Pictish society
The Romans classified some fifteen tribes in the north and loosely identified the territories they occupied. They also observed that...
09/09/2012
CULTURAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY
Civilising the cannibals
Western visitors to Fiji in 19th century liked to watch what they ate. Traveller John Erskine, for instance, was suspicious...
12/08/2012
William Herschel’s new planet
After a drink-fuelled night discussing Homer, the medical student John Keats wrote his famous lines comparing his own wonderment with...
08/08/2012
How child labour changed the world
Britain’s industrial revolution – the first in the world – would never had happened without child labour. That’s the startling...
08/08/2012
Fur trade in Middle Ages
Russia was the central source of furs, which were traded to western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and Asia. While they...
20/07/2012
Swearing, cursing and the English law
Statutes passed between the reigns of James I (1603 – 1625) and George III (1760 – 1820) criminalised swearing. These...
23/06/2012
The regalia of United Kingdom
The institution of an hereditary coronation regalia, serving as symbols of kingship, is attributed to the eleventh-century abbots of Westminster....
19/06/2012
A short history of Father’s Day
Father’s Day is coming up, so we look into the history of Father’s Day. Sadly, retailers and marketers, in an...
15/06/2012
The Indians of American Northwest Coast
The Northwest coast offers a mild climate with a wide array of food resources. Several distinctive cultures developed on the...
03/06/2012
Victorian ladies and gentlemen: The art of etiquette
It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is...
26/05/2012