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Valerian Forrest

@valerianforrest.bsky.social
79 followers 157 following 395 posts

Loves theatre, Eurovision, World Expos, Studio Ghibli, travel, and biathlon. Left-wing, asexual, Northamptonian, European. He/him

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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Last night, I was celebrating the last night of my thirties doing karaoke with friends so, today, I'm starting my forties sounding like a cigarette ate some gravel.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Reading this makes me think of a weird historical ripple. If Northampton had developed as a large university city instead of a market town, perhaps it wouldn't have been designated a New Town in 1968 and neither of my parents would have had cause to move here.
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Emma Smith @oldfortunatus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Giveaway! Would anyone like a Romeo and Juliet jigsaw, by Anna Higgie? 1000 pieces plus guide to the play by me. Repost and I will pick a winner at random on September 22
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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Right. I’ve finally finished an acceptable draft of my chapter about Constance Markievicz. Anyone got any thoughts about the political history of Northampton?
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Bodie A. Ashton @manwithoutatan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A history account over on Facebook that uses a load of AI slop posted this monstrosity about US-Indonesian relations in the 1970s and the longer I look at the picture the less it makes sense.
An AI-generated image of two men talking. One of them is supposed to be Gerald Ford. The other is supposedly Suharto. There are many details in this picture that will be looked at in more depth in the following posts. The caption reads “On December 7, 1974 President Ford told dictator Suharto the US would understand an invasion of East Timor.”
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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The Muppets ARE the premise! Get a celeb to sing a song, fall off a ladder, kiss Miss Piggy, and that’s your format. Do that 12 times. You’re welcome
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The National are doing Rosencrantz And Guildernstern Are Dead with Mawaan Rizwan and George Fouracres? Count me the fuck in.
A pink box containing the words Rosencrantz And Guildernstern Are Dead alongside pictures of Mawaan Rizwan and George Fouracres. Under that is the following text: "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
by Tom Stoppard, Lyttelton Theatre, Winter 2027

