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Gossip from the table of Thomas à Becket - by Katherine Langrish
Witty, urbane Walter Map was a clerk, courtier and man of letters at the court of King Henry II. He was eventually made arch-deacon of Oxford, and died some time between 1208 and 1210. During his...
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The Elevated Limpet - Joan Lennon
Three of the things that give me pleasure - old travel guides, the Orkney islands, and storms. But let us define our terms.How old do I like my travel guides to be? George Anderson and Peter Anderson...
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In search of King Arthur’s crown – Katherine Roberts
Crowns come in all shapes and sizes. Kings wear them. Queens wear them. Little girls like to wear them when they dress up... and so do big girls! Since a crown appears as a magical object of power in...
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616 years old and going strong by Adèle Geras
On a morning in January when the snow was receding but still around on the ground, I visited Great Shelford. As I got off the bus, I admired all over again the little pink Post Office.Then I made my...
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Going to Heaven in a Handcart by Karen Maitland
It’s been a particularly soggy winter in Britain, though not quite as bad as in the year the Black Death struck in 1348, when according to many independent records of the day, it rained every day from...
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Jupiter Pluvius & Hot Mark Twain
Caroline & Richard, Villa San Marcoby Caroline LawrenceWe have fled snowy London for Naples in January. We arrive at lunchtime. Naples is cool and overcast, but blessedly free of snow. Our...
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Boy with buttocks and a frog packs his bags – Michelle Lovric
Since 2009 an incongruous outsider has dominated one of the most crucial views in Venice. The obtrusive guest is this blindingly white sculpture of a boy with a frog by American artist Charles Ray....
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Mummy Pettigrew and Harry Griffiths, by Laurie Graham
Doctors, in spite of their long years of training, don’t always stick to medicine. I’ve known a few myself who’ve been tempted away into office jobs or lucrative pharmaceuticals or even journalism. Dr...
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DEM BONES, DEM BONES by H.M. Castor
Richard III's burial sitephotograph by Chris Tweed [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsIt’s like something out of a novel. A writer, obsessed with...
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Eaglesham: Village of history, by Manda Scott
Greetings, oh readers of history. I am immersed in the fifteenth century just now, researching the historical thread of the Joan of Arc book (I am certain, by now, that I know who she was and it...
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Let's Talk About Love (and Brazen Bulls) Catherine Johnson
I know, I know, it's that day isn't it. And I had intended to write a piece about St Dwynwen, Wales's very own Saint of Love who ended up living as a hermit on her own island just west of Anglesey....
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And the winners of Deborah White's book, Deceit, are:Ruan PeatSarah (Walker)MarjorieYoung Historian Please contact Liz Scott at: liz@lizscottpr.co.uk to receive your prizesCongratulations!
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'Besely seking with a continuell chaunge...' by Sue Purkiss
(Warning: there's not an awful lot of history in this...)I've been musing recently about the relationship between thinking and walking. Like many people, I find that walking helps my thinking. I was...
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The Independent State of Hastings by Penny Dolan
Last week I was wandering around Hastings with my brother, idly sight-seeing. Among the tall black-painted net huts below RockaNore Cliff was the Fisherman’s Museum, empty enough on that cold weekday...
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Shadows in the Cave - Celia Rees
Not everyone's cup of tea, but I couldn't wait to see it. I have visited caves in the Dordogne and in the Pyrenees and seen the astounding paintings but I have rarely seen the equally impressive...
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16th Century Medical Student Blog – Beloved son, Felix: Theresa Breslin
In 1552 a fifteen year old boy, Felix Platter, left his home in Basle to go and study medicine in the south of France. He wrote an account of his journey to Montpelier, kept a diary during his five...
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'Richard III and Other Dead Kings' by A L Berridge
It seems you can pick up bits of dead kings just about anywhere now. We’re all still buzzing with the discovery of Richard III under a Leicester car park, but over the last thirteen years in France...
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Diamond thieves in Paris by Imogen Robertson
Paris Café by Ilya RepinOne of the many things I love about this blog is the opportunity to offer up bits of research that haven’t made it in to my novels or have done so in such a heavily...
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WHAT'S FOR SUPPER? by Jane Borodale
The horsemeat contamination debacle has thrown up familiar discussions in our household as elsewhere; about the convoluted nature of our modern food chain and how vulnerable it leaves us, and how...
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THE (HISTORY) GIRLS' OWN PAPER by Leslie Wilson
I was given a copy of the 1899-1890 Girls' Own Annual when I was a teenager, by an old family friend; I don't know where she got it from: maybe it came from her mother, but she is dead now and I cannot...
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