![Prizes from the 1567 English state lottery, from Humfrey Dyson’s A booke [of] proclamations , 1618. Folger Shakespeare Library. Public Domain.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_list/public/2025-01/elizabeth_i_english_national_lottery_history_today_1.png?itok=ouWnDSsb)
The First English National Lottery
In 1567, permission for the holding of ‘a very rich Lottery General’ in England was granted by an increasingly cash-strapped Elizabeth I.
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Ferozeshah and the First Anglo-Sikh War
The Sikh Empire was the last strong Indian military power standing against Britain’s East India Company.
Bart’s Hospital
St Bartholomew’s was refounded in the reign of Henry VIII. Courtney Dainton describes how, for nearly two centuries, it was one of only two major hospitals in England for the care of the general sick.
Medieval Hospitals of England
In England, medieval hospitals flourished until the beginning of the 15th century, funded by taxes, tolls, and wealthy doners.
Cyrano de Bergerac: Poet, Philosopher and Swordsman
Mildred Allen Butler offers a profile of a renowned swordsman, student of philosophy, literary critic, social satirist and story-teller; Cyrano de Bergerac expressed his views of life in his ingenious account of expeditions to the Empires of the Sun and Moon.
Cycling Eighty Years Ago
David Rubinstein describes a change in social habits when the new bicycle replaced the old Penny Farthing.
A Royal Patrimony: The Prado Museum and Spanish History
Jan Read traces how Spain's people, their royals, and their most famous museum have developed together.
How Football was Born
The origins of soccer can be found among the people, not the privileged who sought to define it in the 19th century.
The Case of the Slave Ship Zong
Though the massacre of captives aboard the British slave ship Zong scandalised society, the pace of reform was slow.
The Great Frost Fair of 1683-4
For nearly 400 years, London's citizens poured down from the streets to hold a frost fair upon the solid ice of the Thames.