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The Secret of a Clear Head by Imogen Robertson
Sorry, I don’t really know what the secret is. Drink less? Sleep more? Retire to the woods with a lot of canned food and medical supplies and ride out the coming apocalypse among the forest creatures?...
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King Charles III and the Importance of Writing Things Down by Catherine Hokin
“But now I’ll rise to how things have to be.The Queen is dead; Long live the King — that’s me.” Tim Piggot-Smith as King Charles, BBC "Mike Bartlett's play is a reminder that, even for Republicans, the...
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How Hitler REALLY came to power, by Leslie Wilson
Photo: BundesarchivPeople keep saying: 'Hitler came to power by democratic means.' Well, did he? I'm grounding this blog on a reading of Richard J Evans's impressive book 'The Coming of the Third...
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A JACK OF ALL TRADES - on the historical novelist and research by Elizabeth...
I began writing my first historical novel when I was fifteen years old. I had fallen for a knight on a BBC television programme titled Desert Crusader - dubbed from the original French where the...
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Frederick Hervey, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry by Miranda Miller
I came across this remarkable eccentric while researching eighteenth century Rome, where he spent the last ten years of his life. As a young man he was appointed Royal Chaplain to George III, who...
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A new step forward in France, by Carol Drinkwater
We have a new President.The whole world has learned by now that France has voted for Emmanuel Macron, the youngest man to step into this role since Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, Napoleon III.Born in Paris...
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Joyce Grenfell's Lost Song by Janie Hampton
Benjamin Britten, Joyce Grenfell, Peter Pears at The Red House, June 1967In 1947 the British composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, the singer Peter Pears, fulfilled their dream when they started...
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How to grab the attention of an unwilling audience by Julie Summers
Half of my professional time is made up of public speaking. I know that I am not alone in this. In these days of social media, we authors are expected to be out there, promoting our books, doing twirls...
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Gaslight by Eloise Williams
Our guest for May is Eloise WilliamsCredit: Angharad Thomas photographyThis is what Eloise tells us about herself:Sixer of Pixies. Child of the 70s. Survived encephalitis, pizza thrown in face, a...
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Cabinet of Curiosities - The Visconti-Sforza Tarot by Charlotte Wightwick
The Hermit. In today’s Cabinet of Curiosities we’re heading to the Italy of the mid-late fifteenth century. Italy in this period was not one unified country, but was instead made up of a great...
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May competition
To win a copy of Gaslight by Eloise Williams, answer this question in the Comments below. Then please copy your answer to maryhoffman@maryhoffman.co.uk"What period of history has influenced your life...
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King Roger by Mary Hoffman
I often come at history by an oblique route - a painting, a novel, a piece of music. And so it was that I discovered King Roger of Sicily (the Second, though his father, also Roger, was never actually...
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Planning a Programme: how a conference organiser shares history - by Gillian...
I’m fascinated to find out different ways in which we learn about history, especially through fiction. One important way is through public events. If we go to a talk or attend a workshop or have coffee...
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The Spell of Glamour by Debra Daley
Henry Norman. The ladies promenading in the Yoshiwara, 1890.Cambridge University Library.English journalist Sir Henry Norman travelled to Japan in 1890 to write a series of essays, which he illustrated...
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The “Little Dark People” - by Katherine Langrish
In ‘A Book of Folk-Lore’ (1913) the Devon folklorist Sabine Baring-Gould recounts three instances in which he and members of his family ‘saw’ pixies or dwarfs. I’ll let you read them: In the year...
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Tales of Mortcloth - Joan Lennon
I live in a village up on the ear of the dog's head that is the Kingdom of Fife. The Kingdom* of Fife - The Atlas of Scotland 1654And the other day, I was wondering, as you do, why a particular street...
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On not being a geography girl Sheena Wilkinson
Here’s another book to show you. It’s not old, and it’s not really about history, except in the way that all geography is sort of about history. I wish I had learned that sooner. 1981. I was in first...
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VIENNA..... by Adèle Geras
I have wanted to visit Vienna for as long as I can remember. Everyone has a mental vision of the city, whether it be from watching 'The Third Man', reading 'The Hare with Amber Eyes,' or seeing Helen...
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'Broomsticks, not Bed knobs' by Karen Maitland
Recently, some national newspapers reported on a story of a husband who was granted a divorce in Italy 'The Ecstasy of Father Jean Birelle,' painted 1626-32by Vincenzo Carduccibecause his wife was said...
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Fasting in the Ancient World by Caroline Lawrence
It is the morning of 9 June 2017 and I am beginning the final leg of a six-day fast. Fasting is usually defined as abstinence or reduction from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time....
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