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Great ExplorationBy Katherine WebbSince my latest novel THE ENGLISH GIRL comes out in just a few days’ time, this month I thought I’d write about a few of the real-life historical figures that inspired...
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Two Centuries That Changed the World - by Ann Swinfen
I have found myself drawn to write in my novels about the period from 1500 to 1700, two centuries that changed the world. How did these changes come about? And why was the seventeenth century a period...
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Five of the Best History Podcasts by Imogen Robertson
Seeking inspiration? A companion for your chill spring walks, or something more interesting to listen to in the gym than the spotify list of some manic teenager? Then hie thee over to itunes and...
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Capital Folly by Kate Lord Brown
Gloriously eccentric, and somehow quintessentially British, follies see reason give way to imagination and sensation as prosaic water towers, bathhouses and dairies are transformed into evocative...
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War and Peace: the French and the Germans this time, by Leslie Wilson
Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle shake handsin 1963. Photograph: Bundesarchiv,B 145 Bild-F015892-0010 / Ludwig Wegmann / CC-BY-SA 3.0 The Regency dandy and Waterloo veteran, Captain Gronow,...
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INVADERS FROM THE STEPPES: Elizabeth Chadwick's notes on a talk by Professor...
It's interesting how one things leads to another when researching.Last month while trawling for information on TEMPLAR SILKS, my work in progress concerning William Marshal's pilgrimage to the Holy...
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James 111 by Miranda Miller
Did any of you see Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution at the National Maritime museum? I loved it, and was so intrigued by the brief reference at the end to James 111 that I decided to pursue...
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Musings on the Healing Powers of Greece, by Carol Drinkwater
Anthony Quinn danced the sirtaki on Stavros Beach, northern Crete I cannot...
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Elizabeth II’s 90th Birthday by Janie Hampton
On April 21st Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith, will be 90 years old.When Princess...
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How to Make a Drama out of a Crisis by Julie Summers
When I set out to write a history of the activities of the Women’s Institute of England and Wales in 2009 I had no inkling that it would lead to a full-blown television drama series. None at all. So...
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Taking Note by Tracy Chevalier
Our March guest is Tracy Chevalier, who has been here before! We are delighted to welcome her back on the publication of her new novel, At the Edge of the Orchard.Photo credit: Nina SobinTracy...
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Cabinet of Curiosities: a letter from Vincent - by Sue Purkiss
It's lovely at this time of year, isn't it? - when primroses, daffodils and hyacinths are out, and the buds on winter-bare trees begin to break into blossom. My mother was a very keen gardener, but she...
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March competition
To win one of five copies of Tracy Chevalier's At the Edge of the Orchard, just answer the following question in the Comments below:"How do you best describe the taste of an apple?"Then copy your...
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It's Shakespeare month! by Mary Hoffman
Many of us are going to dedicate our posts this month to aspects of Shakespeare, the 400th anniversary of whose death falls on 23rd of the month. On the actual 23rd we are having a Shakespeare Day when...
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The Tempest, Twelfth Night and me by Gillian Polack
Right now, my writing self and my research self are sharing the seventeenth century. I tend to think of Shakespeare as a sixteenth century writer, because a lot of his themes borrow from the Middle...
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Sibling rivalry, Shakespeare style, by Vanora Bennett
I come from a family of rivalrous, competitive siblings. So I was horribly fascinated by the tomb I found at Southwark Cathedral. This is where Edmund, youngest of the Shakespeare brothers, who was an...
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Dancing Days - Katherine Langrish
Last autumn, the Morris men came to dance at our village’s annual Michaelmas Fair. Oxfordshire is famed for its Morris dancers; only a few miles north of here is the village of Bampton, home of the...
View ArticleShakespearean Sonnets Read - Joan Lennon
I have a pretty red-and-gold leather-bound book of Shakespeare's Sonnets (a fine find from a charity shop) which I keep by my bed. I have several times now set myself the challenge of reading a few a...
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SHAKESPEARE IN CHILDREN'S FICTION by Lydia Syson
Adaptations of Shakespeare's stories for children have been almost too many to mention over the years. Charles Lamb, E. Nesbit, Leon Garfield and Marcia Williams' versions are among my own favourites....
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Editions of Shakespeare.....What I've kept and what I've lost. By Adèle Geras
One of the things I'm most grateful for is the devoted work of my English teachers at school and in particular, how they introduced us to so many Shakespeare plays, teaching us and guiding us in a way...
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