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Richard Toye

@richardtoye.bsky.social
2.1K followers 119 following 98 posts

Historian. Exeter/Zürich. Author of Age of Hope: Labour, 1945, and the Birth of Modern Britain. Co-host of Churchill: The Finest Half Hour (on Spotify, Apple, & YouTube).

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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Launching 13 October. shows.acast.com/tales-from-t...
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Bill Hayden @billhayden65.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I did a Terry Wogan impression as part of an act at the Edinburgh Festival fringe last year. Nobody in the audience knew who he was. Next year I'm doing Benjamin Disraeli.
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
open.spotify.com/episode/0UsF...
open.spotify.com
Series 12: Churchill and Lloyd George - Rivals for Greatness
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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Evan @evansmithhist.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
So #historians, I might ask again - what are your weird archival finds? On the National Archives of Australia website, I found this digitised WWII-era letter to the Prime Minister complaining about enemy aliens in Australia, which then goes into rant about women smoking. #archives #history 🗃️
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Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Was very happy to beam into QUB today to launch the Africans in Ireland website that I and a number of colleagues have been working on for years. Maps, database, & other resources documenting the African presence in Ireland from the late 16th to early 20th centuries. africansinireland.com
A right-facing silhouette of the Black preacher and seaman John Jea, Methodist preacher and seaman, from his 1816 book The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
If you've listened to our Lloyd George and Churchill series, you'll enjoy this quiz! If you've not listened yet, you can find Churchill: The Finest Half Hour on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. lnkd.in/emjGtCmJ
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
open.spotify.com/episode/0SqQ...
open.spotify.com
Series 12: Churchill and Lloyd George - Rivals for Greatness Ep 6
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
actionnetwork.org/petitions/me...
actionnetwork.org
Mercy for Christa: Stop the Execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee
Please sign the petition below asking Governor Bill Lee to do everything within his power to stop Christa's execution.  After adding your name, please ask 5 friends to do the same and share widely on ...
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Matthias Eberl @eberlmat.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Nigel Farage over the years. Was: "Let's deport migrants who arrived illegally in the UK." Then: "Let's deport migrants who arrived legally in the UK." Now: "Let's deport migrants who are buried in the UK."
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4ao...
youtube.com
Series 12: Churchill and Lloyd George - Rivals for Greatness Episode 4: "The swish of the torpedo".
YouTube video by Churchill: The Finest Half Hour
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Ian Birrell @ianbirrell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I went last year. It was pretty grim, typified by the cheers when a journalist from Middle East Eye - asking a question on Gaza - said two colleagues had been killed the previous week
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Dr Dion Georgiou 🇨🇾❤️🇬🇾 @drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
My latest weekly roundup of reading and listening recommendations, taking in issues of state-building, pan-Asian thought and activism, and religion and politics, among other themes. 🧵 #skystorians🗃️ #lawsky #lit
academicbubble.substack.com
Stop, Look, and Listen #66
A round-up of what I have been reading and listening to this past week.
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The English Historical Review @enghistrev.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social reviews 'Superpower Britain: The 1945 Vision and Why it Failed', by Ashley Jackson and Andrew Stewart academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-... @academic.oup.com
academic.oup.com
Superpower Britain: The 1945 Vision and Why it Failed, by Ashley Jackson and Andrew Stewart (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025; pp. 480. £35).
At the start of this important and intriguing—if somewhat frustrating—book, Ashley Jackson and Andrew Stewart draw attention to a significant but often ove
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Gov. Ivey: Please respect the jury's decision and stop the execution of Jeffery Lee in Alabama. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/go...
actionnetwork.org
Gov. Ivey: Please respect the jury's decision and stop the execution of Jeffery Lee in Alabama
Jeffery Lee was convicted of killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson, and wounding Helen King in 1998. There is no question of his guilt, but the jury that convicted him was persuaded to sentence him ...
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
New episode has dropped! open.spotify.com/episode/577T...
open.spotify.com
Series 12: Churchill and Lloyd George - Rivals for Greatness Ep 3
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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Barb McQuade @barbmcquade.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
This is an appalling departure from the post-Watergate mission of the Department of Justice. DOJ, as we once knew it, is no more. Blanche has turned it into Trump‘s private law firm. What a complete disgrace. 
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University of Exeter News @uniofexeternews.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Professor @richardtoye.bsky.social spoke to @uk.theconversation.com about #CountBinface and "joke" candidates in British elections who highlight serious issues🗳️ theconversation.com/from-count-b...
theconversation.com
From Count Binface to AI Steve: why are we voting for joke candidates?
While their antics might make us pay attention to election campaigns, how did we end up with joke candidates as part of our political culture?
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Winston Churchill at his touchscreen laptop.
