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Mother's Ruin: A Tale of Gin & Drunken Women by Catherine Hokin
Little drops of whisky, little nips of gin. Make a lady wonder, where on earth she's bin...With only three days to go to the big day I imagine most people are now well into last minute, undoubtedly...
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Big Dolly, by Leslie Wilson
I got her in August, for my third birthday, but she was a Christmas present several times during my childhood, when she went to the doll's hospital and got new hair (I suspect now that during those...
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CHRISTMAS AT WAR: A letter home in 1943
My father-in-law, William James Hicks joined the army in his late teens soon after the start of World War II. Born in Shoreditch and then moving to Nottingham, he was an extremely pragmatic youngster...
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Merry Dog Day by Miranda Miller
I think we’re all feeling rather battered by the pace of change over the last year. How would it feel to be living through a period of really cataclysmic revolution? “Bliss was it in that dawn was...
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Peace on Earth, by Carol Drinkwater
This month my blog is very short. Apologies for that. I am a little unwell. On top of that, due to the loss of my mother earlier this year, my husband and I are having a very low-key Christmas.Today,...
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Regent's Park Catastrophe 1867, by Janie Hampton
When I was a small child my grandmother told me of a terrible event that she had witnessed. ‘My father took me to Regent’s Park,’ she told me. ‘We walked across the frozen lake. As we stepped off onto...
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To Resolve or Not, that is the New Year's Question by Julie Summers
A few years ago a husband of a friend of mine announced at midnight on 31 December that his New Year's Resolution was to make love to his wife three times a week. We all stood around feeling suitably...
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Amy Johnson by Christina Koning
Our guest for November is Christina Koning, formerly of this parish.Christina left the History Girls when she became a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. She has clearly also...
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Cabinet of Curiosities – Christmas Family Trees
As most people know, Christmas trees were first introduced into the UK in the nineteenth century, influenced by the habits of the royal family, although using greenery to decorate our houses at winter...
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December competition
To win one of five copies of Christina Koning's Time of Flight, just answer the following question in the Comments section below:"What other woman do you admire who was a pioneer in a traditionally...
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A new year by Mary Hoffman
Reading Julie Summers' post a few days ago about New Year's Resolutions gave me pause for thought. I'm not a great maker of resolutions myself, though I remember making comprehensive lists of potential...
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The Quiet Achievers of History, by Gillian Polack
The silent partner of most of the political discussions rampaging around the interweb is the public sector. The public service is a strong part of any country’s work. It’s not as colourful as the...
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High Times in the 18th Century by Debra Daley
If you happened to be an inhabitant of the demi-monde in late-Georgian London, or just a common or garden thrill-seeker tired of booze and tobacco, there were certainly opportunities to achieve an...
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The Bitter Withy: Legends of the Childhood of Jesus - by Katherine Langrish
The apocryphal Miracle of the Clay Birds - Southampton Church, OxfordshireWas Jesus really born in a manger? And does it matter? Whether he was or not, the message of the story is clear: here is a...
View ArticleSix and a Half Magic Hours - Joan Lennon
It's astonishing to think how short a time it's been since the beginning of commercial jet travel. This video extolling the wonder that is the Boeing 707, aka "the magnificent new jet", was made in...
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'This useful little book' - by Sheena Wilkinson
Second in my occasional series about charming little books from the past.This one is a tiny waistcoat diary from 1919, found many years ago in a junk shop; I no longer remember when or where. It was a...
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BLASTS FROM THE PAST by Adèle Geras
When I typed the names of everything I was going to write about in this piece into the Labels section of the blog, I was warned that I had far too many letters. So I have cut it down by saying:...
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'Take a Peck of Pickled Ploughmen' by Karen Maitland
Today, the 8th January, is Plough Sunday, which is always the first Sunday after the 6th January. The 6th was the Twelfth Night of the Christmas and the end of the holiday. From Medieval times, right...
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Ancient Roman Pen and Ink by Caroline Lawrence
This is the time of year when parents encourage their children to write thank you notes for all the Christmas presents they received. That is until recently. Sadly, the art of letter writing seems to...
View ArticleGrandeur and curiosity - Michelle Lovric
A little while back, I was invited to a book launch. The book sounded interesting, concerning a piece of London social history. It’s always nice to support a fellow writer.So, to a private room above a...
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