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Will Tullett

@willtullett.bsky.social
2.1K followers 888 following 1.6K posts

He/him. Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at University of York. Books on 'Smell in Eighteenth-Century England' and 'Smell and the Past'. Sniff: A History of Smells out 8th September #smellhistory #smellstudies #sensoryhistory

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Reposted by Will Tullett
Jack El-Hai @jackelhai.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Weird & wonderful history." Today's pre-orderable #history book pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to author @willtullett.bsky.social & @yalepress.bsky.social! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The Wargame show is just that Stephen Collins cartoon where Gove tells Cameron he can fight the aliens, but for 4 hours.
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
FREE BOOKS* *if you write a review for @urbanhistory.bsky.social
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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Here's the proper social media card from Waterstones. Join me and the brilliant @willtullett.bsky.social on Monday 12 October at Gower Street! We'll be in conversation over our new #books and surprising ways into #history - through smell and time machine poems... www.waterstones.com/events/new-w...
https://www.waterstones.com/events/new-ways-into-history-from-smells-to-sonnets-with-will-tullett-and-catherine-clarke/london-gower-street
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Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Ditto 30,000 roles in universities in the past three years.
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Yale University Press London 📖 @yalebooks.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
What's the connection between a piece of paper and a sponge cake? @willtullett.bsky.social explains all... 📚 🍰 Will's new book Sniff: A History of Smells is out now. Find out more: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... #smell #scent #historybooks #nonfiction #newbooks
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Come one, come all! It's going to be a wonderful event!
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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
On Monday 12 October, I'll be at Waterstones Gower Street (London) with the brilliant @willtullett.bsky.social, for 'New Ways Into History: From Smells to Sonnets'. Come along to be surprised by #history as you've never heard (or sniffed) it before! Book a ticket: www.waterstones.com/events/new-w...
https://www.waterstones.com/events/new-ways-into-history-from-smells-to-sonnets-with-will-tullett-and-catherine-clarke/london-gower-street
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Has anybody done a nice little depressing graph mapping the salaries of other ‘professions’ jobs against universities over time?
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Chris Millard @chrismillard83.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
“Universities have managed staff costs significantly below inflation,[between 2016-17 and 2023-24] increasing only 14% compared to the 41.2% increase in RPIX [measure of inflation]” Substantial real terms pay cut, which continues a trend existing years before that…
gov.uk
Cost of undergraduate provision and qualifications in England
A study of the full economic cost of providing undergraduate-level higher education and other qualifications in England.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
This is not good. No doubt partly due to the closing down, or increasing competitiveness, of other funding routes and the ever more difficult job market.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
It’s almost as if the government doesn’t care about the decimation of one of its leading sectors because the optics aren’t bad enough for their target voters.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
www.thetimes.com/culture/book... 11 books in a week. This must have considerably dented Jeremy Black's confidence. He's falling behind.
thetimes.com
Cult writer’s 11 books in a week: ego trip or literary milestone?
The cryptic French author Antoine Volodin has convinced 11 publishers to simultaneously release what may be the culmination of his ‘post-exoticism’ project
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Emily Whittingham @emily-whittingham.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This summer I was lucky enough to be an intern at the Oxford History of Science Museum @hsmoxford.bsky.social Alongside cataloguing and public engagement activities, I wrote a blog post exploring the history of the microscope in ten objects. Great for anyone interested in the collections at HSM!
hsm.ox.ac.uk
A history of the microscope in ten objects
Emily Whittingham, an intern at the Museum and PhD student in the history of microscopy, explores the history of the microscope in England from the 1600s to the present day.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Thanks to John Lewis-Stempel for this lovely review of Sniff in Country Life magazine. It’s validating to see another author, especially a nose-wise nature writer and farmer, engage so positively and thoughtfully with my book. Lovely anecdotes to start and ringing endorsement of my call to readers!
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Some incredibly exciting news! My book about how Liverpool's history makes us think differently about Britain's past, present and future has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize!
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Don’t know who needs to hear this but the dismissal of quoting Proust on smell as a cliché, is itself a bit of a cliché now. Maybe he gets quoted simply because he’s a wonderful writer who captured the experience of smell - especially as regards memory - in a way that feels immediately relatable?
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Anybody know of anything good (art history, history, visual anthropology, whatever) on 1980s graffiti scene in Britain - especially outside London? Preferably something that is about the scene itself and not merely the criminalisation of graffiti...
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Find our science minister’s desire for fewer, shorter, yet also bigger grants utterly bizarre. How is ‘Spaff grants’ a good policy?!
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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Starred review for Sniff from Kirkus! 'Diverting’, ‘a wry sense of humour’, and a ‘convincing case for paying more attention to the smells available to use with everything breath’! www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews... glad my wry sense of humour is acknowledged on record 🙏 @yalebooks.bsky.social
kirkusreviews.com
SNIFF | Kirkus Reviews
Pursuing a neglected sense through human history.
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Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Oct 1st, Save the date! Rosamund Oates will be talking about ‘Silent Histories: Deafness in Early Modern England' at @ihrscb.bsky.social in-person @ihr.bsky.social & online. #EarlyModern 🗃️ Booking details will soon be on: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/ihr-seminars/society-culture-belief-1500-1800
Rosamund Oates (Manchester Metropolitan University)
‘Silent Histories: Deafness in Early Modern England’

