Jon Agar
@jonagar.bsky.social
historian of modern science and technology
Philosophy
28%
Physics
19%
Just wasted half an hour in Google streetview trying to find transistor-shaped street sculptures outside the site of the original Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory at 391 San Antonio Road. They’ve vanished
Got lost. Now stuck in car park. It’s hot and sunny
Anyone know what happened to them?
Got lost. Now stuck in car park. It’s hot and sunny
Anyone know what happened to them?
It’s the best view of the best mountain from the best train in the world
The winner of the vote among new National Archives files released in Nov-Dec 2026 was this one: COAL 30/568: British Coal Art and Artefacts 1986-1995
This one is interesting!
Buckle up for coal mining, an unexpected Indiana Jones reference, and a big METAPHOR for privatisation
1/n
This one is interesting!
Buckle up for coal mining, an unexpected Indiana Jones reference, and a big METAPHOR for privatisation
1/n
The surprising story of the contents of the winning file (no. 2, on how valuable was British Coal’s art collection) is told by me here: bsky.app/profile/jona...
Reposted by Jon Agar
Stand - Collections Online | Museum Wales
Stand or plinth for the Mitchell-Hedges silver trophy (the vase presented by the county of Denbigh t...
museum.wales
The plinth with the list of winning first aid teams is also in their collection but apparently not on display. museum.wales/collections/...
But, hang on, what’s this!
Here is the Mitchell-Hedges Trophy in the Amgueddfa Cymru/Museum Wales collection!
Saved! (But did they have to pay?)
museum.wales/collections/...
Here is the Mitchell-Hedges Trophy in the Amgueddfa Cymru/Museum Wales collection!
Saved! (But did they have to pay?)
museum.wales/collections/...
The file ends with the Coal Board Corporation about to sell off the (mining family) silver
🏴☹️
🏴☹️
The National Museums and Galleries of Wales (which does not have that money to hand) make a counteroffer
It’s a “highly significant heritage object, of great importance to the history of Wales, and subsequently to the coal industry during the period of nationalisation”
Perhaps for free as a gift?
It’s a “highly significant heritage object, of great importance to the history of Wales, and subsequently to the coal industry during the period of nationalisation”
Perhaps for free as a gift?
The Coal Board Corporation offer it to the National Museums and Galleries of Wales
But, wringing their hands, they say they have “a statutory duty to dispose of assets on the best possible terms”
It’s pure silver. It’s worth £250,000
(This selling of silver is the METAPHOR for privatisation)
But, wringing their hands, they say they have “a statutory duty to dispose of assets on the best possible terms”
It’s pure silver. It’s worth £250,000
(This selling of silver is the METAPHOR for privatisation)
But what about the Mitchell-Hedges silver trophy for coal mine first aid?
In 1994, Mitchell-Hedges’ daughter (not the skull one, surely) is inquiring about it…
Whitehall, bless them, says ”it is essential that we do the proper thing and do not allow the trophy to become ‘lost’ on privatisation”
In 1994, Mitchell-Hedges’ daughter (not the skull one, surely) is inquiring about it…
Whitehall, bless them, says ”it is essential that we do the proper thing and do not allow the trophy to become ‘lost’ on privatisation”
He is perhaps most well-known for the “Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull”, that he claims his adopted daughter found in (what is now now) Belize in 1924
(he almost certainly purchased it from a dealer in the 1940s. It was almost certainly recently made)
This is the unexpected Indiana Jones reference
(he almost certainly purchased it from a dealer in the 1940s. It was almost certainly recently made)
This is the unexpected Indiana Jones reference
Frederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges was an “adventurer”, a traveler and teller of tall tales. At one stage he is captured by Pancho Villa in Mexico. He has a radio show.
It had been presented by Mr Mitchell-Hedges to his friend, coal chairman Lord Hyndley in the 1940s
It was awarded for a while to the miners who mined the most coal, as a kind of spur to productivity
Then it became a yearly prize in a First Aid competition, which continued right up to 1990s
It was awarded for a while to the miners who mined the most coal, as a kind of spur to productivity
Then it became a yearly prize in a First Aid competition, which continued right up to 1990s
The most valuable item though is this: the Mitchell-Hedges Trophy
It’s a “wine cistern of oval form, with an applied beaded border, with egg and tongue decoration” made by Paul Storr in 1815
It’s solid silver.
