Rights on becoming 17 years old
Reaching the age of 17 in the UK gives a few more legal rights on top of…
School Governors
The role of school governors has been gradually extended by successive Education Acts from 1870 onwards. As…
The Mackintosh (Mac)
A ‘mac’ is a generic name for a waterproof coat, shortened from ‘mackintosh’. In the early 19th…
The Lake District
The Lake District is in Cumbria and is a World Heritage Site. It is the second largest…
Judaism
In Christian Britain the followers of the Jewish religion, called Judaism, have historically had a mixed welcome.…
Joining the Common Market
After World War 2, Britain took a long time to recover ~ rationing, for example, lasted until…
Concorde
The concept of a supersonic aeroplane was first discussed in Britain in the late 1950s. By 2003,…
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400) was a poet, translator and writer in his spare time. This is probably why…
The Druids
The ancient Druids were priests and judges in Britain and Ireland in the centuries before Christianity was…
Johnson’s dictionary
Samuel Johnson (1709-84) grew up in Staffordshire with a bookshop on the ground floor of his home,…
Hogmanay
If you ever wondered why Scotland has an extra day for New Year’s Bank Holiday (1st and…
£.s.d.
Until UK currency changed in 1971, when the pound (£) became equivalent to 100 pence (called ‘decimalisation’),…