This essay aims to look at how invasion narratives, stories concerned with the invasion of Britain from outside, shaped three British science fiction series, and how those series interrogated the narratives. The series will primarily be examined through aesthetic and social approaches. Particular areas to be explored include the embracing and…[Read more]

In American superhero comics, there are few bigger names than Jack Kirby, who helped to make Marvel
Comics famous. One of the earliest pieces of work he did for Marvel’s predecessor, Timely, was Mercury in the 20th
Century. The themes Kirby explores, particularly the clash of gods and their presence upon Earth, would recur
throughout his l…[Read more]

Foreword to a special issue of Foundation (118) on Classics and Greece and Rome. This text restores cuts made for space considerations in the original publication.

A survey of some of the more famous portrayals of the Roman empire on screen. An introductory article, first written c. 2006, and spottily updated since then. Says little that isn’t said better in other places by other people. Originally published in Banana Wings (edited by Mark Plummer and Claire Brialey) 29 (February 2007), pp. 16-21, and 30 (…[Read more]

This article discusses homoeroticism in the movies Troy and Alexander. It argues that Troy is a more homoerotic movie, but that Alexander was attacked more for this, because where Alexander strongly implies homosexual acts on screen and hints at them in dialogue, Troy removes explicit homoeroticism from its diegesis, but sublimates it into its…[Read more]

A piece on Wolfgang Peterson’s movie Tory, which was once on the Open University’s Classical Studies website, but has now been removed.

Hollywood produced two major Arthurian movies in the mid-2000s, King Arthur (Antoine Fuqua, 2004) and The Last Legion (Doug Lefler, 2007), even though the latter only introduces Arthur in the final scene. Both choose to place their narratives within the ‘historical Arthur’ genre, rejecting the quasi-mediaeval setting used by Excalibur (John Boo…[Read more]

This essay aims to look at how invasion narratives, stories concerned with the invasion of Britain from outside, shaped three British science fiction series, and how those series interrogated the narratives. The series will primarily be examined through aesthetic and social approaches. Particular areas to be explored include the embracing and…[Read more]

This short article intends to examine some issues relating to the emperor Claudius’ apparently strange decision in AD 49 to marry his niece Agrippina, and subsequently to advance her son Nero towards the imperial throne, at the expense of his own son Britannicus.

Saving Private Ryan, for all the praise it received, is essentially false, but Band of Brothers is not. First published in 2004. Slightly corrected here.

An old fanzine article from 2003, dusted off for the album’s 50th anniversary.