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Empress-less :( By L.J. Trafford
The five Julian-Claudian emperors that ruled Rome from 27BC to 68AD clocked up eight empresses between them. The chart shows the distribution. It reveals an anomaly. Rome’s second Emperor Tiberius...
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Σηκωματα, mensa ponderaria, mesures à grains… by Carolyn Hughes
Ann SwinfenI would like to pay tribute to Ann Swinfen, who died on the 4th August. Ann was a good friend to me and to many. She was a wonderful, much-loved writer of historical fiction, including the...
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Rough Music & Twitter by Imogen Robertson
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Remembering The Battle of Bosworth by Catherine Hokin
The first of these Welsh kings was Henry who defeated all the other kings at the Battle of Boswell and took away all their roses. After the battle the crown was found hanging up in a hawthorn tree at...
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Out and About: Reading history in buildings, by Leslie Wilson
It began with this building, when I was in Reading doing some shopping. It was such a truly elaborate example of hideous Victoriana that I had to record it. When I was a kid, I was taught to despise...
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My Favourite Research Books: An Occasional series by Elizabeth Chadwick
I have a few thousand research books on my shelves. All are treasured, but if I had to take just a handful with me to a desert island, which ones would I choose?This would be one of them. The moment...
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London Nights by Miranda Miller
A visit to the London Museum always makes me feel much closer to the past. From some of the windows you can see London Wall, Roman walls with medieval additions. The vast excavations for Cross Rail...
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Nine Men by Ann Turnbull
"I went down to the bottom of the mountains;The earth with its bars was about me forever..."(Jonah, 2.6)Madeley is a former mining town, situated on the East Shropshire coalfield and, since the late...
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Julie Summers'"Our Univited Guests" by Janie Hampton
Trainee agents on the rope bridge across the muddy River Cam at Audley End, Essex. ©Polish Underground Movement Oxford writer Julie Summers has written another extraordinary book about the realities of...
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The Lady in the Tower by Lynne Benton
In 1503 Walter Hungerford III was born at Heytesbury, Wiltshire, the only child of Sir Edward Hungerford of Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset, and his first wife, Jane Zouche. They lived in his family...
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The Spanish Riding School by Vanessa Harbour
Our guest for August is Vanessa Harbour, author of the début novel for young readers, Flight, which deals with the rescue of a troop of Lipizzaner horses from the Nazis and their arduous journey to...
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Cabinet of Curiosities by Charlotte Wightwick - Ministerial 'Red Boxes'
Tomorrow is a big day for me. After nearly 18 years, it will be my last day as a civil servant. I’ve spent most of that time advising ministers on their policy ideas and helping turn them from ideas to...
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August Competition
To win a copy of Vanessa Harbour's Flight, just answer the following question in the comments below:"Vanessa found out about Operation Cowboy by accident. What has been the most surprising/intriguing...
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The history books that made me by Mary Hoffman
(I have adapted the Guardian's weekly Review section template for this short post,* making it refer just to History books and historical fiction.)The history book I am currently readingThis is a bit of...
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Fighting bad months with metaphor - by Gillian Polack
Some months are created to try us and my August was one of those months. Early on, I knew precisely what I was going to write for History Girls for September. I don’t remember what the topic was any...
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Before They Were Pink: The Twisted History of the Unicorn - By Anna Mazzola
These days, unicorns are everywhere: furry unicorns, flashing unicorns, unicorns on t-shirts, unicorns on pants. My four-year-old daughter has even changed her middle name to ‘Unicorn’, having decided...
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The Elf-Mounds of Ireland... (1) by Katherine Langrish
Back in June this year we visited a friend in Ireland and since he lives way up in Co. Donegal we broke the journey by staying a couple of nights in the Boyne Valley, home to some of the most...
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Headaches in History by Joan Lennon
I think I can safely say, without any scientific back-up, that as long as people have had heads, they have had headaches. Not to mention headache cures.1890s advertisement for...
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Born In 1918 by Sheena Wilkinson
Last month my family celebrated two big birthdays. On 11 August I took my parents out to dinner on what would have been my granny’s hundredth birthday. She died in 1997 but a centenary seemed momentous...
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Sibylle Kreutzberger - a life in gardening, by Linda Newbery (guest)
Mention Sissinghurst to anyone remotely interested in gardening and the name Vita Sackville-West will come to mind. Visitors admiring the White Garden, the Nuttery, the Lime Walk and other famous...
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