Suzannah Lipscomb
@sixteenthCgirl
Followers
146K
Following
31K
Media
1K
Statuses
27K
Professor Emerita. Historian. Broadcaster. Author. Host of @NotJustTudors. Trustee @maryrosemuseum. Rep @knightayton & @plittyc https://t.co/oey8mqzCqM
London
Joined October 2009
For those in the UK, there's not long to wait. Our new series of A History of Royal Scandals starts on Tuesday 29 October at 9pm on More4.
43
80
892
To the young woman who gave me a chocolate and nut bar so she could interrupt the man talking endlessly at me on the late night train, I thank you for your kindness and solidarity.
191
746
34K
I'd like to affirm that it is possible to be a Tudor historian and an anti-racist.
167
1K
17K
Just one comment: anyone who says “learning has to go online tomorrow” at 8pm the night before has clearly not done much of either teaching or learning.
114
1K
10K
There’s a workman in our house discussing changes to a bathroom. Never once has he met my eye, steadily talking to my husband, no matter what input I have.
1K
286
8K
Shame on you, Gavin Williamson. Shame on every member of this privileged, elitist, selfish government - including my old university pal, Rishi Sunak, from whom I withdraw any last scrap of allegiance. For this is the absolute pits, and you are all absolute shits.
Funding cuts to go ahead for university arts courses in England despite opposition
155
1K
6K
So, what do you reckon? Energy costs are so high that we’ve now got a shortage of food because farmers can’t afford to heat greenhouses. What has to happen before the government points out a problem with energy firms making billions in profit and impoverishing everyone else?.
206
1K
6K
A woman who posts pictures of her breasts on Instagram has just commented that I should wear longer skirts on TV because it’s not very “ladylike” at my age to sport risqué numbers like this one.
953
142
5K
I've been racking my brains to think of a woman historian who knows something about Henry VIII, makes TV programmes, and teaches for a living. I'm as stumped as the BBC.
245
381
5K
Sorry for pulling rank back there, but it's just EXHAUSTING to have amply evidenced historical events denied, my status as an 'actual historian' rejected, and some random man decide to re-educate me about something I've written a book about via his tweets.
218
157
5K
The idea that the value of a education should be solely measured by financial gain is the very definition of philistinism.
Sunak vows to crack down on university degrees that do not improve 'earning potential'
138
726
4K
@HHMusicOfficial The problem is here is the word 'settling'. It is a mean-spirited word that shows an ignorance of what really happens in making a relationship work: courage, vulnerability, selflessness, generosity, kindness. Sure you need to fancy them too, but that's the easy bit.
39
111
4K
My agent has just sent me £22,452. Unfortunately he only meant to send me £224.52. Oh well.
294
59
4K
May I tell you some good news of mine? It’s been a year of new things for me: new job and title, new book, new online course, new TV series, new house… And new baby. (Before I get any smart-arse comments, it’s grape juice in a wine glass.)
496
74
4K
Please keep talking about the individual unfairness of grading students on the basis of their school’s history (aka their social background) as opposed to their own effort, and don’t let it slip from the news agenda.
51
1K
4K
As there seems to be some reluctance to call a spade a spade, a short thread on #HenryVIII being disabled. It is true that he was vigorous and athletic in his youth. But - STOP PRESS - we change over time. 20-odd years later, his jousting accident of 1536 changed that.
72
442
4K
@karasoth @DJohnGrady @razibkhan @NewLiberalsPod Oh it's ok, random man on the internet. I don't need you to school me. That happened during my three degrees at the University of Oxford and in the years since I became a professor. You just concentrate on your work, and I'll concentrate on mine.
140
224
4K
Words I will not be using about Katherine of Aragon: "her failure to produce a son". I'm totally over hearing her tragedies described as her failures, like it was somehow her fault.