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
New episode has dropped! open.spotify.com/episode/6g4g...
open.spotify.com
Series 12: Churchill and Lloyd George - Rivals for Greatness
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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The Wiener Holocaust Library @wienerlibrary.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
📣 Next month we host an online book talk in cooperation with the Melbourne Holocaust Museum Fiona Kelmann will be in conversation with Dr Simon Holloway about her new book Irmgard: The Girl from Dresden, A Memoir of Survival and Legacy buff.ly/7wRZDlF
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Britain has skills shortages across the board. Yet the decision about what to preserve as part of post-18 tuition is being left to isolated groups of university managers whose legal duty is to preserve solvency. That's completely mad. www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/08/12/w...
hepi.ac.uk
What the situation at Nottingham tells us about the national picture for Modern Languages and why the sector should pay attention - HEPI
This blog was kindly written by Professor Pierre-Alexis Mével, Professor of Media Accessibility and Audiovisual Translation at the University of Nottingham. At the time of writing, the University of N...
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Evan @evansmithhist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Many years ago, I wrote this blog post about how my studying of film and history at university overlapped and how watching films gave me insights into historical practice. hatfulofhistory.com/2013/12/27/w...
hatfulofhistory.com
Why studying film helped me become a better historian
When I was an undergraduate, I planned to major in film studies, but I eventually switched to a double major in history and politics, keeping film studies as my minor. Although I didn’t keep …
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The Magic Lantern Society @magiclanternsoc.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Celebrating today's partial eclipse (pr total eclipse for our lucky friends in and around Spain), a splendid demonstration of how it all works, Victorian-style. #MagicLantern
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Have you checked out our new series yet? In the latest series of Churchill: The Finest Half Hour, Warren Dockter and I draw on my book "Rivals for Greatness" to explore the long and often turbulent relationship between Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. open.spotify.com/episode/71gG...
open.spotify.com
Series 12: Churchill and Lloyd George - Rivals for Greatness
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I just signed a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social petition: Stay the Execution of Daniel Conahan. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/st...
actionnetwork.org
Stay the Execution of Daniel Conahan
Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Daniel Conahan, who was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Richard Montgomery. Please sign this petition urging Governor DeSantis and the Fl...
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
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Audry T. ~ she/her @audryt.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
why don't we get a binface why do only the brits get a binface
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University of Exeter News @uniofexeternews.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
"The history of British democracy is also the history of the losers, loners and long-shots whose campaigns reveal what voters find funny, what they find unacceptable, and what they are, in the end, prepared to take seriously" - @richardtoye.bsky.social theconversation.com/count-binfac...
theconversation.com
Count Binface: why Britain’s ‘joke’ election candidates deserve to be taken seriously
Satirical candidates are part of a longstanding tradition in British politics.
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Today I launch a new academic discipline - Binnology. #Binface #Clacton #Farage theconversation.com/count-binfac...
theconversation.com
Count Binface: why Britain’s ‘joke’ election candidates deserve to be taken seriously
Satirical candidates are part of a longstanding tradition in British politics.
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Can this really be true? Astonishing if so. If this lasts it's a very bad sign indeed. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Former neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election
Joshua Bonehill-Paine, creator of satirical Crewkerne Gazette, has convictions including for harassing a Jewish MP
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Don't people get sent to prison for this sort of thing? Why is Farage's fiancier so immune to punishment for these felonies?
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
open.spotify.com/episode/4TDA...
open.spotify.com
Series 10: Churchill and the Great Republic
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Things are so bad I joined WhatsApp (still don't have a smartphone though, no). In amongst the serious stuff in our 'at risk' chat are some Very Lovely Things. For instance, my colleague who works on the Italian Renaissance shared this photo of the Archivio di Stato di Roma, where she currently is:
A photo taken through an archway at the State Archives of Italy. All around are magnificent old buildings with a clear blue sky above.
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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
📢ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT: A TIME OF MINDING📢 Chris Hoban has been recording all the music he composed as a fellow on the @leverhulme.ac.uk project The Material Culture of Wills! Sign up here to be notified when the album is released: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Photo: Tom Hurley #EarlyModern 🗃️
Chris Hoban on stage holding an accordian and speaking into microphone.
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
actionnetwork.org/petitions/fl...
actionnetwork.org
Florida: Don't Execute Ernest Suggs, An Innocent Man on Death Row
Ernest Suggs was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his friend Pauline Casey. He has been on death row in Florida for more than 30 years. He has always maintained his innocence, and th...
