversary of the first broadcast of Arthur the Aardvark until now - but fittingly was wearing this T-shirt anyway 010
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 03/10/2026She’s the Harold Hardrada of this version.. Doesn’t fit the story so leave ‘em out 060
Reposted by Joe OliverJon Phillips @jowiph.bsky.social · 05/09/2026I picked up a copy of the collected letters of JRR Tolkien for reasons, and this is the most bullshit table of contents I've ever seen. I'm actively angry that it exists 2261721062
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 20/08/2026An excellent Simpsons themed birthday present and card from my great friend Amy 001
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Churchill apparently referred to him as ‘Senator Estates Cow-fever’ 110
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Hillary Benn going is a bit like the ravens leaving the Tower of London. Labour Prime Minister in history until now has had a Benn in the Cabinet at some point MacDonald x2/Attlee - William Wedgwood Benn Wilson x2/Callaghan - his son Tony Benn Blair/Brown/Starmer - grandson Hillary Benn 110
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 24/06/2026An entertaining daft debate is taking place about whether the ‘Northern end’ of the office is cooler than the rest.. 010
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 22/06/2026Now we sit back and enjoy everyone saying ‘Starmer wasn’t so bad’ 000
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 22/06/2026Fair play it was done well good grace - even mentioning ‘with good grace’ for the write-ups Nothing in his (political) life became him like the leaving it 010
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 22/06/2026‘And since I have achieved all my objectives as Prime Minister in only two years there is no need for a third’ 120
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 19/06/2026My Mum says a woman in Sidmouth today asked her seriously if Britain will be communist now that Andy Burnham’s won 100
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 19/06/2026Big news tonight is that this raffle prize I won a while back is now relevant.. (Knew past me was right not to take the fancy bottle of shampoo) 000
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 14/06/2026His ‘A Yorkshire Boyhood’ is a lovely account of growing up in the Sheffield of the 1930s - vanished in many ways but still recognisable to Sheffielders in others. In later years he had a Medieval house deep in the Peak District 010
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 14/06/2026I had great admiration and fondness for Roy Hattersley. A beautiful elegiac writer as well as a politician Remember Edna Healey saying he shared many traits with Dennis Healey traits - similar Yorkshire roots, Labour politics & wit (a comparison Roy would have delighted with) 120
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 30/05/2026I’m sure they send it by cheque hoping people won’t cash them/pay them in - but I will on a point of petty principle! 010
Reposted by Joe OliverBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 29/05/2026Beach Walk, Whitby, painting by Bridget Wilkinson. 331542
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 24/05/2026Bag of giant chocolate buttons turned into one giant chocolate button in the heat. Going to eat it with a knife and fork.. 010
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 19/05/2026We’re 16 hours in and war has finally broken out with the first Battle of St Albans! 020
Reposted by Joe OliverJessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 16/05/2026Have we ever had a future prime minister explicitly mugging off Andrew Neil this badly? 39611106
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 07/05/2026Obvs wish these people well but were there any slightly more consequential stories of rail disruption the BBC could have used.. 020
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 05/05/20264 hours in and just reached 1415. So only 40 years until the Wars actually break out. Some great detail though - eg contemporary claims Henry V could run faster than the flight of an arrow may have been somewhat exaggerated 100
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 03/05/2026(Not sure we really need-a the ex-ah-agerrated Italian accent for the Venetian chroniclers being quoted) 100
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 03/05/2026Started the 23 hour unabridged audiobook of Alison Weir’s account of the Wars of the Roses, which should keep me going for a while on commutes. It makes clear in the first few minutes it will only cover the first part of the Wars.. 100
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 23/04/2026Appropriately today I’m in Stratford-Upon-Avon where (we guesstimate) Shakespeare was born on this very day 462 years ago in this very house 🤩 131
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 19/04/2026Found this book which brought a burst of nostalgia A tale of blatant discrimination against a woman with clear dyspraxia 020
Reposted by Joe OliverHelen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 17/04/2026The modern world in old Ladybird books. Eating on trains, 1974. Artist: Frank Humphris 1231837
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 12/04/2026News Viktor Orban is conceeding the Hungarian election and Rachel Zegler won an Olivier Award coming in at the same time :) 120
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 05/04/2026As the misspelt church banner said ‘Chris is Risen!’ 000
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 26/03/2026Not to be an apostrophe person but wonder which student they asked.. 020
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Got stuck at Castle Cary for a while. And some people say there’s no historical evidence for King Arthur 🤷🏻♂️ 030
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Can’t remember a time before I was on this train. Just going to accept I live here now. 110
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Train delayed. At least 4.5 hours to go. Thank gawd at least after uhhming and ahing over whether I needed a physical copy I brought Alan Bennett’s latest diaries at the station 📖 110
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Saw Arcadia last night then didn’t sleep for ages thinking obsessively about why Stoppard’s play is so perfect.. 💔 000
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 19/03/2026Can only really wear this to other productions of Romeo and Juliet but still.. 000
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 19/03/2026New Romeo and Juliet with Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe was great fun, with lots of unexpected turns even in such a well know story. Been there, done that, got the pleasingly daft promotional scarf 🧣 110
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 19/03/2026New Romeo and Juliet with Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe was great fun, with lots of unexpected turns even in such a well know story. Been there, done that, got the pleasingly daft promotional scarf 🧣 000
Reposted by Joe OliverDaley AF(C) @daleyafc.bsky.social · 21/02/2026Whatever you possibly think this could be, it’s even better. All in the delivery. 716454
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 09/02/2026‘I have concluded my work here is done, as optimal communications have been achieved’ 010
Joe Oliver @joeolyver.bsky.social · 08/02/2026“The Prime Minister begged me not to advise him to appoint Peter Mandelson. He didn’t want to take the advice but I advised him to do so.” 000
Reposted by Joe OliverJack Lynch @jacklynch000.bsky.social · 02/02/2026I’m loving the attitude in the marginalia to this copy of Griffith’s Morality of Shakespeare’s Drama Illustrated (1775). 0169