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.
Elizabeth Fry
The “Angel of Prisons”. A Quaker minister, social reformer and mother of 11 children, Elizabeth Fry is perhaps best known for her work on behalf of the women and children in Newgate Prison in London…
Blue Stockings Society
“Blue stocking” is a term for an educated, intellectual girl or woman but is often used in a derogatory way. Where did this term come from?
Robert Watson-Watt
Sir Robert Watson-Watt developed a series of radar installations and technologies that would prove highly influential in the success of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain and the Second World War….
The Anonymous Peter Puget
In a small graveyard in a tiny English village lies the tomb of Rear-Admiral Peter Puget. Virtually unknown in his homeland, this fine sailor rose from midshipman to Rear Admiral and gave his name to Puget Sound, Seattle in the USA…
Rise and Fall of the English Stately Home
The TV series and films about Downton Abbey have inspired us with visions of how life used to be in a grand country house in its heyday: the family, the staff and of course, the star of the show, the fabulous building itself…
Pioneers of Women’s Football
The triumph of the ‘Lionesses’ at the European Championship in July 2022 was celebrated throughout the country and seen as a watershed moment, specifically for women’s football, women’s sport and, in general, for equal rights. As Chloe Kelly raced around the Wembley pitch, pulling off her top in a wild celebration after grabbing the winning goal against Germany she might have shouted: “Three cheers for Nettie J Honeyball!”
Gun Law
In the hot summer of 1901 the country mourned the death of Queen Victoria. However once the period of mourning was over, with the hot weather a new craze was born: cycling. Thousands of cyclists eager to escape the city spilled out into the countryside, taking with them the latest fashionable accessory, a product known as ‘The Cyclist’s Friend’; a scaled-down handgun…
Hysterical Victorian Women
Mad women have been a subject of scientific curiosity for centuries. But the legitimacy of the diagnoses Victorian women, in particular, received from the most celebrated psychiatric minds of the time is certainly questionable by today’s standards. What were these women being admitted for? There were several diseases native to the period that were attributed to both sexes, but the most significant that pertained only to females was hysteria. Were these women truly insane? Or were they simply the undesirables of society where incarceration was a convenient option?
The Mods
Mods and Rockers are synonymous with the 1960s gang culture. Whilst the Rockers wore leather jackets and jeans, the Mods wore Fred Perry and Ben Sherman shirts, with a Parka coat over. They rode European scooters like Lambrettas and Vespas and listened to a mix of Motown, Northern Soul and bands such as The Who…
