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Frank Cottrell-Boyce

@frankcottrellboyce

Waterstone's UK Children's Laureate Ideas lead to idols. Only wonder leads to truth. Swinging a hammock on the Island of Brilliant podcast https://islandofbrilliant.podbean.com/

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11.10.2023
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Latest posts by Frank Cottrell-Boyce @frankcottrellboyce

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That dinner menu in full as President Trump entertains Mr Farage at Mar-a-Lago:

Porn Cocktail.

Jizz Pancakes with salted Clacton Cream.

Small sausages & wrinkled chestnuts in a dry rub.

Burnt Chicken Kyiv.

Spotted Dick with a 30p Lee Syrup.

Coffee, Liqueurs & Nappies.
๐Ÿคฎ

07.03.2026 10:30 ๐Ÿ‘ 122 ๐Ÿ” 33 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 14 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Favourite #WorldBookDay moment ...
Asked a hall full of children if any of them knew what a Dalek was ... girl RAN up to the stage and announced ... it's a small onion but strong. Cut it and you'll cry.

Me: .... thinking ...
Me: .. still thinking ...
Finally ...
... Garlic.

06.03.2026 06:37 ๐Ÿ‘ 211 ๐Ÿ” 53 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 12 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
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"It's a book about magic, and for me it is magic, because I literally just have to pick it up and I'm a child again" โœจ

Happy #WorldBookDay! Here's our Waterstones #ChildrensLaureate @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social telling us about his favourite children's book.

Which book have you loved to bits? ๐Ÿ’•

05.03.2026 16:48 ๐Ÿ‘ 12 ๐Ÿ” 4 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Celebrate World Book Day with Glitch - PANS PANDAS UK Welcome to PANS PANDAS' news blog. This post is titled: Celebrate World Book Day with Glitch

Happy #WBD26 #WorldBookDay Eve! So excited to see this wonderful new character from @tamingolivia.bsky.social. Representation Matters for kids with neuropsychiatric disorders!

panspandasuk.org/post/celebra...

@worldbookdayuk.bsky.social @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social

04.03.2026 19:13 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

PRIMARY TEACHERS! This "disappearing rainbow" works because of the way light is refracted and totally internally reflected - the same phenomena at play in the making of a real rainbow. It's a demonstration you can use to explore / explain rainbows to your students. More in the link below.

03.03.2026 18:06 ๐Ÿ‘ 149 ๐Ÿ” 70 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 5 ๐Ÿ“Œ 10
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BBC Radio 4 - A Good Read, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Jung Chang Harriett Gilbert and guests choose favourite books.

#Books A Good Read
BBC Radio 4
Where Should We Run To by Alan Garner chosen by Frank Cottrell-Boyce @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social
Death of A Naturalist by Seamus Heaney chosen by @harriettsg.bsky.social
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairytales chosen by Jung Chang
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

03.03.2026 07:41 ๐Ÿ‘ 5 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
A photo of Frank Cottrell-Boyce and a young child making hand symbols while enjoying a book together plus the BookTrust Bookstart logo and the words: "Webinar: Celebrating the National Year of Reading - join BookTrust and Frank Cottrell-Boyce - 10.30am, Monday 23 March"

A photo of Frank Cottrell-Boyce and a young child making hand symbols while enjoying a book together plus the BookTrust Bookstart logo and the words: "Webinar: Celebrating the National Year of Reading - join BookTrust and Frank Cottrell-Boyce - 10.30am, Monday 23 March"

๐Ÿ—“๏ธ We have an exciting webinar coming up to celebrate the National Year of Reading!

@frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social will join us to share the inspiration he has drawn from meeting early years practitioners and we'll be launching our new #ShareYourStory campaign, too ๐Ÿ‘‡

https://bit.ly/4b4ikS9

03.03.2026 08:17 ๐Ÿ‘ 5 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed.
Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing โ€˜reviewedโ€™ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.

03.03.2026 11:58 ๐Ÿ‘ 3514 ๐Ÿ” 1537 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 97 ๐Ÿ“Œ 284

Let me guess, wealthy people who moved to Dubai to avoid paying taxes now want the countries they moved from to protect them?

