iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 1h

This selection of true-crime, mishaps and misfortunes is coming to a close now, at least for the time being. Thanks to everyone who has liked and shared them, or at least tolerated them on their timelines.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 11h

‘PRESIDENT OF FRANCE ASSASSINATED’, Illustrated Police News, 12 May 1932.

Line drawing: M. DOUMER, THE DEAD PRESIDENT; GORGULOFF, THE MURDERER.

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Slightly out of focus @normandy661944.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Lt Harry Rignold (bare headed) and his assistant 2nd Lt Gerry Massey Collier with their Newman Sinclair Autokine Camera on the back of a Bren-gun carrier in France, 1939. A third man in the back steadies the tripod. Rignold was killed at Salerno in September 1943. IWM (O 562), Geoffrey Keating

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 22h

🙋 A great pleasure chatting to Sean tonight (*whispers* even though neither of us has seen Peaky Blinders).

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

‘TRAGIC ASSASSINATION OF JAPAN’S PREMIER’, Illustrated Police News, 19 May 1932.

Line drawing, several men fire pistols at his head; they left him dying on the floor.

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Errol Cavit @errolnz.mastodon.nz.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

An even more historical mad German rocket machine, the Max Valier RAK BOB 2 rocket sledge at Deutsches Museum, Munich. #museum

A wooden sledge mounted on a steeply angled white surface, with wide skis mounted either side of the cockpit.

A wooden sledge mounted on a steeply angled white surface, seen from behind so to see the many rocket tubes behind the cockpit.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Even post-Johnson, it still shocks that Archer was permitted back into the upper House. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

His political career was paused in 2001 when he was jailed for four years for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

He was found to have lied in libel action he had brought against The Star newspaper, in which he was awarded £500,000 in damages.

He was released in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until he retired in 2024.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

‘APACHES’ KNIFE BATTLE FOR UNDERWORLD BELLE’, Illustrated Police News, 18 August 1932.

Line drawing, scene in the café, they quarrel over the girl, a fight to the death.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

#OTD 5 October 1917, Frank Hurley took this photograph during the Third Battle of Ypres. Soldiers of the 1st Australian Division near Hooge follow a duckboard track to relieve comrades whose attack on 4th took Broodseinde Ridge. The next objective was Passchendaele. www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

Black and white photo soldiers silhouetted on the skyline and reflected in water.

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cbnewham @parishchurches.org · 05/10/2026

The magnificent alabaster tomb of William Phelip, 6th Baron Bardolph (d.1441) & Joan, Lady Bardolph (d.1447) at St Mary, Dennington, Suffolk. Sir William fought with Henry V at Agincourt. In 1438 the couple obtained a royal licence for a chantry at Dennington.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

That was my feeling about Silk Roads and the Romans. They failed to understand the experience of lay people visiting an exhibition. Elements supposed to make the subject accessible only make it more diffuse and complicated.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

For some reason I've lost touch with this wonderful account and have enjoyed catching up.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Old post. Same as the Bayeux Tapestry I assume, and Romans.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

But this is no reason to mention that I've not been to the Bayeux Tapestry in London, having already seen it half a dozen times in Normandy, or how cheap it was to get in, with little or no queuing, & as much time looking at it comfortably as I wanted. I'd definitely not be that smug.

theguardian.com

Mary Beard suggests ‘tweaks’ to British Museum’s handling of queues to see Bayeux tapestry

Classicist and museum trustee visited the line after people complained of waiting for hours, with some turned away

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It sounds as if the British Museum still needs to commission serious external evaluation of the visitor experience of its exhibitions. But it knows that it will still sell enough tickets for exhibitions in a space that always feels claustrophobic and crowded.

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Tom Isitt @tomisitt.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It’s not too late to sign up for this wonderful event. I’ve done an all-new, mountain-specific presentation, and will be giving my talk while dressed thematically. @ntwf.bsky.social

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

My subconscious is also still haunted by a 1957 East German film called The Singing Ringing Tree (Das singende, klingende Bäumchen) that the BBC serialised in the 1960s and 70s.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Beautiful. I saw one of Paul Nash's depictions of Wittenham Clumps at Pallant House Gallery on Saturday.