130
196
3K
The 1st copy of my new book has arrived & I am overwhelmed. Such a labour of love - years of blood, sweat, & tears. And I believe it's an important work of history: telling stories of women whose voices have not been heard. It would do me the greatest honour if you'd preorder it.
211
445
3K
The @nationaltrust are right. By the last decade of his life, Henry VIII was disabled. This is not contentious. It's just factually accurate. FIN.
43
104
3K
He’s an “adviser” in the same way that Wolsey and Cromwell were “advisers” to Henry VIII.
Cummings will announce an overhaul of the Cabinet Office and No 10 next Monday. The adviser has said his intention was to create a “smaller, more focused and more elite centre”, but his critics will suspect an effort to scapegoat the civil service
184
517
3K
My OH has told me that if we get one more bookcase today, we'll have enough room to house all my books *as long as I don't buy any more*. HAHAHAHAHA.
131
76
3K
Please, please can we stop calling manuscripts ‘dusty’ and ‘hidden’ in archives. Archivists ensure that they’re not one or the other, which is how we historians get to see them in the first place. It’s a lazy and inaccurate cliché that also manages to be insulting.
80
368
3K
I know this hasn’t been everyone’s experience - but I just went to a supermarket and every single person was wearing a mask and, as I felt it slip away, I realised what tension I have carried into every grocery shop for months. Thank you to everyone wearing a mask.
62
123
3K
They’re not “far-right protestors”; they’re fascist thugs.
91
222
2K
Stuck at Gatwick, waiting for take-off, so I thought I'd share with you this little gem from the in-flight magazine:
339
995
2K
What a bunch of spineless, immoral and vacuous cowards.
92
135
2K
I wish someone would create a version of Google Maps for historians. Options: by foot, horse or mule? With baggage carts or post haste?.
130
181
2K
Today, for the first time, I got to see part of the lost palace of Whitehall. I was lucky enough to have privileged access to its site, under the Ministry of Defence. So here is Henry VIII’s wine cellar, dating from the 1530s.
81
402
2K
From the @NPGLondon’s new exhibition, Six Lives, this newly re-discovered and conserved portrait of Queen Kateryn Parr was painted late in Henry VIII’s reign. In an extravagantly bejewelled gown, she displays her wealth and status. But, there’s another message here too …
33
315
2K
Someone posted that the US was founded b'cos of intolerance & persecution by the Church of England. I pointed out that the real problem for Puritans was that the CoE wasn't intolerant enough. Now having 17thc religion mansplained to me & being told I approve of persecution. Sigh.
126
222
2K
Just had a wearisome scroll. My experience of Twitter is not getting better. Here’s a nice picture to improve your scroll.
108
43
2K
Those even murmuring about bringing back the wicked clown to bugger up the country even more have either very short memories or no moral integrity - or both.
78
182
2K
This seems timely on more than one level.
“As far as I’m aware she does not have any degree in economics.”. “I was and I remain a professor of economics.”. This is what happened when a Brexit Party MEP questioned the expertise of Green MEP Molly Scott Cato over post-Brexit trade.
47
327
2K
I am delighted to announce that @RoehamptonUni has appointed me to a personal chair as Professor of History. I'm grateful to this wonderful institution and all who have supported me along the way.
214
60
2K
Sat on a train at a table with two maskless plonkers drinking booze and one of them announces to the other that his little boy can’t attend school for two weeks because he tested positive last night. I have never moved quicker. I have no words for their selfishness.
100
140
2K
It is apt: I am chairing the inaugural women’s prize for non-fiction judging panel, set up because there is a persistent tendency to attribute authority and expertise only to men, and I’m not being treated as if I have any authority in my own home.
97
55
2K
I wouldn't tell you this if it weren't true: in 1495 the Scottish ambassador to Spain was. Archbishop Blackadder. (Thought you might enjoy this, @Tony_Robinson.).
57
221
2K
In the midst of news that can only make us weep, this brings tears of a different kind. A welcome reminder of the power of literature and love.
