iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It was a pleasure to welcome Paul Hendy to our archive last week. Paul is the writer & director of the fantastic @thelastlaughplay, which brings together Britain’s comedy greats Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe & Bob Monkhouse in a dressing room. Learn more about our archive: buff.ly/aA14jxy

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Uni of Sheffield Special Collections, Heritage and Archives SCHA @uoscollections.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"Like a sketch, the contours of these women are shaded by different interpretations..." Last month we hosted the very first Women in Circus Symposium 🤹‍♀️ From clowning to snake-charmers, explore the day with Rebecca in writing and sketches... and her take as a performer and postgraduate researcher 🎨

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#MusicHallMonday Come along to our 'Archive on Show' on Thu 22 Oct when we'll spotlight items connected to TRAVEL. Discover collection items that tell of performers life-on-the-road & be among the 1st to see material from the recent Ella Shields donation Book here: buff.ly/GN7r3xr I

Image of Ella Shields leaving for Australia, 1925 on train waving— BMHS Archive ref. C00292/12/022.

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

🎪 #MusicHallMonday: from the Flea Circus to the Girl with the Laugh in Her Voice, there's something for everyone this Autumn in #MusicHall and #Variety. Check out what's coming up👇️ buff.ly/NEhmJmE

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Tickets are selling fast for the 3rd British Music Hall Society Conference at the Cinema Museum on 21st November. There's a 'catering' theme this year, which promises to be huge fun. Book HERE www.ticketsource.com/britishmusic... #musichall #musichallmonday

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Wonderful article in The Guardian yesterday featuring some BMHS members #musichall #variety…https://www.theguardian.com/stage/ng-interactive/2026/aug/29/showgirls-variety-stars-recall-days-on-stage-in-pictures www.theguardian.com/stage/ng-int...

theguardian.com

The showgirl sisterhood: five former variety stars look back at their wild careers – in pictures

The ‘Golden girls of Eastbourne’ first crossed paths more than 50 years ago. They recall flammable feather head-dresses, wardrobe malfunctions and topping the bill over the Beatles

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

A very successful Archive Collection ‘on show’ @lambetharchives.bsky.social today. The theme was duos & double-acts, from the very famous to the less well known, on stage & off stage partnerships #musichall #variety

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Seeing as I am in Liverpool for #BAVS2026 speaking about #musichall it would be rude not to pop into the Walker Art Gallery to check out their Sickert masterpiece

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Uni of Sheffield Special Collections, Heritage and Archives SCHA @uoscollections.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

One week left! 🎈 Final few in-person tickets remaining. Don't miss out on this unique (and free) event! tinyurl.com/WomenInCircus2026

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

#SongSheetSaturday - With England playing Mexico this weekend and World Cup Fever in the air it seems apt that this week's cover has a football theme. 'At the Football Match Last Saturday', a song written by the comedian and singer Mark Sheridan (1864-1918)- recorded in 1905. #MusicHall #Football

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Great to attend @apac-ssn.bsky.social meeting at V&A East Storehouse yesterday & hear about all the good work the APAC committee are doing as well hear V&A news. AND to enjoy some David Bowie items & Ronnie Barker ‘taches from their collections

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Uni of Sheffield Special Collections, Heritage and Archives SCHA @uoscollections.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Discover our fantastic line-up of speakers for the Women in Circus Symposium! Beyond excited for this free one-day event on Wednesday 05 August 🎪 Hear from practitioners, academics and researchers at the University of Sheffield. Book your place, in-person or online, by Friday 17 July 🎟️

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

#MusicHallMonday 🎭 Meet Reg Lever and Elsie Winsor - a duo both on and off the stage - captured here by the lens of Mme Yvonne. Want to see more gems like this? Join us for Archives on Show, Friday, 31 July at 11am. Booking details below 👇 buff.ly/AT9IMbq

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

For #MusicHallMonday a wonderful item from our ELLA Shields Collection (currently being catalogued) - a torn song sheet and a note to the pianist - 'figure this out yourself' Let's Call It A Day! #musichall #ExploreYourArchive

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Looking forward to speaking at this symposium in August 🎪🎠

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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

'Metropolitan Theatre', Edgware Road (1963) by David Stapleton (City of Westminster Archives Centre)

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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

'Gallery of the Old Bedford', Camden Town (c.1895) by Walter Sickert (Walker Art Gallery)

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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Walter Sickert's 'Noctes Ambrosianae,' (1906) holds a pun. Ambrosian Nights: ambrosia is the food of the gods; 'the gods' is the nickname for a theatre's gallery, the high place where the cheap tickets are, where the impecunious, sit.

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Very pleased to make it to the final day of Andy Hollingworth’s exhibtion at B’ham Museum & Art Gallery - I Photograph Comedians! Excellent audio guide explaining his process & some iconic images

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

#MusicHallMonday 🎶🍺 Featuring The Barman, sung with great success by Wilkie Bard. As we prepare for our 3rd conference in Nov. 2026, we’re inviting proposals on the theme: CATERING for People’s Desires and Needs in the Music Hall See Call for Papers on our website: buff.ly/35wQKXA

Cover for Wilkie Bard's song, The Barman.

