Stuck in the Middle
Where did we get to on our time travel through the stone age? Ah yes, it’s almost midnight on our imaginary clock… Readers of my previous post will recall a…
Meet the Flintstones
About a year ago, I was given a meaty challenge by one of my keenest readers. (Well, my son actually - he politely reads the posts, to please his mother).…
The peasants are revolting!
Here’s a quirky group of individuals: Johanna Ferrour, John Ball, Katherine Gamen, Tom Baker, John Wrawe. Their names ring no bells? Then how about Jack Straw or… Wat Tyler? These…
Pigments of the imagination
In these historic islands, we can’t often see things exactly as they’d have looked through the eyes of our ancestors. Landscapes shift, buildings age and crumble, old things disappear under…
Route Canal work
Britain: we live on a watery island. Any map shows an intricate network of natural waterways, covering the land. So why was there the rise of canal mania in the…
Piers of the Realm
Here’s a nautical post to recall warmer times, in this cold weather. We spent some happy hours at the English seaside last summer. We idled away a few pleasant afternoons…
Victorian values
I’m rather in awe of Jeremy Paxman. Yes, he’s a sharp investigative journalist, and the grumpy presenter of University Challenge, who seems smarter than most of the students. But he’s…
Dragons’ teeth
On your trips out and about, do you sometimes spot random stuff - lumps of concrete, bits of iron, abandoned huts and sheds, strange buildings in the middle of nowhere…
Saint necessarily so
Last year for me, a small pleasure, in that wild west virtual saloon named Twitter, was reading the latest posts from the Reverend Richard Coles. Yes, that one - him…
Acci-dental history
I’m a little down-in-the-mouth at the moment. A trip to the dentist has proved very painful: to my cheque book as much as anything. But no experience is ever wasted,…
The French Connection
When I was a young thing, my maternal grandmother would tell me the family tales. “We’re descended from Huguenots, you know”, she’d say proudly. Fast-forward too many years, and you’ll…
Norman Wisdom
What’s the first date you learned at school, in those dull history lessons? No question, it was of course that of the Battle of Hastings. 1066 (and All That).…