This year marks the 1900th anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall. According to a history written many years later, Emperor Hadrian visited Britain, one of the most far-flung regions of the Empire, in 122 AD. He decided he needed … Read the article
In 19th century England, while sons of the well-to-do were sent to boarding school and university, daughters were generally taught at home by governesses. However, most of these governesses were not very well qualified. Being a governess was the … Read the article
It’s May 13, 1940. Winston Churchill has been prime minister of the United Kingdom for three days. This is his first speech to the House of Commons as the nation’s leader. It is also day four of … Read the article
As the sun set on another hot day, an easterly wind danced through the capital, weaving its way westward. From Islington, Samuel Pepys and his wife journeyed home after watching a new puppet show on Moorfields before … Read the article
Six months ago, if you had asked me about my novel Death and Mr Pickwick, I would probably have said: It is about the dawning of the age of global celebrity and its main characters are Charles … Read the article
It was while looking into the rumors concerning Princess Louise’s illegitimate baby that I came into contact with the Locock family. I read newspaper accounts of two court cases, in … Read the article
It is 2.30 in the morning. It is still night, but it is also ‘tomorrow’. By this hour at Covent Garden market, in the center … Read the article
Queen Charlotte of Mecklenberg Strelitz, the wife of George III, has never enjoyed a particularly good press. During her lifetime, and in the nearly two hundred years that have elapsed since her death in 1818, she has … Read the article
In 1613 the Countess of Essex demanded a divorce from her husband because, as her father quipped, “the Ear has no ink in his pen.” Essex and the court decided that he was … Read the article
Every Tolkien fan remembers Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. Rapacious, uppity, with a formidable temper and a keen eye for desirable possessions, Lobelia is among the terrors of the Shire. Married to Bilbo Baggins’s cousin Otho, she covets Bilbo’s … Read the article