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The Secrets of the City of Metz, eastern France, by Carol Drinkwater
Saint Stephen Cathedral, Metz.Metz is a city in the northeast of France, Le Grand Est, capital of the Lorraine region, and one that I had...
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French view of the First World War by Janie Hampton
During the last four years we have seen the First World War from many angles. But how did the French see it? A few years ago I found two large-format bound volumes of the magazine L’Illustration in the...
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I want to speak to your manager!
by Ruth DownieIf you’ve ever been left on the phone listening to tinny music and assurances that “Your call is very important to us,” then spare a thought for the outraged trader whose draft letter of...
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The Legend of the Tower ravens by Chris Skaife
November's guest is very special. Not only is he a History Boy, he is the only guest we've ever had who lives inside one of the oldest historical spots in the UK. Meet Chris Skaife, a modest man with a...
View ArticleNovember Competition
To win a copy of Chris Skaife's The Ravenmaster, just answer the question below in the Comments section. Then send a copy of your answer to me at: maryhoffman@maryhoffman.co.ukJust for once, it's a...
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Cabinet of Curiosities - a Baby Dinosaur
A few months ago I wrote on this blog about an ending for me – finishing my life as a civil servant. Today is another ending – and, excitingly, a new beginning – because today I’m leaving London, and...
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Ladies of Quality and Distinction by Mary Hoffman
InThe Foundling Museum, Brunswick SquareI was in Brunswick Square a couple of weeks ago, to visit an exhibition at the Foundling Museum. It told a story I knew nothing about. I had, of course, heard...
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The Opposite of Historical Fiction - by Gillian Polack
One of the reasons I went to France earlier this year was to check for myself what happened in the Somme region after World War I. I read many accounts, but they couldn’t tell me what I needed to know....
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Bringing Back the Ghosts: The Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories at Christmas...
The Turn of the Screw opens on Christmas Eve with a group of guests sitting around a fire listening to a story that is said to be, 'gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve, in an old house, a strange tale...
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ROTAS SATOR: the Magical Square - Katherine Langrish
In Lady Wilde’s ‘Ancient Legends of Ireland’ there’s a story about a young man, a poet, who attempts to seduce a farmer’s daughter. He’s used to having his wicked way with girls, for we're told that...
View ArticleParis Remastered - Joan Lennon
Photographs and film footage from the past are always evocative, now matter how shaky or blurred. Recently, advances in technology are being applied to them, partly in the name of preservation and...
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Did Fanny Vote? by Sheena Wilkinson
In just over a week, on 14th December 2018 it will be the centenary of the election where some women in Britain and Ireland had the right to vote for the first time in a parliamentary election.Last...
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How to Look at Stained Glass by Jane Brocket. Reviewed by Adèle Geras
Below is a photograph of the book I'm reviewing today. It's not in the same class as all the other pictures on this post, which were taken by Jane Brocket, the author of How to look at stained glass....
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'The American POW's Who Built A Church In England' by Karen Maitland
St Michael and All Angels, Princetown, DartmoorPhotographer: TheroadislongSituated 436 metres above sea level, St Michael and All Angels in Princetown, Devon is one of the highest locations for a...
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What to Bring to a Saturnalia Feast
Our Saturnalia host, Steve Cockingsby Caroline LawrenceFor many years, my motive for studying Classics and writing historical fiction has been an intense desire to know what it would really have been...
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The Good Death II – Michelle Lovric
Five years ago I posted a piece about a fascinating and little-known Venetian scuola – The Company of Christ and the Good Death, the kind men who retrieved drowned bodies from the canals and provided...
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Reading for pleasure
by Antonia SeniorI was a bookish child who became a bookish teenager. I was not entirely the introverted stereotype - there was a sociable wildness as well, and a fondness for boozing, smoking and...
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Jersey in WW2 - Organisation Todt
by Deborah SwiftRussian Slave Workers of Organisation TodtMy latest research has been into the German Occupation of Jersey during WW2. At first, the surrender by the British and the occupation by the...
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Under the Volcano - by Lesley Downer
On August 11th 1863 seven British warships steamed into Kinko Bay in the southern Japanese province of Satsuma and dropped anchor in the shadow of the great volcano, Sakurajima, draped, then as now,...
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Homes and homelessness at Christmas by Fay Bound Alberti
This month my blog is a brief one. The reason is simple: I am moving house for the second time since August. I write surrounded by boxes that are yet to be unpacked and glasses without a home. But...
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