Judi Dench was on Graham Norton last night to push her new book about her life and work with Shakespeare. After making the point we quote Shakespeare daily without knowing it, this happened:
43
225
2K
Can I hear an amen?.
@karasoth @DJohnGrady @razibkhan @NewLiberalsPod Oh it's ok, random man on the internet. I don't need you to school me. That happened during my three degrees at the University of Oxford and in the years since I became a professor. You just concentrate on your work, and I'll concentrate on mine.
164
56
2K
Aspiring historians: my best piece of advice to you is this - learn lots of languages. Completely invaluable as an historian.
112
393
2K
Thank you for all the support tonight in the face of the vile little troll who suggested that my hair has advanced my publishing and broadcasting career more than my academic achievements, hard work or intelligence. Misogynists always reduce women to their looks.
183
116
2K
Studying history should not be only for the elite, say academics - AND THEY'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT
49
341
2K
@theguyliner I feel such pride in, and grief for, that son. How did he survive such a narcissistic mother!.
9
6
2K
If anyone doubts the existence of an #authoritygap consider how striking it is, given the content of the piece, that we have ‘Professor Sir Richard Evans’ but not ‘Professor Suzannah Lipscomb’, ‘Dr Lucy Worsley’, ‘Professor Dame Mary Beard’ or ‘Professor Kate Williams’.
In today’s Sunday Times is an interview with me by @siangriffiths6 about women writing history. Here’s the piece and here’s what transpired. 1/13
41
369
2K
I don’t mean to boast but I just had dinner with Hillary Clinton on her birthday (after she gave the most extraordinary, fabulous speech about women’s history).
97
24
2K
Have torn myself away from US election coverage to prepare for a seminar on a sixteenth-century crisis of succession in which a sovereign grimly tried to hold onto power after his demise. History teaches us nothing.
76
135
2K
If you thought the 2020s had the monopoly on royal scandal, my new series proves otherwise. It's full of ludicrously lavish lifestyles, sexual exploits, scandalous marriages, and murder most foul from across the centuries. And it's all true. Starts Mon 30th January 9pm on More4.
109
146
2K
Why has there been no financial help for theatres and classical music? Even if we do not count their vast cultural or artistic value, surely even this government can understand the economic value of London’s West End, and live venues nationwide. It is scandalous #SaveOurTheatres.
60
396
2K
Thank you for following me. I am feeling rather amazed and humbled this morning that so many of you are doing so. I'll attempt to be witty, engaging, and intelligent enough to merit it. but I'm not promising anything.
123
22
2K
The Queen once said of Prince Philip, "He has, quite simply, been my strength and my stay all these years." How she must be reeling at his loss.
27
101
2K
Just a quick Saturday night check: we all over the ‘driving to check my eyesight’ thing?.
359
183
2K
Sorry if that flash of calf offended anyone else. Thank heaven I covered my ankles with those boots.
75
11
2K
I am honoured and delighted to have joined the board of the Mary Rose Trust: one of the most important Tudor sites in the country.
We are thrilled to share that we have a new Trustee!. The Board of the Mary Rose Trust is delighted to announce that historian, academic and television presenter, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb (@sixteenthCgirl), has joined the Mary Rose Trustee Board.
61
37
2K
I object to this slur on Henry VIII's character.
83
429
2K
This book is a breath of fresh air! If you’re wondering about whether to study history at university, whether it’s a practical choice, what job you might get at the end of it, and how to choose where to study, this is the book for you.
67
399
2K
Reading my g-g-aunt’s highly entertaining (and huge) travel journal of a journey made in 1903 and loving her chutzpah and sass. Also loving that I am read this historical manuscript on my sofa with a glass of wine (carefully, of course). Now this is research as it should be done.
94
54
2K
*Rubbish (capitals at the start of a sentence) .*buy.*'intellectual compatibility' - do you mean 'capacity'?.Keep up, love. And that's the first time anyone has ever remarked that my boobs are overdeveloped. Was never, in fact, commented on during my three degrees at Oxford.