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

We had a fantastic talk by Vivi Lachs last night, with opportunities to join in some choruses - incl. “Es iz England” - & to hear how lodgers, courtship, marital strife, and the immigrant experience were common themes in Yiddish song & culture. Thank you to everyone who came, & especially to Vivi.

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

That's a wrap on #MusicHallVarietyDay 2026! 🎭✨ Thanks for joining #MHVD2026 — what a day! As Charles Whittle sang, we want to spend the holidays with you… and we'll be back same time, same place next year. Consider it a date! Follow us on Facebook, Insta & Bluesky, and check our website. 🎶

Image: BMHS Archive Collection WHT/023. Song sheet cover for 'I'd Like to Spend My Holidays With You,' written by Will Letters and J Chas. Moore. Sung by Chas Whittle (with inset roundel photo of him).

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Toulouse-Lautrec @toulouselautrec.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Rehearsal at the Folies-Bergère, Emilenne D'Alençon and Mariquita

Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison Collection

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Behind one of Britain's most beloved songs lies a sad story. Mark Sheridan, original singer of 'Oh I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside,' concealed serious depression behind his famously jaunty stage persona. He died by suicide in Glasgow in January 1918. buff.ly/T2AXFIN #MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2026

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Where did theatrical families send their children? Often to coastal boarding schools. Here's my grandmother Norah & friends on the beach at Margate in their school gym slips - spot the boaters in the sand behind them. #MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2026 #Seaside Read more here: buff.ly/2TnbKmI

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Loughborough Road Histories @roadsw9.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

From seaside to Brixton via Daisy Dormer and #MHVD2026. Daisy a one time resident of Loughborough Road and several other Brixton locations.

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Loughborough Road Histories @roadsw9.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Continuing the story of Emile Pillout for #MusicHallVarietyDay. Emile headed up the Odelly acrobatic tennis trio. Looks like a seaside performance but actually Leicester 1932. The troupe named after Emile’s mum Nellie Odell. #MHVD2026

Emile Pillout, wife Ada Rey and unidentified man all dressed in tennis whites holding tennis rackets - the three members of the tennis acrobatic troupe the Odellys

Outdoor performance by Odelly acrobats to a packed crowd in Leicester 1932 sat on deckchairs.

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Loughborough Road Histories @roadsw9.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

#MusicHallVarietyDay seaside theme. Telling the story of acrobats Emile and Nellie Pillout. To start the Max Cawellys at the Casino de la Rue Bossu Cannes 1906. Postcard of troupe from same era. Little Emile holding sister Nellie’s hand. Cannes maybe not traditional seaside, but hey. #MHVD2026

Art nouveau style theatre programme cover with illustrations of women in flowing white gowns sat by the sea, one playing a lute, above sepia images of the Casino theatre interior - audience and stage and staircase with men in dark suits and women in long dresses and hats

Lundi 5 Mars 1906, line up of acts on the bill with Max Cawellys of includes Les Dahlias and their whirlwind waltz for hair, Mme Cybell singer in the Olympian style, Morin singer in Petit-Casino style (whatever any of those are) and Les Napola’s more acrobats

Postcard sent in 1907 of the 5 Max Cawellys. A young Emile about 10 or 11 holding the hand of younger sister Nellie. Older girl, possibly sister Dora standing behind with woman likely mother Elizabeth Odell, originally from Ireland and man Max Cawelly but possibly actually Pierre Pillou. Although the card is being sent ‘to to their friend Pilou, so maybe these are just friend Pilou’s children?

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Oliver Double @oliverdouble.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Here's my drawing of music hall comedian Mark Sheridan. I'll be singing his most famous song at next week's Funny Rabbit Comedy Club But can you name it? Posting this in advance of tomorrow's Music Hall & Variety Day 2026. Tiddly-om-pom-pom!

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

"I Wouldn't Leave My Little Wooden Hut For You" was a hit for my great-aunt Daisy Dormer way back in 1905 - and it was still doing the rounds as a postcard catchphrase in 1931! Here's a little about the song & the seaside humour it inspired... #MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2026 #Seaside buff.ly/VuAZF4b

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

🎭 What secrets were hiding in the East End music halls? Discover London's forgotten Cockney Yiddish performers — the songs, laughs & stories from the turn of the 20th century. Talk by Vivi Lachs · Tues 26 May · 7pm 🎟️ buff.ly/PrRF2G5

Front cover of book - Whitechapel Noise by Vivi Lachs.

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Mass Observation Archive @massobsarchive.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

8.30, Me in my bed. 11.50, Me in my car. 11.55, Me ate the sea. 4.15, Me on my trampoline. 5.20, Me having a Barecyuw. 8.15.

