Who are the British? Do they really drink tea, eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and never leave home without an umbrella? Find out more about true Brits; past and present, myth and legend, fact ...

We take single-sex public toilets for granted today. It is hard to believe that when public conveniences were first constructed, the vast majority of these toilets were just for men. Great Exhibition ...

There have always been fashion ‘tribes’, from fops and beaux, bucks and dandies to Goths and punks, but the ‘macaronis’ of the 1760s and 1770s exceeded them all in their dedication to excess and ...

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, ...

Mystery, legend and myth surround the Knights Templar, a religious military order of knighthood formed at the time of the Crusades and sworn to defend Christian holy sites in the Holy Land. One of ...

During his reign as King of England, as well as Denmark and Norway, Cnut had succeeded in the mission which his father had endeavoured to achieve, to rule over a vast North Sea Empire, united by his ...

638 – Jerusalem is captured by the Caliph Omar. April 1081 – Aug 1118- Reign of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. 1088 – 1099 – Reign of Pope Urban II. March 1095 – Byzantine Emperor Alexios I ...

The Industrial Revolution took place from the eighteenth century up until the mid-nineteenth century, marking a process of increased manufacturing and production which boosted industry and encouraged ...

On 29th May 1660, on his 30th birthday, Charles II arrived in London to a rapturous welcome. This was a defining moment not only for Charles personally but for a nation that wanted to see a restored ...

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 ...

Edward of Woodstock was born in – unsurprisingly – Woodstock, on June 15th 1330. He was the eldest son of King Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, but alas he never actually became king, dying one ...

Radio Rentals, DER, Rediffusion, Granada, Visionhire, Martin Dawes and Thorn Television Rentals were all well-known names on the 1970s British High Street that have now all but disappeared. At its ...