Sign in

Chris de C B

@panthropology.bsky.social
212 followers 275 following 651 posts

PhD Social Anthropology ** Oral History Medway [OHM] ** Memory *** Collecting *** he/him

PostsRepliesMedia
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
To mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, here's something I wrote about Fascism in the Medway Towns and what happened when Mosley visited. drcdcb.substack.com/p/the-battle...
012
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"In the spring of 1777, a visitor from the South Pacific stood on the deck of one of the greatest warships in the world and gazed out across the Medway. Around him lay the immense... basins of Chatham Dockyard at the industrial heart of Britain’s naval empire." drcdcb.substack.com/p/his-surpri...
drcdcb.substack.com
"His Surprize at Seeing So Large a Ship": Mai's Visit to Chatham Dockyard
A Polynesian Visitor to Georgian Britain
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Before he became known as one of the great chroniclers of mid-century West Africa, James Barnor was a scholarship student at Medway College of Art drcdcb.substack.com/p/james-barn...
drcdcb.substack.com
James Barnor: The Rochester Years of a Ghanaian Photography Pioneer
Before he became one of the great chroniclers of mid-century West Africa, James Barnor was a scholarship student at Medway College of Art
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
This week's article looks at the rise of adult entertainment in the Medway Towns open.substack.com/pub/drcdcb/p...
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
A small collection of stories for the dog days of summer. drcdcb.substack.com/p/going-to-t...
drcdcb.substack.com
Going to the Dogs
A History of Dogs in Medway
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Blackguards Who Maraud and Loot: Moral Breakdown in Medway open.substack.com/pub/drcdcb/p...
open.substack.com
Blackguards Who Maraud and Loot: Moral Breakdown in Medway
When wartime hardship met opportunity, the results were often far from heroic.
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
"Fairy author who mixed anti-suffrage fantasy with stuffy politics: what would Jane Austen have said? Her great-nephew became a writer, but chose to castigate women who were ‘amending the law of nature’" My latest for Bygonekent.org.uk
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
My latest The Past Is Still In Use tells the story of Arnold Crowther, a Punch and Judy professor who went on to perform for royalty, entertain troops during the Second World War, and help shape modern British witchcraft. drcdcb.substack.com/p/professor-...
drcdcb.substack.com
Professor Arnold Crowther, The Magician from Pagitt Street
The Chatham conjuror for whom magic became real
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
I spent a very enjoyably bibulous day on Friday at the Kent Press and Broadcast Awards #KPBA, where I picked up Highly Commended (2nd place) for Kent Feature Journalist of the Year [Print]. Thanks to my brilliant colleagues from Bygone Kent, @localauthority.news, and Rochester Radar
010
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Nikola Tesla claimed to have fallen in love with a white pigeon, with which he could communicate telepathically, saying “I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.” open.substack.com/pub/drcdcb/p...
open.substack.com
Putting the Cat Among the Pigeons
"I don't understand why people would want to get rid of pigeons. They don't bother no one." Mike Tyson
120
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
drcdcb.substack.com/p/the-gillin... A rather sombre piece about another postcard in my collection, an incongruous image for what was an appalling tragedy.
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
open.substack.com/pub/drcdcb/p... I’ve written about the second life of old postcards, disconnected from their original context these images now afford the subjects of exploitation a form of posthumous power and immortality.
open.substack.com
Teddy Grimes and “Marmalade” Emma Taylor
Borderline Lives: Postcards from the Margins 1
010
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The story of Medway Film Studios, which nearly became a centre of Anglo-Chinese film-making. Contains contortionism, Hitler, and some not so great films. open.substack.com/pub/drcdcb/p...
open.substack.com
Snodland on the Silver Screen
or How a Film Studio on the Banks of the River Medway Was Nearly the Birthplace of Chinese Diaspora Cinema in the UK.
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Here's an older piece about how statues are often presented as the most solid form of public memory. In popular imagination they appear immovable, both physically and symbolically reflecting a society’s values frozen in material form. drcdcb.substack.com/p/unquiet-mo...
drcdcb.substack.com
Unquiet Monuments
The Boer Statues – Royal Engineers Barracks
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
An overview of some Medway teen hangouts, lots more to write on this… drcdcb.substack.com/p/milk-bars-...
drcdcb.substack.com
Milk Bars and Coffee Bars
Before the coffee bar came the milk bar, an innovation which was approved by the Temperance Society as a way of keeping people out of pubs, but was seen as a challenge to morality by others.