01.03.2026 12:16 ๐Ÿ‘ 16291 ๐Ÿ” 3851 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 548 ๐Ÿ“Œ 181
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BBC Radio 4 - A Good Read, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Jung Chang Harriett Gilbert and guests choose favourite books.

The fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen, poetry of Seamus Heaney & a novel by Alan Garner are the choices on todayโ€™s A Good Read when writers Jung Chang & @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social join @harriettsg.bsky.social to talk #books 3pm @BBCRadio4 Producer Maggie Ayre www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

02.03.2026 07:57 ๐Ÿ‘ 10 ๐Ÿ” 5 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Gorton and Denton byelection: Polanski says Greens best party to defeat Reform after Hannah Spencer wins โ€“ UK politics live Reform UK finished second and Labour is pushed into third place in bad news for PM Keir Starmer

"This is Manchester. We do things differently here." Nice to see a line penned by @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social in the new Manchester MP's speech. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

27.02.2026 09:16 ๐Ÿ‘ 16 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Catching up with 'The Verb' @imcmillan.bsky.social . This fine edition includes Sarah Howe's beautifully lucid appreciation of 'The art of losing' @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social remembers John Carey, whose joyful insights into the rewards of books I recall, gratefully.
SEARCH BBC SOUNDS FOR VERB!

25.02.2026 18:34 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
The front cover of The Blockbusters plus the logos for the Waterstones Children's Laureate and Go All In, the words "Available from Waterstones" and a circle reading "ยฃ1 will be donated to BookTrust for every copy sold"

The front cover of The Blockbusters plus the logos for the Waterstones Children's Laureate and Go All In, the words "Available from Waterstones" and a circle reading "ยฃ1 will be donated to BookTrust for every copy sold"

๐Ÿ“ข Today's the day! You can now buy the @waterstones.bsky.social exclusive edition of @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social's The Blockbusters.

Thanks to Waterstones & Macmillan for each generously donating 50p to BookTrust for every copy of the Waterstones exclusive edition sold ๐Ÿ’•
https://bit.ly/4b4TC5g

26.02.2026 08:00 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Would absolutely devour a series of mystery books featuring a lightly fictionalized Gordon Brown analogue about a former UK Prime Minister who goes about solving crimes based on archival research and their international network of connections.

25.02.2026 16:14 ๐Ÿ‘ 432 ๐Ÿ” 78 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 22 ๐Ÿ“Œ 7
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Frank Cottrell-Boyce in Conversation with Martin Melarkey

Join us at Seamus Heaney HomePlace for an evening with Frank Cottrell-Boyce, award-winning childrenโ€™s author and acclaimed writer for stage and screen.

๐Ÿ“… Saturday 21st March
โฐ 7.30pm
๐ŸŽŸ๏ธ ยฃ15

Book now > tinyurl.com/mrnkarwk

16.02.2026 09:48 ๐Ÿ‘ 4 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The lost art of letter writing bringing generations together In the hope of reviving letter writing, BBC North West Tonight has launched a pen pal project.

"A letter is a brilliant place to learn to write because you're not writing for a teacher, you're not writing for a competition, you're not writing for marks, you're writing to connect with someone." - Frank Cottrell-Boyce @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

25.02.2026 08:40 ๐Ÿ‘ 21 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

I have no idea why you do this but it's fantastically useful so thank you.

25.02.2026 09:20 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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For no particular reason, I remind you of the glories of the reporting on Cecil the lion and his brother Jericho.

08.04.2024 14:22 ๐Ÿ‘ 137 ๐Ÿ” 27 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 8 ๐Ÿ“Œ 5
Macro photo of a brown stink bug in face view on a leaf, guarding a tightly-clustered bunch of eggs that are shaped and colored exactly like a full tray of dark beer with foam on top.

Macro photo of a brown stink bug in face view on a leaf, guarding a tightly-clustered bunch of eggs that are shaped and colored exactly like a full tray of dark beer with foam on top.

