Playwright Ben Jonson Duels to the Death
On 22 September 1598, Elizabethan actor Gabriel Spencer settled his creative differences with playwright Ben Jonson with a duel.
England
How Henry II Survived the Great Rebellion
In 1173 the Angevin empire looked set to fall, facing rebellion on all sides. Against incredible odds Henry II won a decisive victory, silencing kings, lords – and his own children.
John Goffe Rand Invents Paint Tubes
On 11 September 1841, John Goffe Rand patented the ‘metal rolls for paint’, sparking a revolution in oil painting.
The Case of the Poison Pen Letters
Anonymity can be a powerful shield. Tracing the culprit when it came to libellous letter-writing in the early 1900s was not straightforward
Jane Eyre Goes to the Theatre
When it arrived on the Victorian stage, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre had a cast of new characters and a new social order.
George McMahon: Fascist Assassin or British Spy?
Mystery surrounds George McMahon who, having tried to assassinate Edward VIII, outed himself as an agent of a ‘foreign power’. Does the discovery of new Italian documents solve the puzzle or obscure it further?
Shots Fired: Marjorie Foster and Women at War
After winning the biggest shooting prize in the Empire, Marjorie Foster joined the new pantheon of women making sporting headlines. On the eve of the Second World War, she had a new target in her sights: the War Office.
Old English Names: Cæd, Bæd and Dangerous to Know
What happened in Britain after the Romans left? The names of those who remained – and those who arrived – may hold an answer.
Long Live the Ancien Régime!
The coronation of Charles III was dense with meaning. It’s complicated; and easy to misunderstand.
The First Map of the Moon
At 9pm on 26 July 1609, Thomas Harriot pointed his telescope at a five-day-old crescent moon. It made him the first person to train such an instrument on the skies and map the moon.