Closing the year in the Lyttelton, Deputy Artistic Director Robert Hastie directs a new production of the absurdist classic. BAFTA-winning actor Mawaan Rizwan will play Rosencrantz, alongside SNL UK’s George Fouracres as Guildenstern."
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Yesterday's Clara Schumann question marks the fourth time this season that I've typed the correct answer into the box, only to delete it and put something else. So frustrating. #LearnedLeague #LL110
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I forgot it was the Northampton Music Festival today. I turned up in Market Square just in time for the tail end of the local musical theatre society's set, which was an unexpected treat.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Ooh, as of yesterday, La Scala's streaming platform is free of charge! I think I might be making time for some opera this weekend. lascala.tv/en
lascala.tv
LaScalaTv
LaScalaTv
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Andrzej Łukowski @mrlukowski.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
you can take tinnies to a play at the Globe
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Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts @elliemackinroberts.net · 13/08/2026
This is not a crisis of universities but an utter failure of government. If Labour was serious about turning UKHE around they could (by removing the overseas student levy, to start). UKHE is in absolute freefall and is in completely danger of becoming unrecoverable.
theguardian.com
UK universities face ‘financial crisis’ amid collapse in international students
Higher education figures call on Labour to reverse tax on fees and warn institutions at risk of ‘going under’
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
So far, I've managed to fly under the radar of our social media person who's been getting people to film bits for TikTok.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Good luck to everyone working in university admissions today. We've got a long few days ahead of us.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I've just listened back to the Dani Howard brass concerto that I saw last night and I'm quite taken with how atmospheric her orchestration is. I get a real sense of warmth and optimism from it.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I saw Sweeney Todd on Saturday night and I'm booked in for a haircut today. Could have probably timed that better.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Observational standup in 2030: "Who remembers green grass? What were all that about? *Grass* that was *green*?!"
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I was chatting to a friend earlier today about going to Berlin Pride next year. What happened tonight makes me more determined to make the trip. Never back down.
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Nick Walker @nickwalker.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
A Peugeot white van belonging to a company called PNS Rentals
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Dan Rebellato @danrebellato.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Pathetic philistinism from a government with no fundamental values.
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ESC Insight @escinsight.com · 04/07/2026
Canada is now a part of the Eurovision Song Contest - but should it be? Sem Anne van Dijk gives his view on why Canada shouldn't be in the Song Contest, and what makes this a change he just can't get behind.
escinsight.com
My Problem with Canada in Eurovision (And Why I'm a Little Ashamed of it)
Canada is now in Eurovision - but should it be? (Wikimedia Commons)
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
I'm taking this as permission to start referring to Northampton as a city. What are they going to do about it? Who's gonna stop a big city guy like me?
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I'm tempted to book for this, just to join the select group of people who have seen two professional productions of King John. My first was the co-production Shakespeare's Globe did with @royalderngate.bsky.social at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Northampton about 10 years ago.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Yee-haw! Orville Peck, man. So fucking good. A new album is, apparently, out "sooner than you think"!
A man wearing a cowboy hat, a mask, and a cream-coloured suit with flowers embroidered on it. The mask is black at the top with holes for eyes while the lower half is long, fringed material, covering the man's mouth. He is holding a guitar and has one arm raised in the air. In the background, there is another man wearing typical cowboy clothes. He is sat at a slide guitar.The same scene as before except that the man with the guitar has ditched his shirt. He is wearing a brown vest.
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
oksy this is kind of amazing www.instagram.com/p/DZV2XPsjZs...
instagram.com
aggressivecompliment on Instagram: "absolute legendfrom his wikipedia: "Olson represented numerous Hollywood legends throughout his career, such as Marilyn Monroe, Gen…"
absolute legendfrom his wikipedia: "Olson represented numerous Hollywood legends throughout his career, such as Marilyn Monroe, Gene Kelly, Alfred Hitchcock, Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacLaine, and Steven Spielberg." which is an insane list__________(this post, while without a timestamp, has definitely been made before march 2020, since the acc deactivated then. olson's wikipedia does reflect this connection now but i am too confused by wikipedia's editing thing to be able to tell when that was added)__________#tumblr #queerhistory #daleolson
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
My brother has sent me a video taken from his doorstep in Perth, where a thunderstorm was just starting and it is 19⁰c and I have never been more envious in my life.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I broke my TCA record for the second consecutive season and still only narrowly avoided relegation from B Oasis. I could have made life easier for myself, though. Around 6 points went begging across the season due to my poor defence but I just about got away with it this time! #LearnedLeague #LL109
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Mic Wright @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Starmer says he inherited a “morally bankrupt” Labour Party. He built one in debt to some truly horrific people.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
I love getting out for a walk on the longest day and catching every last moment of the late light.
A sunset is reflected in a river. The sky is orange. There are silhouetted trees between the sky and the water. There is a grassy bank, also in silhouette, at the bottom of the frame.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I've putting together a list of ideas for a theatre/opera/ballet/orchestra trip to London in the Autumn, for my colleagues and, damn, there's so much great stuff going on that I'm not going to have time or money to see.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Relatedly, I'd actually quite like to see Porco Rosso adapted as an opera.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Is this from the programme for a production of Noises Off?
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
I have had a lovely day at Mighty Hoopla but I also haven't been this drunk in quite some time. Tomorrow me is gonna be so mad at today me.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Google also seems to have removed the option to create custom items in the food logging screen in Google Health (something that worked perfectly well in Fitbit) so, if you eat something they don't have in the database... well, fuck you, you didn't eat that.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Well, that could have gone a lot worse. I only had to wait 10 mins before I hopped onto a train and my carriage is virtually empty.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
I went on a tour of the Royal Opera House today and, when we were taken into the auditorium, there was a rehearsal for La Fille Mal Gardée going on. We only watched for a few minutes but, man, it was enough to inspire me to get a ticket for a performance in a couple of weeks.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
I'm seeing Peter Grimes at the Royal Opera tonight and, because I couldn't be arsed getting a late train out of Euston afterwards, I booked a hotel room. I then realised that London Northwestern are on strike tomorrow and are only running one train an hour out of Euston. I may have some regrets. 😅
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
"Breaks silence": Answered a question about something that has only just happened #ALittleGlossaryOfClickbait
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LCC municipal @lccmunicipal.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Two visual puns I hadn’t been aware of until yesterday. The vertical elements of the City of London School for Girls resemble pencils, and those for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama represent tuning forks.
The vertical elements of the City of London School for Girls resemble pencils - brick columns with pointed concrete tops.The vertical elements of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama represent tuning forks - like a concrete stick person without arms, or an inverted boxy “Y” shape.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
I watched The Show (written by Alan Moore) last night and I'm embarrassed to admit how excited I was to see all the Northampton locations and references. Someone actually mentions Ecton Brook! This is what it's like being from a town that's somehow camouflaged from the public consciousness.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Apparently, the first song I ever streamed on Spotify was a version of If You Go Away by Patricia Kaas but I have no memory of ever having heard this. I wasn't sure why, out of all the songs, I chose that as my first listen but then I clocked it was January 2009 so it would have been quite timely.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
376 on hard mode. I'm pretty happy with that.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Great news! I've been loving the series so far. As someone whose balcony has been stolen by some bastard pigeons, The Bastard Seagull has been a particular fave. #SNLUK
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Mic Wright @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
NEW | On the media assault against the Greens and one person in particular… POLANSKI IS PAINTED AS A MONSTER WHILE FARAGE ESCAPES PROPER SCRUTINY The same old playbook is in action. brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/polanski-i...
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
Polanski is painted as a monster while Farage escapes proper scrutiny
The behaviour of the press in the run up to this week's local and national elections shows the same old playbook in action.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
It's 2076 and Morphroxian travellers clutching battered copies of the Voyager Guide To Earth regularly find themselves in legal difficulty, after rampaging through Tesco eating everything in sight without paying or accidentally waterboarding people in a misguided show of respect.
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Municipal Dreams @municipaldreams.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
1/ 🧵 The Festival of Britain opened this day in 1951 - according to its official guide a 'united act of national reassessment, and [a] corporate reaffirmation of faith in the nation’s future’.
South Bank Programme cover 1951
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Ooh, Ncuti Gatwa is hosting #SNLUK on 16th May. That'll make it easier to not watch the Eurovision final. Only problem now is that I'll be visiting my parents that weekend and I need to have the conversation with my mum (who I normally watch with) about having stepped out the ESC fandom this season
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
The last thing I would want to see on TV after a rough day is me. I just haven't got the ego for it.
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
A little glossary of clickbait: "Major shakeup": A minor, temporary change "Legend": Anyone who has ever appeared on television "Iconic": Anything that has ever existed
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Valerian Forrest @valerianforrest.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
There is currently a dragon roaming the streets of Coventry. Not much in the way of slaying going on. #StGeorgesDay
A large blue and rust-coloured dragon puppet being worked by four people.
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