Finally, the bug is back with a round of the Guinness.

25.02.2026 01:59 ๐Ÿ‘ 8318 ๐Ÿ” 1773 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 93 ๐Ÿ“Œ 90
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John Davidson Gives First Interview and Explains Touretteโ€™s Tics After Shouting N-Word and Other Slurs at BAFTAs: โ€˜I Felt a Wave of Shameโ€™ (EXCLUSIVE) John Davidson's explains Tourette's tics and the BAFTA N-word incident in his first exclusive interview with Variety.

Fantastic interview. Everyone should read it:

25.02.2026 02:47 ๐Ÿ‘ 620 ๐Ÿ” 307 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 22 ๐Ÿ“Œ 27
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Giant tortoises return to Galรกpagos island 180 years after relatives went extinct Giant tortoises have been reintroduced to Floreana Island in the Galapรกgos, 180 years after going extinct there.

Giant tortoises and other key native species are now thriving, and being reintroduced where lost, on the unique Galapรกgos Islands ecosystems.

This is only possible due to the eradication of alien invasives like goats and rats, often a *crucial* part of rewilding.
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

25.02.2026 08:28 ๐Ÿ‘ 152 ๐Ÿ” 42 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
A threatening and creepy tree I don't like at all, which speaks out of its bellybutton and is advancing towards me in tiny tree steps which it thinks I haven't noticed, and repeatedly asking me why I will not "Come inside where it is warm, for a nice treat."

A threatening and creepy tree I don't like at all, which speaks out of its bellybutton and is advancing towards me in tiny tree steps which it thinks I haven't noticed, and repeatedly asking me why I will not "Come inside where it is warm, for a nice treat."

THREAD. A collection of photographs of excellent trees I have met on walks.

You will find the all-important captions to each photo in the alt text.

22.02.2026 16:02 ๐Ÿ‘ 741 ๐Ÿ” 180 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 34 ๐Ÿ“Œ 55

LOL

24.02.2026 16:09 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

inexplicably positive response

23.02.2026 21:50 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

OK people who think that One Battle After Another has some kind of merit squirrelled away in it somewhere ... give us a clue.

23.02.2026 21:26 ๐Ÿ‘ 7 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I did into this documentary regularly and at random but always hoping for the funeral handbag.

23.02.2026 21:08 ๐Ÿ‘ 4 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

One of the best documentaries of all time: a tender, warm, unshowy study of the threads from which communities are woven & the big-small moments that make up human lives.
It was a huge influence on Birding

23.02.2026 18:35 ๐Ÿ‘ 126 ๐Ÿ” 23 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 11 ๐Ÿ“Œ 3
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Truly a mystery

23.02.2026 20:47 ๐Ÿ‘ 8633 ๐Ÿ” 2759 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 421 ๐Ÿ“Œ 153
The footpath known as The Rack. Inset is Elsie Rowson in her postwoman's uniform .

The footpath known as The Rack. Inset is Elsie Rowson in her postwoman's uniform .

It is #ShropshireDay (Feb 23), so here's the 11-mile postwoman's path at Stiperstones in Shropshire, which Elsie Rowson walked in all weathers until 1970. The picture shows a narrow path known as The Rack. where Elsie would 'lie on the wind' on blustery days. sproson.com/wp-content/u...

23.02.2026 16:43 ๐Ÿ‘ 49 ๐Ÿ” 16 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
A black-and-white photo of Ursula K. Le Guin, standing at a lectern, smiling with her whole face. Her right hand cups her jaw and she is wearing either a watch or a bracelet; her top has an almost maze-like pattern.

A black-and-white photo of Ursula K. Le Guin, standing at a lectern, smiling with her whole face. Her right hand cups her jaw and she is wearing either a watch or a bracelet; her top has an almost maze-like pattern.

Ursula at a reading in Berkeley, circa 2000.

Photo by Peg Skorpinski.

23.02.2026 20:54 ๐Ÿ‘ 149 ๐Ÿ” 18 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 3