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Hedley Thorne @hedleythorne.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Castle hillfort, Wittenham Clumps earlier today; the distinctive, contour-hugging earthworks features the local depression known as the "Money Pit," tied to folklore of hidden treasure guarded by a raven. So there you go.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Perhaps I'll give it another try! I was seven when I was traumatised.

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Slightly out of focus @normandy661944.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

My latest Substack article looks at the death of an AFPU photographer on his first assignment, during the Dieppe raid in 1942. insharpfocus.substack.com/p/fatal-assi...

insharpfocus.substack.com

Fatal Assignment at Dieppe

The death of AFPU Sergeant Holloway during Operation Jubilee

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The image is from the copy in the Imperial War Museums but the original glass plate is held by the Australian War Memorial whose website has more precise information about the photograph. Hurley's diary is also invaluable for the context of his First World War photographs.

awm.gov.au

Supporting troops of the 1st Australian Division walking on a duckboard track near Hooge, in the ...

Your generous donation will be used to ensure the memory of our Defence Forces and what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for our freedom remains – today and into the future.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I've said this before: in 1972 Dougal and the Blue Cat at the cinema was an LSD nightmare.

A blue cat scaring the shit out of me. Source: https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Buxton_the_Blue_Cat

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

‘SURPRISE FOR BATHERS WHEN COW JOINS THEM IN RIVER’, Illustrated Police News, 3 September 1931.

Line drawing, The bathers fled in consternation; the cow was driven to the fields.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The same day, Frank Hurley recorded his impressions in his diary: ‘Our fellows are superb. Round Zonnebeke, the battlefield is now a succession of miniature ponds – pit-falls for the unwary, as they are as treacherous as quicksands.’ #OTD 5 October 1917. #WW1 Source: nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2231...

... of 11,000 yards. I was delayed here owing to heavy rain, which cleared off during the afternoon. As is generally after a battle, things were calm, and we were able to plod a way through the mud to Zonnebeke in fair safety. The guns were being brought up under frightful conditions. Sometimes they would sink to the axles in mud, and the mules would be hidden from sight in the depths of the treacherous shell craters. But still we do it, and the same work goes on, but the men work in deep mud and even then hail cheerful parsiflage at the photographer. Our fellows are superb. Round Zonnebeke, the battlefield is now a succession of miniature ponds - pit-falls for the unwary, as they are as treacherous as quicksands. It is a fair hell of a prospect if our fellows or any others have to pass winter in this muck.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The favourite tree on 5th September 2021.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

It always pays to keep your cabbages dry.

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Martyn Barber @martynjb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A while ago I said I might post about modern Stonehenge myths, some of which pop up frequently in all manner of places, including stuff written by actual archaeologists. So – to begin with, the old chestnut about (allegedly) being able to hire a hammer when visiting Stonehenge. #StandingStoneSunday

A colour photo showing two of the trilithons at Stonehenge, with a few other stones visible. In the foreground is a sign saying "No Admittance", while in between the two upright sarsens of one trilithon is an orange and white traffic cone.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

‘FERRY-BOAT DISASTER IN NEW YORK RIVER’, Illustrated Police News, 15 September 1932.

Line drawing, ferry boat blows up, people hurled in air.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

It's exhausting for the stags, who have to keep other males away and prevent their females from escaping and running off to widen the gene pool with younger stags.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The stags are now focused on keeping their hareems of females corralled.

View of parkland, about twenty deer. Windsor Great Park.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A detail of Paul Nash's collage 'Tiger, Tiger' is our new fridge magnet from Pallant House Gallery.

Painting of tiger, stuck to photo of a ruin.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Also, it looks like the greengrocer had cabbages that day.

Detail of the woman pushing the pram which appears laden with cabbages.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

‘FERRY-BOAT DISASTER IN NEW YORK RIVER’, Illustrated Police News, 15 September 1932.

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Pól Micheál O'Slatraigh @pmoslatraigh.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Suella Braverman, consider Walter Tull. Born in Folkestone to an English mother and a Barbadian father. A footballer for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town. A British Army officer who led soldiers into battle and was killed serving his country in 1918.

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The unconcerned woman pushing the pram is a Lowryesque touch. #OTD 3 October 1941. ‘Matilda tanks leaving a Midlands factory on the first stage of their journey to Russia. Vulcan Foundries Newton-le-Willows.’ Photograph by Lt Taylor. Source: www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...