About Me

Hi I’m Alexandra and welcome to my blog!

I’m a 27-year-old pessimistic history nerd and University of Sussex graduate who spends far too much time thinking about the past! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been passionate about history; it was always my favourite subject at school and I found something delightful about reading the trials, tribulations and mind-boggling achievements of everyone that came before us. Despite the state of politics in the world today, I’m also a bit of a politics nerd and the combination of the two; history and politics, led to me developing a particular fascination for political history, in particular female leaders and politicians, who despite their gender and the world they lived in, made a real difference.

This is where the idea for this blog came from; my fascination with some of history’s most extraordinary women and the fact that so many of them are completely unknown, despite the impact they had on the world we live in today. The world needs to hear their stories and I cannot wait to tell as many of them as possible. If you have any history books or period dramas or even historical figures you’d like me to take a look at, just go over to my twitter and tweet or dm me!

Now to tell you a little bit more about me and to break the ice I’ve included a list of fifteen little known facts about me

• My favourite food is pizza, I could eat it everyday and be quite happy (tacos is a close second)

• I used to be terrified of the dark

• I have Cystic Fibrosis, an illness that mostly affects the lungs (although it wreaks havoc with your other organs too!). This means that I spend quite a lot of time in hospital which might sound a pain but it gives me more time to read all the history books I can get my hands on (silver linings and all that!)

• I absolutely despite snakes, even the thought of a snake fills me with an existential dread

• I did my dissertation at university on the Medici regime in Florence in the 1400’s

• 99% of the television shows I watch are period dramas, the other 1% are crime shows and occasionally Love Island (I know, it’s terrible, blame my sister!)

• On the subject of siblings, I have two, both sisters and both younger as well as two step-sisters

• I recently counted the amount of history books I have and I’m not ashamed to admit, I have over 50!

• I used to paint a lot when I was a child and I wish I had continued

• I also used to go to stage school, having previously begun dance lessons (ballet) at 3 and violin at 7.

• My favourite place I’ve ever travelled to is either Florence or Venice

• In 2022 I had a lung transplant!

• I am one of the most accident prone, clumsy, horribly unlucky people in the world; I’ve been hit by a firework (yes that happened), I was hit by a ladder when it became unattached from a van that drove past me, I was hit by a baseball bat on my first day of secondary school, I dropped one of my piercings in my ear and it went so deeply into the ear I had to go to a specialist ear nose and throat hospital to have it suctioned out because it had pierced my ear drum, I’ve cut my lip open on a number of occasions and I fall over on a daily basis.

• Most of the shoes I own are Doc Martens!

• Five places I’ve never visited but would love to are; Istanbul, Cairo (to see the pyramids), St Petersburg, Prague and Athens.

So there was my 15 facts about me! I hope you enjoy the rest of the blog.