November 22nd, 1718: On This Day probably the most notorious pirate, Edward Teach, known as ‘Blackbeard’, met his demise. Towards the end...

The Sun never sets When Victoria succeeded to the throne in 1837, Britain was already a global maritime trading power. From the late...

The ‘Scold’s Bridle’, sometimes known as ‘The Gossip’s Bridle’, was a punishment used officially and unofficially in England to...

The Battle of Waterloo, fought on June 18th, 1815, saw the final defeat and exile of Napoleon Bonaparte. Out of a common fear of...

Possibly the most significant year in English history, 1066, saw the end of Anglo-Saxon England and start of the reigns of first the...

One of the most curious objects in the Royal Armouries collection is the ‘horned helmet’, a bizarre headpiece commissioned in AD 1511 by...

On this day, in the early hours of October 12th, 1915, a British national, still wearing her nurses’ uniform, was led out into a yard at...

Asked to imagine or indeed to portray a pirate, most people undoubtedly will have a certain look in mind. Who’s now thinking of Johnny...

Sugar is one of the world’s oldest documented commodities, and at one time it was so valuable that people kept it safe under lock and key...

On August 17th, 2022 the Trimontium Trust (@TrimontiumTrust) reminded Twitter users that Queen Cleopatra of Egypt committed suicide on...

Did you know the city of Coventry has an official Lady Godiva? To be honest we didn’t until recently when we discovered that Pru Porretta...

Isabella Mary Beeton (née Mayson) was born on March 14th, 1836. Better known simply as Mrs Beeton, she was an English journalist, editor...

There is a tendency to attribute modern structures, ranks and roles to descriptions of the ancient Roman army (Latin: exercitus). Such...

Eliza Acton (April 17th, 1799 - February 13th, 1859) was an English poet and food writer who produced one of Britain's first cookery...

In the 1880s, while the ‘Old Money’, the aristocracy, ate their fish course using two table forks, the ‘New Money’, the nouveau riche,...

The Hunt for Witches Respected historian, author and broadcaster, Dr Lucy Worsley OBE, had a new documentary series that first aired on...

Introduction The background to the eastern mystery cult of Mithras was outlined in 'Mithras Sol Invicti: an Initiates Guide'. With the...

Average height One of the misconceptions about history is that people were shorter ‘back then’. Would it surprise you to know that the...

In our post ‘Dispelling Some Myths: Romans in the Americas’ we attempted to disprove a ‘theory’ that the ancient Romans had contact with...

In the big scheme of things today’s post is a very minor ‘gripe’. It does, however, reflect on the historical accuracy of television...