Tudor Book Blog

If you are looking for some summer reading, you may find the Tudor Book Blog of interest. It has plenty of reviews of the latest Tudor novels, and has links to other places of Tudor interest on the internet. There are also plenty of reading ideas on their Pinterest page.

Blog roll

The History News Network (Part of George Mason University in Washington DC) has added Nonsuch HP to its blog roll, its list of History blogs from around the world. We are obviously delighted to be part of this, and are particularly pleased to be categorised in the section "Historians who write about many things". The blog roll is a fascinating and ever growing list of specialist blogs on all sorts of topics from 18th Century American women to Ancient Hebrew Poetry. Special mention should also be given to this historical cakes blog!

The world of historical blogging is clearly expanding fast and allows just about anyone with a historical interest to be part of that community. This clearly brings great new opportunities for historical research and collaboration, but there also some drawbacks, as it can be sometimes difficult to assess the reliability of these new sources as their provenance and professional standards are not always clear. Please let us know if you find any particular blogs of interest, or if you get round to cooking any of those historical cakes!

Blog Competition and BBC Style Guide

Many thanks to those students who entered the blog competition this year. The entries were few in number but high in quality! We will publish them shortly, and were pleased that Years 10, 12 and 13 were all represented. We would like to run the competition again, but acknowledge that maybe the Christmas period wasn't the most convenient time. If you have any suggestions on when we should do this, please let us know - maybe the summer?

PS: You may find this writing style guide from the BBC quite helpful for History, Politics or Critical Thinking essays. It has plenty of tips (mainly for journalists) on how to use words clearly and accurately. Here are some examples:
"Historic is a popular word with journalists. It is nice to think that the events we are describing will resonate down the decades, but who are we to judge? Use with great care, and never confuse with historical, which means belonging to history."

"Unique has a unique meaning, and it is that there is only one of something (uni as in unicycle, unicorn or unisex). Nothing can be almost unique.You should be saying distinctive or unusual."

"Draconian is much overused, usually by people with no idea who Draco was. (If asked, say he was an Athenian judge who ruled that the penalty for almost everything should be death.) Try severe or harsh instead."

Christmas Blog Writing Competition

Last chance to take part in the blog writing competition! It's open to anyone in Years 10 - 13 and can be on any political or historical subject. The deadline is the end of school on Monday. We would love to read your entries!

Christmas Competitions

Nonsuch HP is pleased to announce its Christmas Competitions! Nonsuch students with time on their hands over the Christmas holiday have an opportunity to take part in a series of challenges, with glory and prizes at stake. There are 3 categories:

Year 7: Castle Building. Year 7s are invited to construct a castle in one of 3 categories:

• Motte and Bailey


• Stone Keep


• "Super" Castle (Any design of castle you like, but still identifiably medieval, and preferably not too Disney-influenced!)

There are only a few rules. Please don't make them too big (ie you should be able to carry it by yourself), and don't make it out of any material that might rot or smell. We would prefer you not to make it out of Lego (as that is basically cheating) but Lego figures /knights / siege weapons are allowed to populate it.

Years 8 and 9: Film-making. Year 8s and 9s are invited to make a short film based on one of the topics they have learned this year. So Year 8s could make a Tudor drama about Anne Boleyn or Lady Jane Grey and Year 9s could make a film on the theme of the British Empire or the Black Peoples of America. Please can these be no more than 5 minutes long and submitted on a USB stick or a CD-Rom to the department office.

Years 10 - 13. The senior students are invited to write a blog post for Nonsuch HP. It can be on any political or historical topic, perhaps concentrating on recent events and developments or even taking Christmas itself as a theme. It should preferably include links to other websites of interest and be illustrated with a suitable picture or diagram. Please submit your entries by email to a history or politics teacher, and we aim to put most of them on the blog. There will be separate categories for GCSE and A-Level students and the winners will be given the opportunity to be regular contributors to the blog.

The closing date for all entries is 3.30 on Monday 10 January. Best of luck to everybody, and if you have any questions, please get in touch with the History and Politics department, or leave a comment here.

Political Blog Lists

Total Politics Magazine has recently published the lists of the top 100 Left and Right wing blogs, as chosen by a poll of its readers. You may find them of interest but be warned, opinions on the blogosphere should be treated very carefully, as the furore over allegations about William Hague have demonstrated.

Top 100 Right Wing Blogs
Top 100 Left Wing Blogs