Amazingly, this blog has reached the age of six years old. Every anniversary I’ve taken the time to indulge a short reflective post about how stunned I am that the blog has endured this long. In one of my very first posts – back in the year of 2018 – I outlined how I had attempted previous blogs, only to have them run of steam. So, to make 6 years is very satisfying.

Of course, I haven’t been as active in recent months, with only a handful of posts being published during 2024. This doesn’t mean that I’ve fallen out of love of blogging though, just that I’ve unfortunately been busy with other things; mainly teaching, as well as research for a new book on Sir Walter Raleigh.

Over the course of the first two anniversaries, I simply marvelled that the blog survived. Then for the third, fourth, and fifth anniversaries I set myself a challenge; but despite almost succeeding the third anniversary challenge (a month of posts), I failed at putting out regular podcasts and my pub history (an epic ongoing saga, as regular readers of this blog will realise) is, as yet, unpublished.

So, for this anniversary, I’m going to refrain from setting myself a specific challenge. Instead, I shall continue my love of blogging, of writing about history – of the great and the very small – whilst also promoting my new book (The Tudor Empire – available to buy here from the publisher or from Amazon and many other sites) and researching further into Sir Walter Raleigh.

And, of course, I shall treat myself to a glass of wine later this evening to toast six years.