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Murder on the dance floor (Or, how to get away with murder if you're young...
The ballroom tragedy . . .A pretty art studentA vile seducer In 1925 Australia was gripped by a tragic story that had all of the elements of a sensational mystery thriller or a lurid Hollywood movie....
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BLUE vs GREEN. Passion and politics in the Roman circus.....
What did Nero and Caligula have in common, besides being murderous megalomaniacs? Both were ardent Greens. In Constantinople some 500 years later, Justinian and his wife Theodora were passionate...
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Trade in the 17th Century - The Tallow Chandler
by Deborah SwiftMatthias Storm c.1640 Old Woman with a CandleI was at a great loss for candles; so that as soon as ever it was dark, which was generally by seven o'clock, I was obliged to go to bed ………...
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Not the End of the World - by Lesley Downer
‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings …’ In 1931 a young American botanist called Cyrus Longworth Lundell was trekking through the Mexican jungle in search of chicle gum for the Wrigley chewing gum...
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Shoelaces
by Marie-Louise JensenOne of the things that always struck me as especially unfamiliar in historical fiction, that is to say Georgian and Regency historical fiction, was reading of a gentleman's...
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A do-it-yourself wassailing kit - by Sue Purkiss
It's that time of year again, and people are wassailing right, left and centre down here in the west country. So if you want a reminder of how to do it, here's my post from last year. Never mind the...
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ELEANOR MARX by RACHEL HOLMES: Reflections by Penny Dolan
January arrived, bringing time to edge myself back to mid-Victorian London, the time and setting for my long-neglected novel. Looking along the shelves for the right book to nudge my mind along, I...
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Literary Pilgrimages - Celia Rees
I'm sure we have all been on at least one Literary Pilgrimage. Writers are fascinated by the lives of other writers, where they lived, where they wrote, the things they used and owned. The same...
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So you want to be a Roman Emperor?
As this is my first post as a History Girl (and yes I shall be having a badge made with that title, which I shall wear at all times) I thought I’d introduce myself before launching into the subject of...
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Self-sufficiency then and now… by Carolyn Hughes
I have been musing recently on how, for the past, say, nine centuries or so, until perhaps the early or even middle of the 20th century, the communities in the Meon Valley were mostly self-sufficient,...
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Historical Research - Pelicans and Donald Rumsfeld by Imogen Robertson
Ned signing his contractIt’s been an exciting couple of months at our house. My husband Ned Palmer who crops up in my History Girls posts from time to time, has got a book deal. God help us, we are now...
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Diamond Annie and the Fearless Forty Elephants by Catherine Hokin
Jewellery Displays at the Ritz ParisIn among all the Brexit misery and non-shuffling cabinetre-shuffles that have dominated the press so far this year, there has been one story which has had more...
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History restored: the Red Kite, by Leslie Wilson
Photo: Mike Prince from Bangalore, India'The kites are gathering.' I don't know how many historical novels I have read those words in, and I can't find a reference now, which is annoying. But as a...
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DESTRIER - A Recent Hunt in Progress by Elizabeth Chadwick
late 13th century apocalypse British LibrarySocial media has its problems, but I love it for the exchange of ideas and information which just wouldn't have been possible before the days of the...
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San Clemente, Rome by Miranda Miller
As a sixteen-year-old I fell in love with Rome on a day trip. Six years later I went to live there and now I can see that my fascination with the city - and with history itself - was triggered by...
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Picasso's Plates, by Carol Drinkwater
La Guerre 1952 Pablo Picasso Picasso Musée National, VallaurisForgive the...
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Mary Beard's "Women & Power: A Manifesto" by Janie Hampton
Professor Mary Beard, © Caterina TurroniProfessor Mary Beard is Britain’s most famous classicist and The History Girl’s History Girl. Her book Women and Power: A Manifesto is a reminder of the...
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The Key to Learning by Lynne Benton
When I was at school I hated History. For four long years in my teens I had an extremely boring History teacher, who made everything seem really dull. My main memory of her lessons is of her writing...
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January Guest: Rise Up, Women! The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes by...
Diane Atkinson, author of Rise Up Women!This month, our guest blogger is Diane Atkinson, author of Rise Up Women! The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes. Marking the centenary of female suffrage,...
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Cabinet of Curiosities - Harry Potter: A History of Magic at the British...
So I’m cheating a bit this month. The Cabinet of Curiosities is supposed to be one object which I’d love to have for myself. However I couldn’t resist talking about the current exhibition at the...
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