Advent Calendar #8: Today's window...the one that King Charles I got stuck in when trying to escape from Carisbrooke Castle in the English Civil War. Hoped to lower himself out on a silver cord (quite a royal thing to do). 2nd attempt (different window) failed too #MindTheWindows

Meeting up with cult archaeologist Dr Doug Pitt for a non-working working lunch in Oxford tomorrow. Fun fact: Doug can lick his own elbow. As it happens, so can Prof Phil Trench. Mind you, why Phil Trench would ever want to lick Doug Pitt's elbow has always baffled me.

Advent Calendar #9: Today's window...the 3rd-floor one that Eutychus ('Lucky') fell from when he nodded off listening to St Paul. Purportedly died & Paul brought him back to life. Lucky! My students were lucky they had much less far to fall when they nodded off during my lectures

Crooks, the lot of them.

Just 2 more sleeps until a quick trip to Warwick, on the tortuous trail of cryptic clues leading me (I hope) to a forgotten Anglo-Saxon treasure, the storied #LostHelmetOfTheHendrica. Thanks for the support. (Not that I need a support, even at my age.)

Advent Calendar #10: Today's window...the one the Lady of Shalott was forbidden to gaze from in Tennyson's 1832 poem. She cracks when Sir Lancelot passes by, bringing a curse on herself. Dies in a boat on her way to Camelot. Didn't even get to leave a TripAdvisor review.

Advent Calendar #11: Today's window: the one in Chaucer's 'The Miller's Tale' that Alisoun sticks her bum out of. Mistaking it, in the dark, for her face, Absolon kisses it. Then Nicholas sticks his out too, breaks winds & "almost blinds" Absolon with the blast. #DoubleBummer...

Right! Nearly time to hit the highway to Warwick! Hope to have some very good news for you this afternoon regarding (a) a cream tea and (b) the next clue in my semi-single-minded quest for the ever-elusive #LostHelmetOfTheHendrica...

I've made it to Warwick Castle! Home of the Kingmaker! Or, as I prefer to call him, the Troublemaker! Couldn't find a cream tea in town, though. #prioriteas

Atop Guy's Tower...

GOT IT!!!!!

Not just a clue (and a stone holding it down in the wind) but a tiny Anglo-Saxon helmet too... Someone didn't follow the washing instructions on it. I hope the real one proves to be just a little bit bigger.

Advent Calendar #12: Today's window(s)...the ones 1720s 'celebrity criminal' Jack Sheppard escaped from as part of 4 successful prison escapes. Used the classic tie-bedsheets-together & dress-up-as-a-woman techniques. It was 5th time unlucky & he was hanged at Tyburn. #NoSheet

Quick sum-up after yesterday's jaunt up Guy's Tower at #WarwickCastle. With your help, have solved the first part of the next clue (the 'where'). Still need to crack the second part (the 'when')...

Just a reminder of the clue retrieved yesterday, for those of you who might have missed it.

To clarify, I couldn't take cult archaeologist Dr Doug Pitt to Warwick Castle with me yesterday due to his notorious fear of heights. Just for the record, he's also afraid of depths, widths and breadths.

Advent Calendar #13: Today's window: the kitchen window at max security POW camp Colditz thru' which Capt Pat Reid & 3 others escaped in 1942. Cut thru' the window bars & legged it. Eventually made it to Switzerland (bit like in The Sound of Music but without the irritating kids)

If you're new to my latest treasure quest, the story so far... A shadowy organisation, the Organisation of the Shadow, is leaving a trail of clues to the #LostHelmetOfTheHendrica, an obscure Anglo-Saxon people mentioned in the ancient Tribal Hidage. A great fate awaits, mates!

Bert’s Books Not sure. Have several stacked next to me on the bed. Probably Professor Jasper Heathcoat-Beech #Whatiffery or #MassiveMysteries. I learn something and they make me lol 😄 Otherwise this week(end) is prep, prep, prep for Yuletide! Hapoy reading, folks!

Advent Calendar #14: Today's window: the 1st-floor one in Illinois that Abraham Lincoln & 4 colleagues leapt from in 1840 to avoid a quorum for a contentious vote to shut down the state bank. Why not adapt this basic technique for use at tiresome Xmas gatherings with the in-laws?