Cultural Geography Blog

Reclaim the Forgotten Cherish the Neglected Treasure the Abandoned Encourage the Overlooked Adore the Unfashionable Re-invent the Unwanted Champion the Unloved Value the Rejected If this museum gets the go-ahead I'd be pleased to work as the Education Officer :) Museum of British Folklore from Tom Chick on Vimeo .

Delighted to say that I've been awarded one of just two of these awards handed out this year, given out by the Royal Geographical Society , to work on a collaboration jointly with  Dr. Benjamin Hennig from the University of Oxford on a project related to the Census of 2011. Ben is the genius who created the Worldmapper cartograms , and creates maps at Views of the World . He is now working at one of the finest Geography departments in the world, and it is a real privilege to get the chance to work with him. Our project is called  LondonMapper: exploring a World city through Census Data The Census 2011 produced billions of pieces of data, and by focussing on London past, present and future we will explore ideas related to London and its place in the world, and guide students on an exploration through the Census data and present them with some decisions that need to be made, which will shape London's future... Our work will connect with, and expand on the...

I've been reading quite a bit about a man called Hugh Miller in the last few weeks. He was a geologist and storyteller and had a fascinating life. Now you have a chance to sail through the Scottish Highlands on a voyage of discovery... The voyage is being organised by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society . The Geological Societies of Glasgow and Edinburgh are offering unique opportunity for young Earth scientists to follow the journey of Hugh Miller in "The Cruise of the Betsey". On 6 September 2014 Leader, a wonderful old Brixham Trawler built in 1892 ( www.trinitysailing.org/vessels/leader/ ), will set sail from Oban heading north for the Small Isles in a one-week voyage in homage to Hugh Miller and his Hebridean tours, descri bed in his classic book "The Cruise of the Betsey". The boat sleeps 19 people including 4 crew members, and will be filled with an inter-generational mix of geologists, geographers, artists, writers, ecologists, storytelle...

Author copies of my new book for Collins have just arrived. Aimed at KS2/3 boys to get them reading, but also readable by all age groups and girls too...

I'm about to head into a catch-up of the first three seasons of Game of Thrones , as the 4th season starts on Sky Atlantic. I don't have Sky, so this is my option for catching up with a lot of my colleagues... I've got a large poster map for my classroom wall, and a proposed unit on mapping of fictional landscapes, which will also form part of my presentation at the SAGT conference later in the year. There's also been a rise in tourism in Iceland and Northern Ireland: two of the key locations where the series is made. (Thanks to Rebekah Chew for the tipoff here) Iceland's tourist board says it's seen an increase in the number of people wanting to go on tours of locations where the show was shot. While, the film industry in Northern Ireland says it's helped increase employment in the area. But it's also helped spread the country's cinematic reputation around the world. Meanwhile I've got the first book on my Kindle, and am looking ...

The Geography Collective along with City Farmers and Explorer HQ have moved to the second stage of a Design Council competition for social enterprises called ‘ Knee High ’. The name refers to the age group which this project targets: pre-school children or those in Early Years. The second phase of the competition has enabled the funding of a ‘pop-up shop’ or more accurately perhaps an activity centre which is located in the London Borough of Southwark, in an area called Nunhead, which is close to Peckham. Nunhead Corner 26 Nunhead Lane Southward SE15 3QR Dan Ellison and Helen Steer have worked amazingly hard to get the premises up and running in such a short time scale. For five weeks, the shop is open the usual shop hours, and welcomes children of all ages, but particularly those who are young explorers and their parents. The concept is really simple, and is beautifully executed. The shop is decorated with the distinctive and rather wonderful art of Tom M...

A couple of years ago, my book ' The Ice Man' was published, telling the story of Otzi the Ice Man, whose body was found high up in the Alps following the melting of a glacier which had covered his body for millennia. The steady melting of ice cover in many locations around the world is revealing bodies that are sadly far younger than that... The most recent discovery was reported this morning in the Telegraph , and tells the story of Jonathan Conville, who disappeared on the Matterhorn in 1979. I wonder what other discoveries remain to be made as other ice masses melt away. Finally, don't forget that Matt Podbury is developing a nice scheme based on my book.

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