Clik here to view.
SEEKING THE TRUTH IN A 'BOGUS' HISTORY – Elizabeth Fremantle
A chance encounter with Toby Litt the other day made me go back and take a look at his essay titled Against Historical Fiction. It is an oft-quoted and gently provocative piece that frequently puts the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pablo Fanque Catherine Johnson
Pablo Fanque and his trained SteedThis is another of those - why didn't I know that already? - posts. Pablo Fanque Victorian Impresario, Equestrian walker par exellence. He is massively famous,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An interview with Arushi Raina, by Y S Lee
Arushi Raina's potent debut novel, When Morning Comes, is a coming-of-age story set in apartheid-era South Africa. Told by four alternating first-person narrators - an angry revolutionary, an ambitious...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Remembering...by Sue Purkiss
Seven years ago, I went to a funeral in Wells. The cathedral was full, and I, like many others, watched on big screens outside on the green. Someone royal was there, and there were representatives...
View ArticleClik here to view.
BIGGER AND BETTER AT THE WEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSE by Penny Dolan
Last month, I wrote about seeing Kneehigh Theatre’s production of "946: The Amazing Adventure of Adolphus Tips" at the Globe theatre, down on London's Southbank.On that occasion I was sharing the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Hungry Gap and the Sterkarms - Susan Price
Susan Price : A Sterkarm TrystI was having a bit of a discussion with my editor, Matrice, who is working on my book, A Sterkarm Tryst.She wanted to know what season of the year the book was set in,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Treasures of Oral History by Katherine Webb
Whenever I'm asked about my research process, I always say that I read as much that was written at time as I can. You simply can't beat hearing about something from the horse's mouth. Nobody knows what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Chevalier de Johnstone - by Ann Swinfen
Broughty Ferry is a former fishing village on the Tay estuary, four miles down river from Dundee, on the east coast of Scotland. The fishing boats have gone now, together with the men who sailed them...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Portrait of the Artist at The Queen’s Gallery by Imogen Robertson
Attributed to Annibale Carracci (Bologna 1560-Rome 1609) A presumed self-portrait c. 1575-80Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Witch Marks and Curses: The Rituals of Protection by Catherine Hokin
In the midst of all the Halloween madness around crazed-clown sightings (surely a PR stunt for the forthcoming Stephen King movie) and poor-taste celebrity costumes, my eye was caught this year by a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Women Against Nazism: Elisabeth Abegg and her family, by Leslie Wilson.
Monument to deported Jews, Grunewald station Berlin.Nazi-ruled Berlin, 1942: Jews were being 'deported' daily and taken off to the East, whence they never returned. Some went, if not obediently, at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A research visit to the V&A by Elizabeth Chadwick
A few weeks ago I went to the V&A museum to see the Opus Anglicanum exhibition of medieval embroidery. Click here for the V&A's exhibition details It is utterly fabulous and well worth the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Amalfi, by Miranda Miller
When I was eight I went with my family to Positano, on the coast just south of Naples. This was the beginning of my lifelong passion for Italy and certain intense memories have stayed with me: the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cinema as a compelling mirror, by Carol Drinkwater
A day or so ago I watched, for the first time in many years, Louis Malle's wonderful film, Lacombe, Lucien. I don't think I have seen it since it was first released in 1974, when I was a young actress...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anastasia Romanov and The Royal Ballet by Janie Hampton
Earlier this month I attended a performance of the Royal Ballet’s extraordinary production ‘Anastasia’. In gorgeous and arresting dance and music, events were portrayed surrounding the young Grand...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wall to Wall by Julie Summers
I have just spent a magical, exhausting but immensely rewarding week as a tutor on an Arvon Foundation non-fiction course. As I write I am sitting up in bed in what used to be John Osborne's study at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Shogun's Harem by Lesley Downer
Our November Guest is Lesley Downer, who will become a regular History Girl next year.Photo credit: Jill ShawLesley Downer lived in Japan for many years. She tramped around Basho’s Narrow Road the Deep...
View ArticleNovember Competition
To win one of five copies of Lesley Downer's The Shogun's Queen, just answer the question in the Comments below:"As a woman, in what period of history would you have most liked to live in Japan and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Henry the Eighth's jousting accident by Mary Hoffman
"Henry's the Eighth's jousting accident" and other things we think we know aboutThis is a post about the minutiae of historical research and how you can't take anything on trust.One of the things we...
View Article