Chaucer’s meadows are romantic landscapes of leisurely frolicking. But for medieval haymakers July meant a month of hard ...

In the early months of 1956 Marilyn Monroe was preparing to star in Bus Stop, discussing with Laurence Olivier a role in The Prince and the Showgirl and romancing Arthur Miller, who was divorcing his ...

In April 1971 a series of table tennis matches between the US national team and the world champions China made history. Then ranked 23rd in the world, the US team was comprised of amateur players, ...

On 1 July 1903 a publicity stunt for a sporting paper cycled into history as the first Tour de France. Cycle racing was all the rage. The Paris-Brest-Paris race was launched in 1891. (Its inaugural ...

A staple of Russia and the Slavic world, borscht has inspired films and novels – and has even reached outer space. Borscht is quintessentially Russian. A single bowl of that ruby-red beetroot soup, ...

Despite Niall Ferguson’s efforts in 2003 to partially rehabilitate British imperialism in his bestselling Empire the subject still provokes angry debate. The recent revelations concerning the Foreign ...

Though remembered as the era of the housewife, momentous change in the status of British women began in the 1950s. The 1950s is remembered as an era of ideal homes and perfect housewives. Yet this ...

Thomas Wolsey (c.1471-1530) was without question the towering figure in English government during the first half of Henry VIII’s reign. As Lord Chancellor (from 1515) he dominated the legal system and ...

In school we learn there are 360 degrees in a circle, but where did the 360 come from? When it is pointed out that the Babylonians counted to base-60, rather than base-10 as we do, people often ask if ...

Richard Whatmore’s The End of Enlightenment: Empire, Commerce, Crisis takes the ideals of the 18th century on their terms. What was the Enlightenment? Damned if I know. There have been so many books ...

The Cyrillic alphabet is celebrated across the Slavonic-speaking world, but not only as an appreciation of literacy – it has a political dimension too. Used by over 250 million people across the ...

If tensions between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf lead to war, it will not be the first time. In 1987 and 1988, the US intervened to protect shipping from Iranian attacks. The war between Iran ...