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Heavy industry on the River Meon: Iron by Carolyn Hughes
We are accustomed to thinking of the Meon Valley as a peaceful, very rural place, where cows graze in the meadows, sheep crop the short turf on the hills, and grain and rape and watercress are...
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Scripting Hampton Court by Imogen Robertson
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Building Power by Catherine Hokin
I've been having a lot of conversations recently about research, not just how much writers need to do but what type. Whatever the downsides of the web with its never-ending news feeds and all-too...
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RICH IN SALT, by Leslie Wilson
Last year I and my husband went on holiday to the Bavarian Alps, in the region around Salzburg; the name may conjure up an opera festival nowadays, but it means: Salt city. Other names in the area also...
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THE TEMPLE CHURCH - A glimpse through history
Temple Church exterior. WikipediaA building that has featured in several of my novels is the Temple Church in London, where the great William Marshal whose life story. I have told in The Greatest...
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Homelessness by Miranda Miller
I passionately wish this was ‘History.’ This is a photo of Marcos Amaral Gourgel, the 35-year-old Portuguese man who froze to death on the night of February 13th in a subway just by Westmister tube...
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The Bataclan, by Carol Drinkwater
In less that two weeks time, 8th March, it will be the publication date for the paperback of THE LOST GIRL. I have already written here on our lovely HG site about the inspiration for the modern half...
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Diane Atkinson’s “Rise Up Women!” by Janie Hampton
Only this month I realised that although I was not born until 1952, I am among the first generation of women born in Britain to have the right to vote: my mother was born before 1918. A few months...
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Back in Time for Breakfast by Lynne Benton
The so-called “Full English Breakfast”, ie bacon, eggs, sausages, baked beans, toast etc. etc., is a relatively modern term. What did our distant ancestors eat when their fresh meat ran out, before...
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Designs on Britain by Mary Hoffman
© Tfl, London Transport Museum collectionHave you ever thought about who designed the things you see every day around you in the UK? Take the request bus stop sign above, for example. Things like this...
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Great-aunts, grandmothers, and women's history, by Gillian Polack
It’s Women’s History Month in Australia (and in the US) and I meant to write a delightful piece about something entirely different, but on Wednesday I took my regular students to see an exhibition on...
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The Best Historical Novels Based On True Crimes – Anna Mazzola
‘Inspired by a true murder’, ‘Based on a real story’: we’ve long been fascinated by fiction and drama with their roots in real crimes. Maybe that’s partly because we’re drawn to what we believe to be...
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Pictures To Keep Wallpaper Down - Katherine Langrish
I’ve been reading a book called ‘The Day of Reckoning’, written by Mary Clive, best known for her marvellously entertaining semi-autobiographical romp ‘Christmas with the Savages’ based on childhood...
View ArticleWarm and Elegant - Joan Lennon
I try to spread out showing you videos about historical clothes but, given the snowy weather UK has been host to this last while, I couldn't resist sharing this one. Here are some dress-up-warm...
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The Long Winter -- by Sheena Wilkinson
It wasn't all snowballing funSo March came in like a Polar Bear. Like many other History Girls and readers, I’ve been snowed in for some days now. I can walk to the village shop, but it ran out of milk...
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Happy 125th Anniversary, dear St Hilda's....by Adèle Geras
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the founding of St. Hilda's College, Oxford. For many years, it was a single-sex college but nowadays, of course, it admits men also. St Hilda of Whitby, after...
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'Accused of witchcraft and murder in 1518 and 2018' by Karen Maitland
New Mexico, 1920. 'Melita, the day after she was rescued from hanging as a witch.'Photo: James George WhartonI was horrified, but sadly not surprised, to read of the terrible ordeal of a mother and...
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Et tu, Paddington?
by Caroline LawrenceOne day in 2014, according to urban mythology, director Sam Mendes took his young son to the set of Spectre. They happened to be filming a scene between James Bond and the weapons...
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If Venice dies – Michelle Lovric
In my library, there’s a curious book called Giorno per giorno, tanti anni fa (Almanacco della Regione Veneta) which I’d translate as Day by Day, Many Years Past (Almanac of the Veneto). Its...
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1940s hairstyles - describing a character in bobs and curls
When I write I have to have a clear picture of how my characters look, including how they dress and style their hair. So before I began to write about the wartime era I looked into the sort of...
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