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
"Winifred Alice Ryeland became a first a ballroom dancer, and then an acrobatic contortionist, under the soubriquet Winsome Winnie. She also toured provincial variety theatres as The Human Spider with a stage set that involved a giant web" open.substack.com/pub/drcdcb/p...
open.substack.com
Winsome Winnie and the Multi-Way Earthing Clip
Chatham’s East End
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
In the slang of Chatham’s dockyard maties... a “rabbit job” was work done on work time using Dockyard materials and equipment, and they were considered to be one of the perks of the job.... Removing this stuff from the premises became something of an artform. substack.com/@drcdcb/note...
substack.com
Rabbit Jobs and Dockyard Security
Informal Economies at Chatham Dockyard
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/p... A new Oral History Medway podcast explores Short Brothers and their Medway factories. When Rochester Cathedral exhibition of a restored Short Scion floatplane, we recorded visitors’ family stories and memories.
podcasts.apple.com
Made In Medway
History Podcast · Made in Medway is a podcast dedicated to capturing the lived experiences, memories, and voices of the Medway Towns’ diverse communities. Hosted by Robert Flood and Dr Christopher d...
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Chatham Standard - Tuesday 18 April 1989
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Ithell Colquhoun drawn by Mervyn Peake (In: Peake Studies*, Vol. 4 No. 4, Spring 1996) *they spell her name as Ethill Colquhoun
010
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
"If the future matters, start saving things now, even if imperfectly. Write the story, label the photo, date the flyer, back up the voice memo, and share what is known in forms that can travel, be understood, and be retrieved later." www.commondreams.org/opinion/docu...
commondreams.org
The Librarian’s Call: Documenting Is Resistance | Common Dreams
​History is protected by those who collect, preserve, and share the facts.
011
Reposted by Chris de C B
Sporting Heritage CIC @sportingheritage.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Share the sporting story of your club, organisation, or community with us on National Sporting Heritage Day #NSHD2025 To Kick Off here's “#Gillingham Football Club - The Supporters' Stories” #oralhistory #medway vimeo.com/1070405466?f...
vimeo.com
Gillingham Football Club - The Supporters' Stories
This is "Gillingham Football Club - The Supporters' Stories" by Spaghetti Weston on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
021
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Today is National Sporting Heritage Day #NSHD2025 Here's “Gillingham Football Club The Supporters' Stories”, compiled by Oral History Medway and made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the Medway Heritage Place Programme vimeo.com/1070405466
vimeo.com
Gillingham Football Club - The Supporters' Stories
This is "Gillingham Football Club - The Supporters' Stories" by Spaghetti Weston on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
"Diversity is its most consistent characteristic....The characteristics of freely improvised music are established only by the sonic-musical identity of the person or persons playing it." www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Comedian Stewart Lee on Derek Bailey
Stewart Lee chooses guitarist Derek Bailey.
010
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Crouch End Vampires F. C. 1908-9, formed in 1883, still playing today.
041
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Jazz Drug Menace - Melody Maker December 1st 1951
030
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
www.bbc.com/news/article... "Conservator Alexandra Wade for the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust said the discovery was a "tangible reminder of the lives once lived here - a small, personal object that has survived nearly three centuries"."
bbc.com
Card from 1700s found in Chatham Historic Dockyard restoration
Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust says the discovery has inspired them to create a time capsule.
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
"The music of our hearts is roots music: musics which we call history, because without the knowledge of your history you cannot determine your destiny; the music about the present, because if you’re not conscious of the present you’re like a cabbage in this society" youtu.be/gM2VxbQDERw?...
youtu.be
Misty In Roots Introduction & Mankind .wmv
YouTube video by Awwehness
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
observer.co.uk/news/nationa... “They have clearly shifted to it being a resource for BBC business priorities,” said Wyver. “The corporation no longer recognises the value that working with scholars brings”
observer.co.uk
Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...
Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
"For a normal, cultivated human being… our brain can operate only within certain limits: what our environment, with books, knowledge, information, has put in our brain. And, at some point, probably our brains may no longer have the capacity to understand."
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
The worst part of this story is rather buried; “The guards came to his bed, opened his pillow, took all the poetry and letters he’d been writing, and all the notes he’d been taking about his experiences, and told him he’s no longer allowed to write.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
‘Petri dish for disease’: attorney raises alarm of possible Covid outbreak at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
A respiratory disease is running rampant through Florida immigration jail, according to attorney of a detained person
010
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... "Interest in Short Brothers has been overwhelming, so many people globally have been in touch with fascinating stories and artefacts to share." We're always looking for more stories... get in touch
bbc.co.uk
Pioneering aviation brothers honoured with plaque in Hove - BBC News
A plaque is being unveiled in St Ann's Well Gardens in Hove to honour Oswald and Eustace Short.
