Notes on…
The simple pleasures of sloe gin
The gin craze of recent years has reached a scale that would have horrified Hogarth. You can now buy strawberry,…
What makes a conker champion?
Last weekend, for the 54th time, hundreds of competitors met to compete for the title of world conker champion in…
Lateral thinking: the beauty of bungalows
We keep hearing about the importance of levelling up. Architects tasked with the responsibility of building new homes, however, might…
The cult of Irn Bru
There aren’t many countries where Coca-Cola isn’t the most popular drink. Scotland is one of them. And unlike some of…
The joy of rude place names
Last week a gentle Norfolk waterway got into trouble with Facebook. The problem was its name — Cockshoot Dyke. Facebook’s…
The flaw in vaccine passports
The Egyptologist Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson interprets drawings in a tomb in Thebes as persons queuing up to have passports…
Our fascination with treehouses has deep roots
You can’t (and probably shouldn’t) design a treehouse. Treehouses should grow organically, in every sense: they must be made of…
The daring young man who gave his name to the leotard
Jules Léotard was blessed in his name. It might have been quite different had he been called, say, Jules Droupé.…
Save our eels
The migration of European eels is one of the miracles of nature. They start life in the great deeps of…
My strange submergent in a sensory deprivation tank
Hidden below St George’s Wharf in Vauxhall, down the road from a now defunct gay sauna, is Floatworks, a wellness…
Will Sizewell C see off the avocet?
There are many reasons why birds disappear — and why they return. The avocet, however, is probably the only one…
The awe-inspiring appeal of aquariums
Fish tanks were probably first conceived in the distant past by the Chinese, but in many respects, aquariums are a…
Why are bidets the butt of so many jokes?
In December 2019, and in keeping with our tradition of perverse birthday gifts, some friends gave me a bidet device.…
The curious mythology of the Gosforth Cross
In the small Cumbrian village of Gosforth, in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, there is a sandstone cross which…
The politics of eating lobster
Lobsters like to live in gullies on the sea floor, or under sand, and I understand how they feel. But…
I was a skateboarding pioneer
I was 12 when I got into skateboarding: the same age as Sky Brown, the youngest member of Team GB’s…
The mysterious world of pigeon racing
Pigeon racing isn’t much of a spectator sport. Race birds are driven to the ‘liberation point’, where they’re released to…
The problem with the Pride flag
Last month, the Pride flag was updated by the Intersex Equality Rights UK campaign group — the simple rainbow was…
Why it’s boom time for bitterns
Bitterns are booming, both literally and metaphorically. These handsome brown birds from the heron family make a noise quite unlike…
What makes a pasty Cornish?
This week, world leaders are doing what countless Brits do every summer: unpacking their bags in a charming corner of…
Do you speak Viking?
Supposedly 5 per cent of words in English are borrowed from Old Norse. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but…
Crunch time: why has Walkers changed its salt and vinegar crisps?
Henry Walker might never have got into the crisp business were it not for the fact that his Leicester butcher’s…
The grim roots of ‘refusenik’
‘Vaccine refusenik’ is the latest catchphrase used to disparage anyone unwilling — for whatever reason — to roll up their…
The strange magic of the mountain hare
The numbers of the dear old mountain hare in England are becoming perilously depleted. A researcher, Carlos Bedson, has suggested…
In defence of dandelions
Dandelions are one of the cheeriest wild flowers. They are loved by children for their ‘clock’ seed heads, are entirely…
