Hidden Gems
In my role as The Times' reviewer of historical fiction, I read a lot of books. I've also been a judge for the Historical Writers Association in two of the past four years. I estimate that over those...
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The Mikado and the Japanese Village in Victorian Knightsbridge - by Lesley...
‘We are gentlemen of Japan: On many a vase and jar - On many a screen and fan, We figure in lively paint: Our attitudes queer and quaint - You’re wrong if you think it ain’t, oh!’ A hundred and thirty...
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A big apple, and Europe on six floors - Sue Purkiss
I quite often go to Brussels, because I have family living there. While there a couple of weeks ago, I visited two museums that were new to me. The first, the House of European History, I'd never heard...
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LANDSCAPES AND LOOKING: Reflections on Eric & James Ravilious. by Penny Dolan
This week, I am sorting through the too-many books here at home. I am culling some, and collecting others into “families”: shelves of books inspired by the same theme. One bookcase is now home to a...
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“At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them” by...
At the start of the centenary of the 1914-18 war I had a notion that we would by now, as a nation, have found some sort of collective closure on the individual suffering of the dead of the Great War,...
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How Not to Besiege a Town by L.J. Trafford
The fortress of Masada.The Roman war machine: All powering, all conquering. A huge force of highly trained soldiers who created and maintained an empire the likes of which the world had never before...
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Heavy industry on the River Meon: Bricks by Carolyn Hughes
As the second part of my post about industry on the River Meon, today I am looking at brick making, which, like iron working, was, for centuries, carried out principally around the lower reaches of the...
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The Scourge of Smallpox in Early Modern England by Deborah Swift
Unbearable PainWe are fortunate to live in an age where smallpox has practically been eradicated. In the eras when my novels are set, this disease struck indisciminately, both rich and poor alike....
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Lectures, Courses and Ken Burns by Imogen Robertson
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Fairies and Folklore and Andrew Lang by Catherine Hokin
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales.” ~ Albert EinsteinI've been spending a lot of time immersed in...
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The Maharajah's Well by Leslie Wilson
photo: Graham HornThis is the signpost that fascinated me when we first came to live in this area. I guess we were driving home from Watlington Hill, where we might have hoped to see the then-rare red...
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PURBECK MARBLE AND THE MIDDLE AGES by Elizabeth Chadwick.
purbeck marble columns Temple Church. (I am the distantfigure in the brown skirt at the back!). Purbeck Marble, is not actually a marble, but a sort of limestone that can be polished and is...
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St Bartholomew the Great and Barts by Miranda Miller
Last Christmas I went to a candlelit carol service at St Bartholomew the Great and was struck by the beauty and age of this Romanesque church. How did it survive both the great fire and the Blitz? I...
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The Ritz, Paris by Carol Drinkwater
Looking out from a window at the Ritz across the Place Vendôme."When I dream of an afterlife in heaven, the action always takes place at the Ritz, Paris."...
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Snakeshead Fritillaries by Janie Hampton
Fritillaria meleagris have been around for thousands of yearsOne of the joys of living in Oxford is the annual blooming of snakeshead fritillaries, or fritillaria meleagris, a historic flower. They...
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Forgotten Women by Lynne Benton
In the world of classical music, if asked to name six great composers from, say, 1050 to 1950, most people would probably come up with a list including Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and could add several...
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Notions of truth in historical fiction by Elise Valmorbida
Our guest for March is Elise Valmorbida. Welcome, Elise!Photo credit: Geza SingerElise Valmorbida grew up Italian in Australia, but fell in love with London. She’s a designer, writer and teacher of...
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Cabinet of Curiosities by Charlotte Wightwick - Fashionable Fruit: the craze...
Pineapples are having a fashion moment. Everywhere I look, I seem to see them: on clothes, jewellery and homewares, from shoes to jumpers, necklaces to candle-holders, pots and knick-knacks. It isn’t...
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March competition
To win a copy of Elise Valmorbida's Madonna of the Mountains, just answer this question in the Comments section below:"What is the most powerful truth you have found in a work of historical...
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Who invented the handkerchief? by Mary Hoffman
You might expect an April Fool's Day post, looking at this title, but I promise you it's not that. I actually have a horror of April Fools; like "banter" and "prank" and "practical joke" these are...
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