A Norman noblewoman, Mabel de Bellême became Countess of Shrewsbury through her marriage to Sir Roger de Montgomery. Shrewd ...

There is a statue of the warrior queen of the Iceni tribe, Boudica, on the Victoria Embankment in London. Her revolt against ...

On a dripping July morning in 1543, the much-married, increasingly volatile King Henry VIII married his final wife, Katharine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace. This was to be Henry’s sixth marriage and ...

In 1838 an extraordinary young woman, the daughter of a lighthouse keeper, helped to save nine people after the fatal crash of a steamship which sank off the coast of the Farne Islands. A heroine in ...

“There were opium dens where one could buy oblivion, dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new.” Oscar Wilde in his novel, ‘The Picture of ...

The year was 1888 and the location Bow in the East End of London, a place where some of the most poverty stricken in society lived and worked. The Match Girls’ Strike was industrial action taken up by ...

St Dunstan was a prominent English religious figure during the Anglo-Saxon period and became a significant advisor to many of the kings of Wessex, helping to initiate monastic reforms and influence ...

The British Empire is remembered for its extensive, long-lasting and far-reaching imperial activities that ushered in an era of globalisation and connectivity. The British Empire began in its ...

The Victorian Workhouse was an institution that was intended to provide work and shelter for poverty stricken people who had no means to support themselves. With the advent of the Poor Law system, ...

The UK now celebrates National Curry Week every October. Although curry is an Indian dish modified for British tastes, it’s so popular that it contributes more than £5bn to the British economy. Hence ...

Richard I the Lionheart (r. 1189-1199) is perhaps best known for his exploits in the Third Crusade. His war against Saladin is one of the classic stories of medieval chivalry and crusading. But ...

The term ‘hangover’ is universally understood to mean the disproportionate suffering that comes after a night of over-indulgence. But where does the term actually come from? One possible explanation ...