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Happy to be dusting off my talk on Marie Lloyd to deliver to the Wanstead Historical Society this evening...always love the opportunity to include the work of Alfred Bryan, the 'master of the line' in #musichall caricatures #musichallmonday

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Art UK @artukdotorg.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

It's #InternationalDanceDay, luckily Art UK has you covered with art for days! 💃 'Ballet Scene from ‘On the Sands’' by Spencer Gore (1878–1914) 📷 Yale Center for British Art

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

One of the most calming Reading Rooms I have ever visited & perfect research environment @lambethpalacelibrary

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Music Hall & Variety Day 2026 is on its way — and this year's theme is #Seaside. Saturday 16th May. Save the date. #MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2026 #BritishMusicHallSociety

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

What a wonderful afternoon! 🎭 Our members were treated to a fascinating and informative tour of the magnificent Hackney Empire, a resplendent Frank Matcham palace and one of London's finest surviving variety theatres. Huge thanks to the team at @hackneyempire.bsky.social for welcoming us so warmly

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Jacqueline Riding @jacriding.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Looking forward to #HardStreets event tomorrow (Thurs 9 April) @ fab Cinema Museum (the old Lambeth workhouse). Doors open 6pm, Q&A + 1959 home movie of Chaplin visiting his childhood haunts in Lambeth & Southwark @ 7pm tix £5 tube 🐘 & 🏰 @profilebooks.bsky.social cinemamuseum.org.uk/scheduled/bo...

cinemamuseum.org.uk

Book Launch: Hard Streets – Working-Class Lives in Charlie Chaplin’s London by Jacqueline Riding – The Cinema Museum

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Sarah Elizabeth Cox @oispooky.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

An advert from The Era, published March 1895. 'TALKING PARROT, a Beautiful Grey. Would suit a Public House. Anyone being particular about the language don't apply, as some of the sentences could not be termed parliamentary.' Hope they went to a fitting establishment! 🤬🦜😆

Faded digitisation of an 1895 newspaper advert from the British Newspaper Archive. It says: TALKING PARROT, a Beautiful Grey, Would suit a Public House. Anyone being particular about the language don't apply, as some of the sentences could not be termed parliamentary. Cross, Liverpool.

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

#SongSheetSaturday 🎶 Wot Cher! Knock'd 'em in the Old Kent Road (1891) Born #OTD in 1861, Albert Chevalier was the self-styled "coster laureate" of #music hall and this gloriously daft cockney singalong about a man who inherits a donkey and cart is one of his most enduring hits

Song sheet cover from the British Music Hall Society archive. Fancy lithographic lettering of the song title and composers. Published by Reynolds & Co.

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

#MusicHallMonday 📢 The Call for Papers for the 3rd BMHS Conference is now LIVE! buff.ly/zmJr3VX "Catering for People's Desires and Needs in the Music Hall" 🍺 🍷 🎟️ 🫦 We hope you can join us at The Cinema Museum in November.

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Nat Guest @unfortunatalie.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

I was very taken by these paintings on the doorway of the derelict Regent in Deal - former music pavilion, cinema, wrestling venue and bingo hall, now shuttered.

A blue door with a man and a woman painted on it

A blue door with four portraits in the panels

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Setting up for our ‘archive on show’ afternoon… #womenshistorymonth #musichall

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

🎶 #MusicHallMonday From the BMHS Archive - now on display at Showtown in Blackpool - this small brown case once belonged to music hall legend Florrie Forde. Born Flora Flannagan in Melbourne, she arrived in London in 1897 & quickly became a star, famed as “The World’s Greatest Chorus Singer.”

A small brown suitcase with contents (jewellery, make up brushes, mirrors, purse) on display at Blackpool's Showtown Museum, with mannequin head alongside with black velvet hat with diamanté, all possessions of music hall performer, Florrie Forde. Resting on yellow plinth.

Image of Florrie Forde with big hat with very big decorative feather. From BMHS Archive.

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Uni of Sheffield Special Collections, Heritage and Archives SCHA @uoscollections.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Call for papers now OPEN! 📣 Join The National Fairground and Circus Archive in a one-day symposium to celebrate the role of women in circus through history 🎪 Want to present your research at @sheffielduni.bsky.social? Keep reading 👇 [1/7]

Red background with black and white figure of a variety of women circus performers, for example on an aerial rope and horse. Text reads: Women in Circus Symposium, Call for papers, Monday 23 March, University of Sheffield

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

It's Monday, it's Music Hall! 🎭 #MusicHallMonday The legendary boots of Little Tich — whose Big-Boot Dance influenced everyone from Chaplin to Tati — are on loan from our #archive to Blackpool's Showtown Museum. Go and see them!

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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

To mark Women's History Month, we're opening our doors for a hands-on afternoon with our archive. Explore original posters, programmes, costumes, scrapbooks & more — with a special focus on women in music hall & variety. 📅 Thursday 12th March | 🕐 2–4pm | 📍 Lambeth Archives

ticketsource.co.uk

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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Last November, I gave a talk at The London Archives' Symposium on Music Hall, covering a tragic 'unrideable mule' incident that began on-stage at the Clapham Grand in 1906, now adapted as a blog post here 👇️ musichallalice.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/a...

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Women's Prize @womensprize.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

It’s time to reveal the 2026 #WomensPrize for Non-Fiction longlist! A hopeful list, these are 16 books that reflect the belief that every woman’s voice has the power to elicit and inspire change: youtu.be/ScHiI1saMCY

youtu.be

The 2026 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction longlist

YouTube video by Women's Prize

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