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To (badly) paraphrase Lord Sugar, “I am retired (not fired!)”. After just over five years at the University of Birmingham, preceded by 25 years at the University of Sussex, even though it doesn’t feel that I am old (or wise!) enough, today marks my retirement day and my farewell post for the Cultural Calendar. It … Continue reading “The Last Post – Cultural Calendar editor Dorothy’s farewell post”

Earlier this year, the Museum of the Order of St John partnered with the University of Birmingham and two of our students to explore and interpret the internationally important Crusader Coin Collection. The coins have been the object of the project “Bearers of the Cross”, which has made them available on an online catalogue and … Continue reading “The Crusader Coin Collection – Museum of the Order of St John partnership with the University of Birmingham”

The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the UK in the summer of 1951. Six years after the end of the Second World War, and exactly one hundred years since the famous Great Exhibition of 1851 – the first international exhibition of manufactured products – the … Continue reading “Festival of Britain 70th anniversary”

Mass Observation Day One day a year, there’s a call for people in Britain to send their anonymous diary accounts of their day http://www.massobs.org.uk/write-for-us/12th-may. After over a year of living through a global pandemic, this year’s contributions will be very telling. If people also send them to today@bbc.co.uk, extracts may get read out on Thursday … Continue reading “Mass Observation Day 12 May”

On 15 February 1971, United Kingdom’s coinage evolved from the centuries-old system of pounds, shillings and pence and went decimal. This enormous change to UK coinage called for one of the biggest publicity campaigns our nation had ever seen. Decimalisation took many years of careful planning and in order to achieve the monumental challenge of striking … Continue reading “Decimal Day – 50 years ago today”

Mental health problems affect one in four of us, yet too many people are made to feel isolated, ashamed and worthless because of this. Time to Talk Day encourages everyone to be more open about mental health – to talk, to listen, to change lives. Time To Talk Day brings the nation together to get talking and break the silence … Continue reading “Time to Talk Day (4 February)”

To celebrate their 200th birthday, the Royal Society of Literature have launched two new new programmes: RSL Open, championing the excellence of writers from communities that have been under-represented in UK literary culture and RSL International Writers, celebrating the power of literature to transcend borders.

Aelbert Jacobsz Cuyp (20 October 1620–15 November 1691) was one of the leading Dutch Golden Age painters, producing mainly landscapes. He was the most famous of a family of painters – his grandfather and uncle worked in stained glass and his father was a portraitist. He is especially known for his large views of Dutch … Continue reading “400th anniversary of the birth of Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch landscape painter”

Sukkot commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and celebrates the way in which God protected them under difficult desert conditions. Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths. Sukkot is celebrated by, first of all, building a sukkah –  a temporary little hut … Continue reading “Sukkot 2-9 October”