@andrewjoy50 @sixteenthCgirl rubbish, blokes only by her books because she has over developed boobs. Her intellectual compatibility is below that of a glamour model.
155
88
1K
@BBCNews This headline is misleading at best and deliberately false at worst. Only Trump has claimed victory and only he is threatening lawsuits. Let’s have some basic standards of truth-telling in reporting.
36
60
1K
Sir Jacob? Dame Priti? How can this corrupt nepotism be permitted? We need an urgent revision to the honours system.
73
113
1K
As my toddler put it this morning, “A merry day of Christmas” to you all.
47
27
1K
Today is PUBLICATION DAY today for #TheVoicesofNîmes: a book that tells the stories of ordinary 16thc women, and into which I’ve poured my heart. If you receive it in the post, I hope you enjoy it (let me know what you think!) If you fancy making my day, please buy a copy!
95
214
1K
I am deeply saddened by news of Dame Hilary Mantel’s death. She had an utterly unique and brilliant mind, and was immensely kind and generous to upcoming writers. I held her in great respect, admiration, and affection. My heart rushes to her husband.
18
72
1K
Very excited to announce a new free online course on The Tudors @FutureLearn from @RoehamptonUni, written by me, @TedVallance, Prof. Glyn Parry, et al (and guest appearance by @Joanne_Paul_). Starts 25 FEBRUARY. Watch the trailer and sign up here: .
98
324
1K
To the person who mugged me on the Tube and stole my phone, we can track you. We know where you are @btp @metpoliceuk
209
96
1K
It’s the Winter Solstice, the darkest day - but from now on, for six months, it gets lighter. There is hope.
38
84
1K
Popped in to see #TheLostDress (or, more accurately, the found dress?) of (probably) Elizabeth I, at Hampton Court. Exquisite embroidery on cloth of silver. These fragments give some idea of the gorgeousness of Tudor royal fashion. What an extraordinary find.
33
186
1K
Delighted to share with you this piece on how to swear in the 16th century:
46
280
1K
I suspect the focus on racism in the royal family in the media is a way of diverting attention away from what the interview revealed about the devastating effects of racism in that media — enabled by us, the great British public who reads it.
30
137
1K
You know those things where you have to prove you're not a robot by choosing the squares with traffic lights or bridges etc. Do they make anyone else slightly anxious about messing them up and then secretly exultant when they confirm that you are, in fact, human?.
97
33
1K
It is done. And only a few shelves are double-stacked.
130
14
1K
It is profoundly immoral, shameful, and, frankly, evil to propose sending those seeking sanctuary from regimes that abuse human rights to a country with a record of human rights abuses.
34
124
1K
I keep reading about Catherine of Aragon having a 'sudden miscarriage'. because there are apparently varieties of miscarriage that are planned and expected.
33
50
1K
Happy New Year! God bless us everyone! (Unless you’re the person letting off the fireworks that are making my dog shake with fear, then maybe not you.).
60
23
1K
Packing to move house and wrapping up this prized possession… Printed in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1787, this Bible has passed down the generations and now I keep it for the wider family.
49
29
1K
Sorry to harp on but hell I walked a long way and wrote a series and presented it too, so. Where was I? WALKING TUDOR ENGLAND (maybe Britain) is my new six-part series starting at 9pm on 5 Select. You have ten minutes to find it.
97
42
1K
Minor note of total pedantry: accession not ascension, acceded not ascended.
59
81
1K
Priti Patel calls out the BBC on accountability: Patel, who refused to be accountable when found to have breached the ministers’ code of conduct. Brazen hypocrisy.