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
New episode! #Churchill #FinestHalfHour open.spotify.com/episode/2ZPI...
open.spotify.com
Series 9: The Art of Winston Churchill Episode 2
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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The Historical Journal @historicaljnl.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
📣Out now on #firstview! Kit Kowol @kitkowol.bsky.social and Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social on 'The Management of British MPs’ Postbags and Politician-Voter Relations in the Democratic Age' #Politics #Letters #Communication 20thc 🗃️ 👉Read open access: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
This article explores the management of correspondence between British MPs and the public, examining how citizens have used letter-writing as a tool to seek assistance, advocate for policies, and express support or dissent. It highlights how MPs and their staff triaged correspondence, distinguishing between ‘authentic’ expressions of public concern and orchestrated lobbying. It also considers the strategies employed by letter-writers to maximize their impact, from carefully crafted appeals to emotional rhetoric, frequently made in the knowledge that intermediaries would process their communications. The increasing volume of correspondence, facilitated partly by technological advances, reflects the enduring perception of letter-writing as an effective means of political engagement. While much scholarly work has focused either on a quantitative analysis of letter numbers and outcomes or a qualitative analysis of the substance of letters on controversial issues, this article shifts the focus to the broader processes of correspondence management and voter-politician interactions. By analysing how MPs and their assistants assessed, prioritized, and responded to communications, we provide new insights into the evolving relationship between representatives and the public. We suggest that correspondence was a means through which voters demonstrated their authenticity to politicians - and not just the other way round.
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I reviewed @garylove.bsky.social and @richardtoye.bsky.social's new edited volume Writing Politics in Modern Britain for @politicalquarterly.bsky.social. I enjoyed it a lot. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Why Read Books When You Have a Mobile Phone?
Click on the article title to read more.
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: Please Grant Darrell Hines A Reprieve of Execution. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/plea...
actionnetwork.org
Please Grant Darrell Hines A Reprieve of Execution
Given the horrifying failed execution attempt of Tony Carruthers in May, now is the time for Governor Lee to grant a reprieve to Darrell Hines, who is scheduled for execution in Tennessee on August 13...
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Sam Thielmonster @samthielman.com · 12/06/2026
David Hockney died. He was one of my favorite artists, someone whose work teaches you things about other people and about paint.
nytimes.com
David Hockney, Who Restored the Human Form to Art, Dies at 88
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
In 1966, physician Lord Moran published a book - 'Churchill: The Struggle for Survival' - which discussed Churchill's physical health and alleged that he suffered from depression, the so-called 'black dog'. This was controversial, to say the least ... open.spotify.com/episode/3akI...
open.spotify.com
Series 8: Up Close and Personal Episode 1
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
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Ed Wilson @eddwilson.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
#R4Today
Elon Musk, on the verge of becoming the world’s first trillionaire, is whipping up anti-immigration tensions amid ongoing riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Following a knife attack in the city on Monday, Musk declared support for Restore Britain, a hard-right populist political party that advocates for large-scale migrant deportation in the UK. He reposted statements from party leader Rupert Lowe calling for “a vast number of people” to be forced out of the country, as well as a promise from Lowe to “prosecute officials and politicians who knowingly placed dangerous third world savages in our communities.” “This is the way,” Musk added to his repost.
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The Wiener Holocaust Library @wienerlibrary.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Happening next week! Don't miss a fascinating free evening talk about the experience of Nazi slave labourers on the Channel Islands Tickets available here: wienerholocaustlibrary.org/event/exhibi...
wienerholocaustlibrary.org
Exhibition Talk - A Proximity to Violence: What Channel Islands’ labourers experienced in Alderney, by Gilly Carr - The Wiener Holocaust Library
Join us for a special presentation by Dr Gilly Carr highlighting aspects of our newest exhibition Nazi Slave Labour: Perpetrators and Victims.
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George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Why is the universities crisis being ignored? Essential piece by @gsoh31.bsky.social for Arguably on the “grim dribbling away of one of Britain's great triumphs and economic advantages” – and why so few politicians seem to care. www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-...
arguably.uk
The quiet collapse of British universities
One of our great triumphs and economic advantages is fading away
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
imperialglobalexeter.com/2026/06/06/t...
imperialglobalexeter.com
This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History
Image: Visual by Martina Monti, Credit Getty Images. Retrieved from Euroactiv.W Mitchel StuffersAssistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter From E…
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Our monthly downloads are up 49%, our weekly downloads up 48%, and our daily downloads up 151%! Why not join all the listeners who are enjoying Churchill: The Finest Half Hour? open.spotify.com/episode/3c3Y...
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Sorry but this is just flat out racism. One of the main things which Refugee Week activities do is break down barriers in communities to help reduce tensions, that's good for everyone. Cancelling funding for Refugee Week doesn't "put British people first" in any way. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
St Helens Council withdraws Refugee Week funding
Locally-funded events will still go ahead after the council withdraws government allocated cash.
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Richard Toye @richardtoye.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Churchill's relationship with Ireland and Irish politics was complex and controversial. Dr. Warren Dockter and I explore the complexity, controversy - and drama - in this episode of Churchill: The Finest Half Hour. open.spotify.com/episode/6mKA...
open.spotify.com
Series 7: Churchill and Ireland Episode 3
Churchill: The Finest Half Hour · Episode
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