British history
Since when did the English love to queue?
Far from being an ancient trait, the ‘irksome novelty’ dates from 1939, according to Graham Robb – whose idiosyncratic history of Britain corrects many erroneous beliefs
The rewards of being the ‘asylum capital of the world’
Matthew Lockwood traces Britain’s long history as a haven for refugees and argues that the nation has benefitted greatly over the centuries as a result
Distrust and resentment have plagued Anglo-Russian relations for centuries
On a visit to England in 1556, Ivan the Terrible’s envoy alienated Londoners with his extreme suspicions – and lurid insults have been exchanged ever since
We must never lose the treasured Orkneys
Fertile fields and spectacular sea stacks are matched by an extraordinarily rich, dramatic history. No wonder the islands have been so celebrated for centuries
Island queendom
Alice Albinia reminds us that Orkney was a trading station long before London, Iona the epicentre of Celtic Christianity and Shetland a haven for liberal Udal law
The cars that ate Birmingham
During my gap year in 1981, I worked on the 24th floor of Birmingham’s Alpha Tower for the Regional Manpower…
The French scapegoat
On 15 June 1645, as Thomas Fairfax’s soldiers picked over the scattered debris on the Naseby battlefield, they made a…
Between history and fable
Once, when we shared the same history teacher in our teens, my older brother Dominic handed in an essay about…
Witchy women
I would guess that contemporary pagans have a love-hate relationship with Ronald Hutton. With books such as The Triumph of…
Brother against brother
‘The Wars of the Three Kingdoms’ is the best description of the devastating conflict that erupted in England, Ireland and…
A nation in limbo
When the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy, in the person of that ‘lovely black boy’ Charles II, was announced in…
The best of the Stuarts
Many girls dream about their favourite princesses. Elizabeth Stuart, a princess herself, took this fantasy a step further and modelled…
Fears of popery
Stuart England did not do its anti-Catholicism by halves. In the late 1670s and early 1680s, a popular feature of…
A passionate patriot
Americans regard George III as a power-crazed petty tyrant – but he was the very opposite, says Kate Maltby
A delicate bargain
This very readable account of relations between the British intelligence services and the Crown does more than it says on…
What it is to be English
Referring to the precarious future of the Union of England and Scotland, the authors of Englishness: The Political Force Transforming…
Not all British memsahibs were racist snobs
Despite efforts to prevent them, British women formed a part of the Indian empire almost from the start. Although the…
The stubborn old Hanoverians saw new Gunpowder Plots everywhere
Once won, rights and freedoms are taken for granted. We all find it difficult to imagine life before the Married…
Bryant’s tyrants: Chris Bryant bashes the British aristocracy
I rashly discarded this book’s dustjacket when I received it, and thus saw only the unlettered cover, a faded photograph…
How many times have I told you?
As a sign of the way things have changed, nothing could better this. Hester Vaizey, Cambridge history don and ‘publishing…
Anne Boleyn’s last secret
Why was the queen executed with a sword, rather than an axe?