1 October 2026, in-person and online
Society, Culture and Belief, 1500-1800, at the Institute of Historical Research, London

Rosamund Oates shares previously untold stories of deaf men, women and children, showing how their experiences reveal contemporary beliefs about disability and humanity in early modern England.  Drawing on archival sources, she will explore how far deaf people were integrated into their communities, and show how Catholic and Protestant churches adapted to include sign language users from the medieval period onwards.  Lastly, she will explore the influence that deaf signers had on the broader culture of the period, showing their impact on artists, scientists and philosophers, including Christopher Wren and John Locke.

Venue and booking details will be available soon on our webpage:
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/ihr-seminars/society-culture-belief-1500-1800
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Crikey the Del Boy of News’ coming out article in the Speccie was quite something, wasn’t it.
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Lewis Wade 🗃️ @wadehistory.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
So... the higher education sector is so lacking in value that it doesn't deserve even basic government support in the face of an existential crisis, yet it also offers students such "significant financial and career benefits" that they *also* don't deserve any support
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Chris Millard @chrismillard83.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
if you’ve ever wondered why historians are very reluctant to talk about how their own experiences / backgrounds relate to their writing, i wrote a book about some who have tried, and how we all can be more self-conscious & analytical about it. i used myself as a case study. it is free to download!
taylorfrancis.com
The Politics of Personal Experience | Writing a History of Munchausen
How should a historian with personal experience of their topics write about them? Exploring the author’s own experiences with Munchausen Syndrome and Munchausen
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
As we all know, one of the chief drivers of student choice when it comes to undergraduate degrees is whether or not their chosen degree will help the nation.
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Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's just weird isn't it when the British Museum is running a sold-out exhibition, when The Odyssey reports $1billion at the box office, when the V&A has just opened the most innovative and accessible museum model in Europe....and this is what our minister for research comes out with.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
‘Personal, social, and economic value’. Receipts and evidence for that? Unsurprisingly, none. God save us from these people.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
'When asked about the Norman yoke most responded that they preferred it runny rather than hard'
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Review of my book (alongside another I - and most smell studies people - had never heard of by a Norwegian architect?!) in Spectator. It's a weird one. Attributes some things to me I didn't say and ignores some things I did. But it's a positive review overall spectator.com/article/pong...
spectator.com
Pongs of praise: the history and importance of smell for our antisceptic age
For smell historians and experts, of whom there are gratifyingly more than you’d think, a standard assumption to be skewered is that olden ages stank; the modern world doesn’t because hygiene and chem...
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I wonder if we could do a project on th commercialisation of historical research that traced the sheer amount of academic scholarship produced in UK universities on which commercial magazines, podcasts, TV shows, etc etc rely and somehow quantify that value…
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The thing with all this ‘university research must serve industry’ stuff is that lots of university research has done this for a long time - often in ways that are unplanned or unforeseen. What they mean is that research should *only* or *mainly* serve industry…
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
First sentence, yes absolutely. Second two sentences… maybe not so much. Sometimes research just takes a long time and we just have to accept that is the case. Researchers are also often teachers and so grants have to be built around other responsibilities, necessitating more time.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Oh bloomin’ heck. This is really quite poor (but also possibly partly the result of the way universities and research are also divided up between portfolios). Really hope somebody pointed out to him that research actually includes all disciplines.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
R4 Today program devoting time to news that Gareth Southgate has opined that that working form home isn't good for people. I mean, I can see how it's difficult to play a football match from home, but otherwise perhaps he can keep his hot takes to himself? Would Today like to hear my football takes?
static.klipy.com
Alan Partridge Shrugs 'I Don't Know'
