The West End
Going to the West End, or “going up West”, usually means visiting one of the many entertainment…
Discover British history, culture, geography, achievements and more in snippet size
Linford Christie
Britain’s most successful sprint athlete is Linford Christie, OBE (1960-). Born in Jamaica but growing up in London,…
Department for Transport
The overseer of the UK’s transport network is the government’s Department for Transport (DfT), with Transport Scotland having…
Divorce
Although wedding vows are taken with all good intentions, relationships can deteriorate, leading to decisions to divorce.…
Pocket Calculators and Home Computing
Sir Clive Sinclair (1940=2021), from Middlesex, may not have been a good businessman, but he opened the…
King James VI & I, the first Stuart
The first monarch to, in effect, rule over the British Isles was King James VI & I…
Lough Neagh
The largest freshwater lake in the UK, indeed the British Isles, is Lough Neagh (“lokh nay”) in…
Dame Shirley Bassey
Dubbed the ‘Tigress of Tiger Bay’, Dame Shirley Bassey (1937-) was born in a poor, cosmopolitan part of…
Arthur Ransome
‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1930) was a groundbreaking children’s novel written by an extraordinary Yorkshireman, Arthur Ransome (1884-1967).…
Paraffin Oil
The birth of the oil industry took place in Bathgate, 25 miles east of Glasgow, under the…
Cool Britannia
In the 1990s, British creative arts struck a seam of success that coalesced around the idea of…
Children’s Book Weeks
There are two Children’s Book Weeks ~ one in May, the other in November ~ which are among…