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When You've Been Naughty not Nice: The Legend of Krampus by Catherine Hokin
You'd better watch out, you'd better beware - three days to go and all over the country the familiar Christmas game of blackmailing the kids is reaching its peak, whipping Santa's swingometer into a...
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Advent Calendar Door number 23, by Leslie Wilson
Here is a view of the Old Town in Mainz, which I visted in November. There wasn't any snow, but I did feel as if I'd been transported into my favourite Advent Calendar from childhood. It came from...
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THE BECKET LEAVES By Elizabeth Chadwick
Thomas Becket returning from exile shortly before his murderThe Christmas season marks the anniversary of the murder of Henry II's Archbishop of Canterbury in Canterbury Cathedral's transept on 29th...
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Telling the Christmas Story by Miranda Miller
In October I revisited Assisi and the beautiful church of S. Francesco. Whether you’re religious or not (I’m not), St Francis, the animal lover who preached to the birds, is an endearing figure....
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Provençal Christmas treats, by Carol Drinkwater
We are in the South of France at our Olive Farm. The weather is warm, the sun is shining and we are able to work outside on the land until late afternoon.There is no snow. Snow is a very rare event...
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Tamara Karsavina & Henry Bruce, Part Three by Janie Hampton
Tamara Karsavina aka Mrs Henry Bruce in 1923. Karelia, Russia. July 1918. The British diplomat Henry Bruce, his lover the ballerina Tamara Karsavina and their 19-month-old son Nikita are fleeing for...
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Children of the King by Lynne Benton
Recently I read a fascinating book called “Bringing them up Royal”, about the relationships of royal children with their parents, from 1066 to the present day. After a great deal of deliberation I...
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Christmas: a Biography by Judith Flanders
Our December guest is Judith Flanders, interviewed here by Charlotte Wightwick.Judith Flanders was born in London, England, in 1959. She moved to Montreal, Canada, when she was two, and spent her...
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Cabinet of Curiosities by Charlotte Wightwick - Gingerbreadmen, women, angels...
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was spent, as appears to be traditional for me, either in a food-related stupor, or watching TV programmes about food (and often both). Now I have to...
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December Competition
To enter our December competition, just answer this question in the Comments section below:"What's your own favourite personal Christmas tradition?" (The quirkier and more specific to your family the...
View ArticleStatistics - and Edward ll by Mary Hoffman
Happy 2018 to all our Followers and readers!At the beginning of a new year we thought you'd like to know some statistics. There are 1,183 official Followers on this site - who are eligible to enter our...
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Writers chatting about their love of history, by Gillian Polack
To celebrate 2018 arriving yesterday, I've asked a friend in to chat. She is, of course, a writer. Rachel Nightingale, would you like to introduce yourself?Rachel: Hi Gillian. Yes, I'm a writer - my...
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The Woman Who Created Corpses: Mademoiselle Bihéron and her Anatomical Dolls...
Medical students in the 18th century faced a big problem: not enough dead bodies on which to experiment. The solution? Wax anatomical models. Made from a mixture of wax from bees and other insects, the...
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Forward Girls and Fast Novels - Katherine Langrish
Let us start with Jane Austen. “While the abilities of the nine-hundredth abridger of the History of England, or of a man who collects and publishes in a volume some dozen lines of Milton, Pope and...
View ArticleHistory and Humility - Joan Lennon
The collapse of the Quebec Bridge in Canada in 1907 and the resultant deaths were caused by irresponsible engineering. But then, twenty years later, something rather wonderful happened ...The first...
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WORDS - AS WELL AS DEEDS by Sheena Wilkinson
In December 1913, the Irish suffragette, Republican and socialist activist, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, wrote to Lady Ishbel Aberdeen, the writer and philanthropist, thanking her for the ‘great act of...
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LADY DRURY'S CLOSET or THE HAWSTEAD PANELS by Adèle Geras
On a beautiful day last November, I visited the Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich with my friends Ewa and Bob. The house is set in a lovely park and contains much treasure and art that belonged to...
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'Please let me pass!' by KarenMaitland
Devon Lane. Photographer: Richard KnightCountry roads in Devon are hazardous at the best of time, but in freezing January, they can be lethal. Devon has 8,000 miles of roads, more than any other...
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50 Bizarre Claims About Domitian
Caroline Lawrence & the 'Emperor Domitian'In screenwriting classes they often urge authors to give their hero the most powerful opponent possible. So when it came time for me to write a...
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Monk-ey business – Michelle Lovric
According to my hero, Giuseppe Tassini, the palazzo shown below right once hosted a devil in the form of a monkey-butler. The simian Satan was outed and cast out by a clever Franciscan monk.Ca' Soranzo...
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