The Pilgrim Fathers
British emigration to eastern North America in the 1600s and 1700s is recorded in the numerous duplicated…
Discover British history, culture, geography, achievements and more in snippet size
Glacial Erratics
We are told that the last Ice Age (the Younger Dryas) ended around 12,000 years ago, with…
Cliff Richard & The Shadows
Sir Cliff Richard was born Harry Webb in 1940 and grew up in London, where he met…
Children’s singing and chanting games
Peter Opie (1918-82) and his wife Iona (1923-2017) were pioneers of research into and cataloguing of children’s…
London’s 35 Bridges
Some of London’s 35 bridges are pedestrian-only and some are for trains, but the vast majority date…
Doctor Who Day
The first episode of the science fiction TV show ‘Doctor Who’ was aired on the BBC on…
The Lifeboat
As a collection of islands set in what can be treacherous seas, it is unsurprising that Britain…
The Last Warrior Kings
The British monarch retains the ultimate power to send the country to war, but the decision is…
William Pitt the Younger
Britain’s youngest ever and second-longest-serving Prime Minister – almost 19 years – was William Pitt the Younger…
Port Talbot
Generations of the Talbot family owned an estate in Margam on the South Wales coast. In 1836…
‘Black Adder’ & ‘Blackadder’
There were four Seasons of six episodes each in the ‘Black Adder’ or ‘Blackadder’ TV comedy series. They…
Malapropisms and Spoonerisms
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) had Irish lineage and was an MP at Westminster for 32 years, lending…