Welcome to the webpage of Martin Johnes, Professor of Modern History at Swansea University.
I specialise in the histories of modern Wales and British popular culture. I’ve published various books and articles that look at Welsh identity, politics, popular sports, obscure sports, national identity, disasters and local government. At the heart of my research are questions of identity. I am interested in how people think of who they are and their place in their world.
Many of these articles can be downloaded from my academia.edu profile. A full list of my academic publications can be found here.
I am regular contributor to the media on issues of Welsh history, politics and identity. Links to and a list of my journalism and presenting can be found here.
Blog entries can be searched via the tags on the right. Recent posts are below.
Christmas and Mass Observation: Studying Traditions, Emotions and People
By the time Mass Observation was established in the 1930s, Christmas had become an integral part of British culture. Although its form and meaning varied between individuals and classes, it was something that everyone interacted with in one way or another. It upset and angered some but more often Christmas was a moment of joy,…
Why history matters
A short video I made for a Welsh Government event about history in the Curriculum for Wales.
A brief history of work Christmas parties
This is an extract from Martin Johnes, Christmas and the British: A Modern History (Bloomsbury Academic, 2016) One reason for the ebbing of work was excitement over Christmas parties. These were not new phenomenon – some late nineteenth-century factories had held them for example – but they undoubtedly increased in number in the middle of the twentieth century and by…
Martin Johnes 