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.
Thomas Cook
2021 marks the 180th anniversary of Thomas Cook’s first step towards building the package holiday phenomenon. Through Thomas Cook’s belief in temperance and education he grew a travel company so all classes could enjoy the luxury of a holiday…
Chimney Sweeps and Climbing Boys
Being a chimney sweep, or climbing boy as they were often called, was a harsh and dangerous profession. Those employed were often orphans or from impoverished backgrounds, sold into the job by their parents…
Hot Air Balloons in Britain – A History
Hot air balloon building in Britain has an intriguing history. Military experiments at Aldershot, Hampshire led the War Office to create a dedicated Balloon Section in 1890…
The Fortingall Yew
The Fortingall Yew stands in the grounds of an ancient church in the tiny village of Fortingall, Perthshire, Scotland. It is arguably the oldest living tree in Europe…
The Lindisfarne Gospels
The most spectacular surviving manuscript from Anglo-Saxon England, the Lindisfarne Gospels were produced on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne off the Northumberland coast around 700 AD…
St Alban, Christian Martyr
Believed to have been Romano-British, Alban was England’s first Christian martyr, dying for his faith…
21st Birthday Key Of The Door
‘I’ve got the key of the door, never been 21 before!’ So goes the old song, but why is – or was – a person’s 21st birthday so special?
Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs
William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs was a physicist, mathematician and scientist whose achievements, discoveries and inventions have left their mark on the world to this very day…
A Girls’ Grammar School in the 1950s and 1960s
What was life like for girls at a grammar school in the 1950s and 1960s? How did their education prepare them for adult life? Unthinkable today, but pupils were also trained to become the wives of the middle classes… In Domestic Science girls were taught how to iron a man’s shirt (collar and cuffs first, girls!)…
