MN History Club?

[LineRunner]

Hi

On the back of this very busy and brilliant thread here (now in Classics) about medieval history and much more besides, would MNHQ please consider a history topic / MN History Club?

There are lots of comments on the thread such as 'Best thread ever', 'I am so pleased to find others who want to talk about tudor history' etc.

I think it might fit into the In The Club category.

I'm more of a prehistory geek myself, but could start threads within the general MN History Club topic.

Oooh, yes. And then you can invite special guest posters like Mary Beard and that one with the cool hair and clothes and the speech impediment who works for royal palaces, and that other floaty one who did the jubilee, and that Amanda Vickery who is kind of like a historian Liza Tarbuck I reckon and would have a pint with you. And then you could get Neil Oliver and Thingummy Snow in and they'd just disappear in a pile of flailing hormonal clutching hands only leaving behind a wisp of dark hair and a lantern jawbone.

All history, I think, including ancient history, prehistory, archaeology.

My ideal guest poster would have to be Michael Wood. He got me interested in the first place, with his In Search of the Dark Ages.

Ah, Michael Wood. Twinkly dad of history telly.

yes please

Michael Wood was a sex god back in my day. Leather flying jacket and faded jeans.

Brilliant idea! Either a separate history section or combining history and genealogy.

I think a section that covers all times and places would be good. For instance, I know absolutely nothing about the history of China, but I bet there's a MNetter who could recommend a good book for a beginner.

Oi doned a thread.

I don't know anything at all about Chinese history, but Xinran's Voices of A Silent Generation is amazing. Only C20th, though - But I had to say it as she's amazing.

Excellent idea. I read but didn't join in the Tudor thread. V v interesting to see what other people think about things.

Ewww. Looked up the etymology further. Not keen.

'1680s, from L. vagina "sheath, scabbard" (pl. vaginae), from PIE wag-ina- (cf. Lith. voziu "ro cover with a hollow thing"), from root wag- "to break, split, bite." Probably the ancient notion is of a sheath made from a split piece of wood (see sheath). A modern medical word; the Latin word was not used in an anatomical sense in classical times. Anthropological vagina dentata is attested from 1908.'

It's a natural orifice, not something split. Ick.

(I am absurdly squeamish, btw, so don't make too much of this reaction, it would be the same to dozens of other things most people wouldn't care about.)

Ah, feck. Wrong thread. Scuse me!

I would like a chat with Terry Deary, he was the one that got me interested in history in the first place.

Horrible histories?

Yep, collected so many of those books when I was younger

Thanks, LRD. I decided to download Xinran's first book "The Good Women of China" - that's a fascinating and rather shocking book about modern China.

yes, i love the idea of a history topic too!

i love the history of women and of the working class.

I put a long post in a thread about pink and girly based on the history of fashion and its role in keeping women in their place. i would love a topic so we can have a proper discussion on that, without it becoming Feminist.

this is the thing - so many things that could be History end up being split into the other topics because there's no History topic.

Perish the thought, nickel!

Anyone more up for circa European C19th+ rather than all glory bones? Although I get stuck in to any bit of French history esp. Paris. Also history of fine art :)

@LineRunner

I'm sure MNHQ will be considering this idea carefully once they've finished all the gin.

We'll pass this on to The Powers That Be, thanks all!

I'd really love to learn more about China, alcibiades. I did read about the one child policy and forced abortions, but only secondary not primary sources.

Hi KatMumsnet!

Thank you for your response, which sounds really promising. As you can see, there is a lot of interest.

It might also tie in possible future MN events, eg a MN Academy, or a webchat, or a Q&A session.

Cheers!

David Starkey webchat? hmm....

What would be brill would be if a historian could come in and pretend to be a historical character and answer loads of Qs....or does that sound stupid? Or their ancestors or something talking about their family tree.

I would love a David Starkey webchat.

But possibly not for purely historical reasons.

The other would be brilliant though, quirrel.