iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Look at this beauty, freshly returned from conservation! “Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de la flore et de la pomone de l'Ile de Java” (1863) by Berthe van Nooten is one of my favourite items in the @linneansociety.bsky.social library, with firework fruits and flowers on every page.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

I wrote a thing about growing up gay in West Berkshire for LGBT+ History Month and Newbury Pride. You can read my shapeless musings below 👇

A newspaper-style graphic with a photo of man in the top right. The text reads:

My name’s Will, I’m Newbury Pride’s Secretary, and I’m so happy to be celebrating LGBT+ History Month here in my hometown.

The landscape for LGBT+ people has changed beyond recognition in my lifetime. Not just the well-publicised victories along the road to legal equality in the age of consent, civil partnerships, adoption, and most recently marriage, but also the widespread acceptance among the general public that LGBT+ people deserve equal treatment and respect (a 2019 poll suggested nearly 86% of Britons believe homosexuality should be accepted by society, about as unanimous a figure as you can hope to achieve on any topic in a free country).

The change, even from my childhood, could not be more profound. I was educated in Newbury, and I’m sorry to say my secondary school environment was virulently homophobic. Sexuality and gender-based bullying was commonplace, and the existence of Section 28—a de facto ban on all discussions of LGBT+ relationships in the classroom—hobbled teachers’ ability to properly support their LGBT+ students. Many people seem surprised when told this piece of legislation—far from being a relic of the 1980s and 90s—remained on the statute books until 2003 in England. I was 15 when it was finally consigned to the dustbin of history, its damage already done.

It wasn’t until university that I felt free to tell the truth about my sexuality; I came out at the relatively late age of 19. I still maintain that coming out was one of the few unambiguously good and sensible decisions I ever made, and the day I came out was one of the happiest of my life.

My hope is that every LGBT+ person gets to experience that happiness, at least once. One of my main motivations for joining Newbury Pride was to create a safe environment for others to experience the happiness and relief I once felt.

LGBT+ History Month is a great time to be thankful for the progress we’ve made, and…

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I run some funny errands for the @linneansociety.bsky.social. Today’s was taking Carl Linnaeus’s walking stick to the V&A to be x-rayed (we thought there might be a sword inside it)…

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

It’s a very large translation of Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae (and other bits and pieces) into Dutch, done by a man called Houttuyn in the late 18th century.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

My proudest professional achievement. Only six boxes of reshelving.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I am officially Done With Work for 2024! Look after the library while I’m gone 😁

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

The Society for the History of Natural History is on Bluesky, hooray! Give them a follow, natural history friends. @sochistnathist.bsky.social

A screen grab of the Society for the History of Natural History’s Bluesky account.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Library rule 1: please bring the whole book back.

An early printed book with half of it’s front cover/board missing

An early printed book with half a cover, held open at the title page

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Bizarrely parts of the text are redacted.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Some people say natural history books are boring but have you considered

A book called “Tomorrow’s Potato”. The front cover features a photograph of a potato field.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Gosh, so many new followers! Hello everyone. Be warned I plan to be just as boring here as I was over there.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Four albums that serve as an introduction to the fact I’m a gay white man in his late 30s.

The album cover for 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields

The album cover for Remain in Light by Talking Heads

The album cover for Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

The album cover for The Queen is Dead by The Smiths

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

The Linnean Society Library is open to everyone (Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm). Gorgeous reading room, five minutes from Piccadilly Circus, fast free WiFi, intermittently friendly librarian. Come keep me company 🙂

A young man sat at a desk, with a laptop, in grand library.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

Hoo, lots of new followers. Hello! I’m not very active on here at the moment but if the Other Place gets any worse that could well change. Until then, do swing by the Linnean Society Library if you’re in town 🙂 www.linnean.org/research-col...

Three people smiling in a grand library with white columns and gilt-framed portraits.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 07/08/2024

More bookish ramblings from me on September 10, at 2pm. This time we’ll be looking at Elizabeth Blackwell and the gorgeous “Curious Herbal” (1737) she produced to rescue her family from debt. Free and online with the Linnean Society. Book here 🔗: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/linnean-le...

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 06/03/2024

I have nothing very profound to say about these delicate Chinese prints, except how lovely they are! This is Shih-chu-chai Shu Hua P’u (the “Ten Bamboo Studio Treatise on Painting”). Copy at the Linnean Society, first edition, second superstate, produced sometime after 1703.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 19/01/2024

If you have an hour free at 2pm next Tuesday, why not listen to me wittering informatively about Edward Lear and his beautiful parrot illustrations? It’s online from the Linnean Society, and free. Put me on in the background while you’re doing something else. 🔗 - members.linnean.org/events/655cd...

A beautiful 19th century illustration of a blue and yellow macaw parrot, perched on a branch.

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