Glance upwards as you approach or enter many of Britain’s great cathedrals and churches, and it is more than likely you will catch sight of the Green Man gazing looking down at you. But who is this ...

Perhaps nothing captures the spirit of Scottish culture better than the sight of Highland dancing being performed at some Highland gathering in some far flung corner of the world. This sophisticated ...

George Villiers, the 1st Duke of Buckingham, was a powerful and divisive figure, who won the heart of King James I but in doing so alienated those fellow ambitious courtiers surrounding him. His ...

In the mid-eighteenth century the effects of gin-drinking on English society makes the use of drugs today seem almost benign. Gin started out as a medicine – it was thought it could be a cure for gout ...

The legacy of Rhodri ap Merfyn, commonly known as Rhodri the Great (Rhodri Mawr in Welsh) reaches far beyond his lifetime. The ruler of Gwynedd, Rhodri was one of the earliest Welsh leaders to unite ...

Some have said: ‘The Darien Venture was the most ambitious colonial scheme attempted in the 17th century… The Scots were the first to realise the strategic importance of the area… ” Whilst others ...

At only ten years of age, Richard II assumed the crown, becoming King of England in June 1377 until his untimely and catastrophic demise in 1399. Meanwhile, the English Parliament were quick to make ...

War between the so-called Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan on one side and Britain, the Commonwealth, France, the USA, the USSR, and China (the Allied powers) on the other. A truly world war, ...

The horrifying story of the Black Hole of Calcutta starts in early 1756. The East India Company, a relative newcomer to the Indian subcontinent, had already established a popular trading base in ...

The chimney sweep, or climbing boys as they were often called, was a harsh profession to be in and most likely one that would severely cut your life short. Those employed were often orphans or from ...

Witchcraft was not made a capital offence in Britain until 1563 although it was deemed heresy and was denounced as such by Pope Innocent VIII in 1484. From 1484 until around 1750 some 200,000 witches ...

During the fighting and immediately afterward, civilians were murdered, enemy soldiers decapitated, prisoners burnt alive, hospital patients slaughtered where they lay. Winston Churchill described the ...