Culture Category
Bubble and squeak
In the early 19th century there was a very popular cookbook called ‘A New System of Domestic…
The Proms
The BBC Proms is a music festival which takes place every year from mid-July to early September,…
The Turner prize
Every year since 1984, four different artists (who are either British-born or working mainly in Britain) are…
The CILIP Carnegie medal
“Words are mastered by meeting them, not by avoiding them.” This was Geraldine McCaughrean’s advice to publishers…
Samuel Pepys’s diary
Samuel Pepys began writing his famous diary every day from lst January 1660 until nine years later,…
Emily Brontë
Born two centuries ago in 1818, Emily Brontë was part of an amazing family in Yorkshire which…
Betting & gambling
Betting and gambling are legal activities in the UK. Betting shops, bingo halls, casinos, the National Lottery…
Gertrude Jekyll
Miss Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was born in London and studied art in her youth. She went on…
Sir V.S. Naipaul
The writer Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad (“V.S.”) Naipaul died in August 2018, just short of his 86th birthday.…
Mary Quant and ’60s fashion
Fashion designer Mary Quant was part of the ‘swinging sixties’ cultural shake-up in the UK. She pioneered…
National Eisteddfod of Wales
Cardiff was the venue for the 2018 National Eisteddfod of Wales. This is a festival of music,…
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Thanks to The British Library sound archive, we can hear Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) speaking about…