In the turmoil of the Second World War, Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, stood out as a remarkable figure. Described by Hitler as a “dangerous terrorist,” he was perceived as a feared threat. Winston ...

Often referred to as the ‘Hungry Decade’, the 1840s was characterised by social unrest, military losses and economic hardship ...

A standing joke worldwide is the English preoccupation with the weather. So how did it come to pass that the English summer should be determined by a long dead Anglo-Saxon Bishop? St Swithun’s Day (or ...

Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire and famous worldwide for its prestigious university, the oldest in the English-speaking world. In his poem ‘Thyrsis’ the Victorian poet Matthew Arnold called ...

Edward III became king in 1327 at the age of just 14, after his father was deposed by his mother and her lover, Roger Mortimer. King of England from January 1327, Edward was famous for his victories ...

“There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as a good tavern or inn.” So wrote Samuel Johnson and for many, this remains true today. Think of an ...

Dating from the Georgian era, gentlemen’s clubs were reserved exclusively for the aristocracy and the elite, to meet, drink, socialise and gamble. They were also the unofficial stomping grounds of ...

Lucozade! Many baby boomers will remember this sparkling, lurid-coloured drink when the glass bottle still came wrapped in crinkly cellophane. This iconic tonic only appeared when a child was ill in ...

The reign of King George V in the early twentieth century witnessed some of the most dramatic changes not only in British history but across the globe. George V, the son of Edward VII, had not ...

The Huguenots were French Protestants from the sixteenth and seventeenth century who fled from the French Catholic government fearing persecution and violence. As they fled, a diaspora of Huguenots ...

The Grand Tour was the utlimate Georgian / Victorian gap year experience. Expensive and glamourous, this was a rite of passage for rich aristocratic young men (and later, women) who travelled Europe, ...

Northumbria was one of the great seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England, alongside East Anglia (East Angles), Essex (East Saxons), Kent, Mercia, Sussex (South Saxons) and Wessex (West Saxons).