ALT: Alan Partridge Shrugs 'I Don't Know'
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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
WARNING ⚠️ There’s a new AI-generated scam impersonating me and offering slots on my podcast — if you receive an email from Gregjenner.host@gmail.com then please report it as spam. Thank you 🙏
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Alice Marples @alicemarples.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
@britishlibrary.bsky.social were grateful to receive a large allocation of studentships as part of the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Landscape Award scheme. We have 4 exciting new studentships starting in Oct 2027 - 3 are now open for prospective HEI supervisor proposals! www.bl.uk/services/res...
bl.uk
Collaborative Doctoral Landscape Awards
Fully-funded and jointly supervised studentships across four developing research areas.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
More positively I am really pleased that SNIFF: A HISTORY OF SMELLS is out today!! Published by @yalebooks.bsky.social and out in all good bookshops. It's a history of smell across time and space that takes in a panoply of pongs and perfume from paper and ink to stink bombs and whale oil.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Publication day for Sniff and so far today I’ve failed to find a copy in my local bookshop (who are supposed to be having a book event next week for it!) and had a BBC radio interview cancelled thanks to chaos with Ed Milliband. If I’m honest this has somewhat dampened my celebrations.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I was on Weekend on the BBC World Service this morning, talking about the history of smell and forcing the other poor guests to smell some things! About 45 mins in on this BBC Sounds link www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
Weekend - President Trump's envoys about to land in Moscow - BBC Sounds
Trump's envoys are expected to arrive in Moscow with a proposal "to end the war"
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
If you pick up the new issue of Tate Etc., you’ll find a piece in it by me on the smell of formaldehyde - real or imagined - that lingers around Damien Hirst’s ‘Natural Histories’ works (including, in this case, his 1994 ‘Away from the Flock’). More on formaldehyde in Sniff as well!
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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Happy official #paperback publication day to A History of England in 25 Poems! It's been a hectic morning here, with my son's first day at secondary school and more Bayeux Tapestry interviews... Lovely to escape briefly for a celebratory lunch with my favourite girl and raise a glass. Cheers!
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Amanda Melin @amelinlab.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A sensational piece in the Guardian by @willtullett.bsky.social on the value of a scent education. Get out there and smell things, people! It’s (often) good for your wellbeing. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
Smelling test: children need education in sniffing aromas, scientist says
Exclusive: Dr Will Tullett says better understanding of scents can improve wellbeing and perception of the world
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Hard agree. I don’t want Andy Burnham, he of ’ai can write an essay but humans build trains’ fame, deciding what academic research gets funded thanks.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
‘It’s the cities sweltering, smelling of the middle ages – decomposing rubbish, sweat and hot bodies.‘ Always fascinated by the instinct of writers to talk of foul smells as medieval (a long tradition reach back to 19thC sanitarians) www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Cities sweltering and the smell of the middle ages: has the climate crisis killed Instagram’s Euro summer? | Brigid Delaney
Who dreams of having a Euro summer now when staying in an ancient, uncooled building in the Old Town is like trying to sleep in a wood-fired pizza oven?
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
tell you what being a non-celebrity or social media famous author trying to get people to come to book talks is tough isn’t it.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I did an interview with Nicola Davis at the Guardian about Sniff and we talked about why we need to educate our noses! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
Smelling test: children need education in sniffing aromas, scientist says
Exclusive: Dr Will Tullett says better understanding of scents can improve wellbeing and perception of the world
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Not me in the Eurostar lounge checking the magazines I know are reviewing my book when I know full well it’ll just be August issues still.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Smell studies and sensory history people - really interesting looking new piece from Claudia Liebelt on the lingering legacies of racialised olfactory stereotypes in contemporary Berlin. Looking forward to reading this. anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirec...
anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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