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.
The Life and Work of Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the most prominent of English Romantic poets. His personal life however was chaotic, his political views radical and his early death, tragic,..
Pubs And The Metropolis
Metropolitan London has around 7,000 public houses – an average of 25 pubs per square mile! Some of these iconic watering holes are associated with important events in history…
Bringing Potatoes to Britain
Britain loves potatoes! Roasted, chipped, mashed – the humble potato has been a staple of our diet for hundreds of years, yet its humble origins lie far away, in the Andes…
Lucozade, iconic drink in the yellow cellophane
Lucozade! Many baby boomers will remember this sparkling, lurid-coloured drink when the glass bottle still came wrapped in crinkly cellophane. This iconic tonic only appeared when a child was ill in bed and was bought from the chemist…
The History of the Bakewell Pudding
The Bakewell tart, with its characteristic white icing and cherry in the centre, is popular in cafes and homes all over Britain. But this is in fact not the original version as invented in Bakewell a few centuries ago.
IRN-BRU, Made In Scotland From Girders
To many Scots, the iconic and radioactive rust-coloured beverage IRN-BRU is not only a harbinger of home and comfort, but the only hangover cure that actually works!
The Whigs
From the original political parties the Tories and the Whigs, evolved two of the three main protaganists of the modern era, the Conservatives and the Liberals. But what happened to the Whigs you may ask…and who were they?
The Great Regency Fête of 1811
On 5 February 1811, George, Prince of Wales, was declared Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. One of George’s first acts as Regent was to throw a grand party…
Kitty Fisher and Joshua Reynolds
The Courtesan & The Painter: Kitty Fisher and Joshua Reynolds. An unusual bond developed between Kitty, a famous 18th century courtesan and Sir Joshua Reynolds, celebrated painter, a bond that embodied the complexities of Georgian power, sexuality and artistic inspiration.
Whatever happened to the nit nurse – A history of the School Medical Service in England from 1908
Certain memories still cause shudders in the post-Second World War generation of British schoolchildren. School dinner tapioca with a blob of jam in it. Being forced to perform gymnastics in the school hall in vest and pants. And then there was the regular visit of the medical specialist known as the Nit Nurse…