"Ludi" is a series on ancient games. First off, the grandparent of so many board-games: The Royal Game of Ur. It was a two-player strategy race game first played in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third millennium BC.

The Anglo-Saxons are said to have replaced wholesale the Romano-British inhabitants of these isles. But archaeology and scientific research are challenging the popularly accepted historical account. Continuity and change seem to be hand in hand.

On This Day, January 12th, 1976, crime writer Agatha Christie dies aged 85. In her posthumously published Autobiography, she briefly details her experiences as a Red Cross nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). Find out more about the nurse of the VADs here.

On This day, January 7th, 1536: Catherine of Aragon, first of Henry VIII’s six wives, dies in Kimbolton Castle at the age of 50.

On This Day, January 6th, in 1066 Harold Godwinson, formerly Earl of Wessex, is crowned king in Westminster Abbey. He was the second King of England that momentous year but not the last.

Cleopatra VII was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, ruling Egypt. She is celebrated for her beauty and popularised for her love affairs with Roman generals, but she was much more than the movie myth. Highly intelligent, a skilled politician and a stateswomen, Cleopatra was an indomitable African queen.

On This Day, December 31st, 1705, Catherine of Braganza, widow of Charles II whom she had married in 1662, died in Lisbon, Portugal. Most notably, from our food history perspective, Catherine is said to have brought the tea drinking habit to the Royal Court.

On This Day, December 30th, a cold Sunday morning in 1945, the cargo ship Tilapa docked in Bristol. It was carrying the first bananas to be seen in Britain for five years.

It is widely held, and oft repeated, that ancient Britons, and most especially the Picts, painted or tattooed their bodies with Woad.We all know that, because depictions of the Iron Age or Roman period on television and film nearly always show the indigenous tribespeople painted in 'mystical' blue designs. It seems, however, that the evidence for Woad inspired body art is not as rock solid as one might have hoped. Another myth to be dispelled?

On This Day, December 27th in 1675 a Royal Proclamation orders the closure of all coffee houses in London because they are seen as hotbeds of subversion. Within days public outrage forces a reversal of the decision.

On This Day, December 24th, 1914, a German seaplane carried out the first air-raid on British soil, dropping bombs on Dover.

A series exploring a Brief History of Foods, in this case Coffee.

On This Day, December 17th, 1538, Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Paul III.

On This Day, December 16th, 1485, Catharine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII, was born in Alcala de Henares, Spain.

Somehow we got talking about ghosts a couple of days ago. We both were reminded of working at Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire and how it claimed to be one of the most haunted places in the UK. We both seemed to recall that Mary, Queen of Scots was one of those said to roam the grounds, but were we remembering correctly? Not only that, but wasn't Mary executed at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire? Why would she be haunting Tutbury some 75 miles distant? We had to check.

Dispelling the Myth that the murderous "Barber of Fleet Street", Sweeney Todd, was a real person. And there's a recipe for "A Beef Steak Pye".

It is often asserted on television and online that a skilled Welsh or English longbowman could shoot about 12 arrows per minute. But what is the origin of this claim, and just how true is it?

On This Day (December 1st, 1581), having been convicted of high treason, English Jesuit priest Edmund Campion was drawn through the streets of London, hanged and then quartered at Tyburn.

On November 18th, 1910, three hundred female protesters marched to the Houses of Parliament as part of their campaign to secure voting rights for women. What happened next saw the women met with violence from the police and male bystanders. The shocking nature of the violence led to the day being christened "Black Friday".

A brief introduction on how little Romans were educated to climb the greasy pole to attain military and political glory for Rome (and themselves).