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
A wonderful evening at Gillingham Football Club last night for the launch of the Oral History Medway Supporters' Stories film. Thanks to everyone who came, especially to Brigadier Andrew Wood, Deputy Lieutenant of Kent, Mayor of Medway Cllr Trevor Clark. oralhistorymedway.co.uk/.../gillingh...
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
It was amazing to be part of this reunion, 50 years to the day since the band Cathedral played in Rochester Cathedral with Anaconda Music Theatre and Paul Laurence. A glass was raised to the late Andy Dungate. A beautiful, moving afternoon of memories
010
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
"Yet most of it is closed down. Boarded up. Under threat. The Crown especially should be the site of (un)holy pilgrimage for every Sabbath fan, Metal Head, Ska Revivalist, Punk and Folkie globally - showcasing the best Brum music, beer, food and creativity." www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
“We are trying preserve memories, to fix them” www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
theguardian.com
Inside the ghost museums of Ukraine: exhibits replaced by fragments of war and occupation
The curators of shattered historical buildings near the eastern frontline are preserving wartime memories as they reconstruct their collections
010
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
000
Reposted by Chris de C B
The Megalithic Portal Ancient Sites & Stones @megalithic.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Win a signed copy of the wonderful new book Stone Lands by Fiona Robertson. To enter please repost and like this post and follow us on here if you haven’t already. More… 1/
Win a signed copy of the wonderful new book Stone Lands by Fiona Robertson
4195126
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Happy Bloomsday to all who celebrate
10385130
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
"There were a little over 150 names on them - all of which are names which are familiar with local people and known to family members." She continued: "They're not even valuable." www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/...
kentonline.co.uk
‘It’s pure greed’: First World War memorials stolen from church
A reverend says members of her church have been left “devastated” after memorials honouring First World War soldiers were stolen.
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
18 May 6.30 p.m. The White Horse Chilham A Village at the Centre of The Universe - A Creative Open House & Open Mic readings, creativities, curiosities, jollities, poetry, and music and the unexpected. Contact: Wyddershins2@gmail.com
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
“The revision of environmental planning rules to facilitate building new developments is potentially in breach of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement” www.politico.eu/article/newt...
politico.eu
EU warns Britain’s war on newts could violate Brexit deal
Leaked EU report raises alarm about U.K. planning bill’s bonfire of environmental protections.
001
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
In 1790, The Gentleman’s Magazine explained the Furry Dance: "It is called the Furry day – supposedly Flora’s day – not I imagine, as many have thought, in remembrance of some festival instituted in honour of that goddess, but rather from the garlands commonly worn on that day…"
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
www.thenational.scot/news/2513709... The promise of a Bildersturm of "crazy modern art" [Entartete Kunst] in a "Säuberung des Kunsttempels" for our time.
thenational.scot
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
"The last people to see wild beaver in Wales would have been the Welsh princes, who would have hunted them. So they've been absent for hundreds of years." www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Wild beaver filmed on River Dyfi in 'hugely significant' moment
Naturalist Iolo Williams said the clear sighting was one of the best things he had ever witnessed.
020
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
"Under the guise of cutting red tape and making development less “burdensome”, policymakers are now proposing laws that would, in the words of eminent academics, economists and scientists, act as ‘a license to kill nature’." www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view...
lbc.co.uk
The government’s planning bill is a 'license to kill nature', writes National Trust Director Hilary McGrady
This Bank Holiday Monday, millions of people in the UK will be heading to their local park, woods or even to the countryside, in search of fresh air and green space.
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
“I’ve heard that No 10 and Angela Rayner are worried [about] doing anything that’s deemed woke, and nature is in that bracket." www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
​‘The hypocrisy is staggering’: will swift bricks fall prey to government fears of Reform?
Campaigner Hannah Bourne-Taylor fears goal of requiring all new homes to include a hollow brick to help endangered cavity-nesting birds may be dropped
032
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
000
Chris de C B @panthropology.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
000
Reposted by Chris de C B
Music Venue Trust @musicvenuetrust.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
We’re proudly working with the V&A on an exciting new project that champions grassroots music venues and their cultural legacy - and you can be a part of it. Contribute your artefacts from between 1988-2025 by contacting musicvenues@vam.ac.uk before May 31.
36040