David Long’s new book A History of London in 100 Places tells the capital’s incredible history through 100 buildings, details and places, from Roman barges to Boris Bike stations. In the last of three exclusive extracts for The Dabbler, David visits the Great Mosque on Brick Lane... The United States of ... Read More...
History
Barendina Smedley stumbles across a less reported view of a momentous year... A few days ago, a battered copy of the Studio Year Book turned up here. The date on the much-sellotaped cover was 1939. To move beyond that cover is to embark upon what feels like an act of low-cost, high-speed, ... Read More...
David Long’s new book A History of London in 100 Places tells the capital’s incredible history through 100 buildings, details and places, from Roman barges to Boris Bike stations. In the second of three exclusive extracts for The Dabbler, David peers into a medieval plague pit... London’s mass graves and plague ... Read More...
David Long’s new book A History of London in 100 Places tells the capital’s incredible history through 100 buildings, details and places, from Roman barges to Boris Bike stations. In the first of three exclusive extracts for The Dabbler, David looks at William the Conqueror’s White Tower... This is still by ... Read More...
From the madness of the Great War came great music, says Mahlerman... ….the old lie: dulce et decorum est pro patria mori Wilfred Owen, 1917-18 Well, the sentiments expressed by Owen ('it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country') are not almost one hundred years old, but were coined in an Ode by ... Read More...
It's cuckoos, buck deer farts and alternative St George's day festivities this month, as Professor Nick Groom looks at the English April... What does a cuckoo sound like? Silly question: ‘cuck-oo!’ So imagine my surprise when a university lecturer confessed to me that she didn’t know and couldn’t recognize this seasonal ... Read More...
They don't make 'em like Robert Baden-Powell any more. In this week's cupboard is the scout founder, hero of Mafeking and embodiment of British Pluck... Rummaging on my bookshelves the other day I was delighted to find my somewhat battered copy of The Penguin Ronald Searle. It's a first edition from ... Read More...
Why did port and sherry conquer the world while equally good French equivalents remain local obscurities? Because the British Empire globalised booze, argues Henry in his forthcoming book... Perhaps my favourite part of France is the Roussillon, the area closest physically and culturally to Spain. My wife calls it Sprance. I ... Read More...
Ever wondered why the date of Easter is so unpredictable? Professor Nick Groom explains the bewildering mathematical equations required to calculate Easter, and why our day-to-day lives are still to some degree governed by theological arcana... Saturday just past was Egg-Feast Saturday – the time for eating up eggs. The Sunday following ... Read More...
The above photo shows Lord Uxbridge recovering from the shock of losing his leg - a leg which later went on to become a celebrity in its own right. And so begins another strange Wikipedia article... Lord Uxbridge's leg was shattered by a cannon shot at the Battle of Waterloo and ... Read More...