It’s valued at £250,000
It’s a “wine cistern of oval form, with an applied beaded border, with egg and tongue decoration” made by Paul Storr in 1815
It’s solid silver.
It’s valued at £250,000
But it’s privatisation time, and the Coal Board calls in the valuers
Among the paintings, for example, is this one: Henry Perlee Parker’s ‘Pit men at play’, considered, notes the valuers, “the first “true” mining picture to be hung at the Royal Academy” in 1836
Worth £10,000, they say
Among the paintings, for example, is this one: Henry Perlee Parker’s ‘Pit men at play’, considered, notes the valuers, “the first “true” mining picture to be hung at the Royal Academy” in 1836
Worth £10,000, they say
The context is post-Miners’ Strike and the subsequent privatisation of coal mines
The National Coal Corporation has accumulated LOTS of artworks
Some of these are noted collections, such as H. Andrew Freeth’s ‘pit portraits’ of coal miners (here’s one, now in NCMM) www.ncm.org.uk/news/voices-...
The National Coal Corporation has accumulated LOTS of artworks
Some of these are noted collections, such as H. Andrew Freeth’s ‘pit portraits’ of coal miners (here’s one, now in NCMM) www.ncm.org.uk/news/voices-...
Reposted by Lesley A. Hall
The winner of the vote among new National Archives files released in Nov-Dec 2026 was this one: COAL 30/568: British Coal Art and Artefacts 1986-1995
This one is interesting!
Buckle up for coal mining, an unexpected Indiana Jones reference, and a big METAPHOR for privatisation
1/n
This one is interesting!
Buckle up for coal mining, an unexpected Indiana Jones reference, and a big METAPHOR for privatisation
1/n
Not much else
But, for my research, another useful episode of 1990s science politics, showing again how consequential BSE was
Also, fun to see a school friend from Hitchin pop up in the documents (she’s at FCO, and very much a Europhile)
But, for my research, another useful episode of 1990s science politics, showing again how consequential BSE was
Also, fun to see a school friend from Hitchin pop up in the documents (she’s at FCO, and very much a Europhile)
There was also a worry that the precautionary principle, especially when interpreted (as some EU countries tended to do) in ‘maximalist’ terms, would be a “fig-leaf behind which other unjustifiable measures would be introduced”
in other words: UK suspicion of EU politics at play
in other words: UK suspicion of EU politics at play
Context is BSE. EU had introduced more scientific committees to review evidence of risks, and this included application of the precautionary principle (= if in doubt, don’t)
It’s regarded in Whitehall partly as a power grab by one of the EU directorates (DGXXIV)
It’s regarded in Whitehall partly as a power grab by one of the EU directorates (DGXXIV)
Reposted by Steven French
Finally got the National Archives for a quick dig around
This one was the winner of the vote among Aug-Oct 2026 releases vote.
So what is in JA 617/789, a Department of Health file from 1999 on the “precautionary principle”?
This one was the winner of the vote among Aug-Oct 2026 releases vote.
So what is in JA 617/789, a Department of Health file from 1999 on the “precautionary principle”?
Snow falling outside my UCL window
4) What did the Official Committee on Social Affairs REALLY think of Scientology in the mid-1970s?
Like to vote!
Like to vote!
2) Just how valuable was the British Coal art collection?
Like to vote!
Like to vote!
1) What did Admiral Rickover, “Father of the Nuclear Navy” want to tell Harold Macmillan?
Like to vote!
Like to vote!
As usual, what follows are 4 curious files, ones released at the National Archives in November/December 2025, offered up for your vote - I’ll tell you what’s in the one with most likes
(There’s a slim possibility I’ll squeeze in a trip to the archives before teaching starts next week…)
(There’s a slim possibility I’ll squeeze in a trip to the archives before teaching starts next week…)
Most interesting (to me) in the December 2025 file releases is the new RJ series.
These are the documents of the Hutton inquiry into the death of the scientist David Kelly and evidence of weapons of mass destruction in the run up to the Iraq war
Look: it’s the ‘dodgy dossier’!
(Or is it?)
These are the documents of the Hutton inquiry into the death of the scientist David Kelly and evidence of weapons of mass destruction in the run up to the Iraq war
Look: it’s the ‘dodgy dossier’!
(Or is it?)
