Culture UK
Who are the British? Do they really drink tea, eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and never leave home without an umbrella? Find out more about true Brits; past and present, myth and legend, fact and fiction.
Mummers’ Plays
At Christmastime, you may be lucky enough to come across some people dressed very oddly, behaving very strangely and performing some sort of peculiar play. These are mummers, recreating a centuries old tradition…
The History of the British Christmas Dinner
Turkey, stuffing, roast and mashed potatoes, pigs in blankets, Brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, cranberry sauce and lashings of gravy – these are the ingredients of a traditional British Christmas Dinner. All consumed, of course, whilst wearing a paper crown…
The Lord of Misrule
“Eat, drink and be merry!” With roots in the Roman festival of Saturnalia, the Lord of Misrule was a festive, roll-reversal figure, a ‘mock king’ appointed to preside over revelry and disorder, most famously during Christmas or Twelfth Night festivities in medieval and Tudor England.
The History of Christmas Day and the Royal Family
The first recorded date of Christmas in England was in the year 597 when Augustine baptised 10,000 Saxons in Kent on Christmas Day. Since then, through the centuries Christmas has been a time for feasting and merriment (except for a rather dour period under Cromwell).
The Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree
What could possibly connect Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, an exiled King, and the unquestionable bravery of Norwegian Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) crews and commandos during World War II? The answer? A tree.
The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the utlimate Georgian / Victorian gap year experience. Expensive and glamourous, this was a rite of passage for rich aristocratic young men (and later, women) who travelled Europe, broadening their minds with culture, art, music and architecture.
The Working Horses of London
Wander the crowded, busy streets of London and surprisingly, you’re never far away from a horse, whether it’s Boudica in her chariot on the Embankment or the Household Cavalry at the State Opening of Parliament…
Robert Catesby
The mastermind behind the infamous Gunpowder Plot was not Guy Fawkes, but Robert Catesby. Guy Fawkes was just the fall guy (pun intended)…
William Blake’s Jerusalem
An unofficial anthem for England, ‘Jerusalem’ is considered to be a patriotic expression of Englishness, a permanent fixture at the Last Night of the Proms and adopted by such diverse groups as the W.I., the Labour party and England rugby fans. But what do William Blake’s words really mean?
The most bizarre laws in British history
Britain has a long and often eccentric legal history, filled with laws that range from the oddly specific to the downright peculiar. While many of these strange statutes were repealed years ago, a surprising number remain in force ‘technically’ today.