34
139
1K
Forgive my untold amounts of self-promotion, but my new little book has arrived and looks glorious, with illustrations by Martyn Pick. It’s out in October. I’d be very grateful if you preordered it! #witchcraft #ladybirdexpert #newbook
108
166
1K
I proof-reading my new book, which is hard work - but that comes as no surprise. This book is the most important thing I've ever written and has cost me huge amounts of toil, blood, sweat, and tears. But it's worth it and I'm grateful to OUP for its ever-so-beautiful cover.
101
93
1K
Anyone else starting to feel nostalgia for the days when we thought Boris Johnson was the worst Tory PM we could imagine? They always find a way to surprise, just when you think things couldn’t go lower.
58
42
1K
Happy to be called a nerd and if cowards are those who fear because they have seen how man can be a wolf to man then I’m down for that too.
80
55
1K
The inevitable has happened. My child just saw this photo - taken a year ago today when @KateWilliamsme and I were filming a piece on Mary Queen of Scots for #WalkingTudorEngland - and said, “Two Mummys!”
35
12
1K
To all recipe writers, if your preparation time does not include the ‘thinly slice’ or ‘finely chop’ part of the prep, then you are lying about how long the darn thing takes to make. Yours, late and disgruntled of Oxfordshire.
55
26
1K
My toddler came to sit on my lap while I was watching a rough cut of a future episode of #WalkingTudorEngland and burst into tears when I walked off screen saying, "Where's Mummy gone?".
41
11
1K
Tonight I have what may turn out to be my last ever seminar. So it is fitting that it is with my wonderful MA students - the inaugural, and it transpires, the one and only cohort to do our MA Tudor Studies. What a delight it has been to learn from you.
58
17
1K
My child can say, “Tractor Ted” and “brown bear”, but still can’t bloody say, “Mama.”.
99
8
1K
Folk, as some of you know, I have long been researching & writing The Six: A New History of Henry VIII's Queens. Today's my birthday. Could you give me your tales of dusting-oneself-down-and-getting-back-up & achievement against the odds as courage for the writing months ahead?.
238
24
1K
@karasoth @DJohnGrady @razibkhan @NewLiberalsPod I am an "actual historian" and I wrote it. But feel free to consult Brian Levack, The Witch Trials; Robin Briggs, Witches and Neighbours; Lyndal Roper, Witch Craze; or all manner of scholarly works on which this short online article draws.
15
23
982
This is the six-part series I've recently worked so hard on. "Walking Tudor England" airs on Tuesday nights at 9pm on 5 Select (a UK freeview channel) from 13th July. Please tune in.
106
129
1K
One of my friends has started blogging about her toddler’s artwork in the solemn commentary of a contemporary art gallery, and it’s brilliant:
28
381
975
Yesterday I posted something pretty innocuous and certainly inoffensive. People have responded with self-generated outrage, taking offence from words that weren't there. I've been called smug, pretentious, elitist, etc. So I'm taking a break from Twitter & its spiteful pettiness.
464
42
998
If you and your partner have different surnames, Royal Mail charge you double to redirect your post. (There's really no end to the ways - great & small - you'll penalised for not upholding the patriarchy.) Isn't about time the @RoyalMail moved into the 21st century?.
64
195
962
Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes yesterday. In the last year I moved house, left my job, made a series, learned to parent a toddler, edited a book, got a dog, and launched a surprisingly successful podcast. In the next, my publishers & I are hoping I’ll write a book.
79
7
978
Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you’ve found joy today.
69
13
982
Buying a used car: I couldn’t be there so OH FaceTimed me to see what I thought. Dealer told OH he hadn’t got me ‘trained’ if he needed my approval. OH shot him down with, ‘That’s the patriarchy talking. Don’t you know that’s an attitude from a bygone age?’ #mencanbefeministstoo.
63
44
951
The Hindi/Urdu word 'besharam' translates literally as 'shameless', but it is significantly stronger than the English. It's the word that keeps coming to mind as I stare in amazement at the TV.
31
118
984
She added that she doesn’t “want my children watching a strip show”.
89
8
927