Mothering Sunday
The celebration of Mothering Sunday was firstly Christianised, then Americanised and finally commercialised into its present form.…
Bowls
The sport of bowls is centuries old, as evidenced by the well-known story of Sir Francis Drake…
Keeping a stiff upper lip
The ability to keep a stiff upper lip is particularly attributed to the British. If one’s upper…
The Prince of Wales Bridge and the Severn Bridge
The River Severn is Britain’s longest river and one of the most turbulent, with a tidal range…
Prime Minister’s Questions
Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) began as a concession to elderly Prime Ministers. In 1881, when PM Gladstone…
Paganism
‘Pagan’ has in the past been used as a derogatory label for an uneducated, unrefined peasant, but…
Pink Floyd
Active from 1965 to 1995, Pink Floyd set the standard for pyrotechnics at rock concerts and were…
The first king of Scotland
Up to the early ninth century, the Scots and the Picts had not yet unified to form…
Political parties
Newspapers and TV focus heavily on just two political parties ~ Conservative and Labour ~ but there…
The Maunder Minimum
Annie Russell Maunder (1868-1947) and her husband Edward Walter Maunder (1851-1928) were the first scientists to analyse…
Mad dogs and Englishmen
Sir Noel Coward (1899-1973) was a prolific playwright, composer and actor, whose wit shines through all his…
Caxton’s printing press
Kent-born William Caxton (c.1422-91) was the first to bring the printing press to Britain and to publish…