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A Brief History of Food: Victorian Innovation
The Sun never sets When Victoria succeeded to the throne in 1837, Britain was already a global maritime trading power. From the late...

Tastes Of History
Nov 21, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Nov 7, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Nov 1, 2022


A Brief History of Food: The Mediæval Kitchen
Possibly the most significant year in English history, 1066, saw the end of Anglo-Saxon England and start of the reigns of first the...

Tastes Of History
Oct 31, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Oct 17, 2022


On This Day: Edith Cavell executed
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...

Tastes Of History
Oct 12, 2022


Dispelling Some Myths: about Pirates
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...

Tastes Of History
Sep 19, 2022


A Brief History of Food: Sugar
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...

Tastes Of History
Sep 15, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Sep 13, 2022


Dispelling Some Myths: Lady Godiva’s naked ride
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...

Tastes Of History
Aug 22, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Aug 15, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Aug 8, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Jul 29, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Jul 25, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
Jul 18, 2022


Mithras versus Christ: a Centuries Old Dispute?
Introduction The background to the eastern mystery cult of Mithras was outlined in 'Mithras Sol Invicti: an Initiates Guide'. With the...

Tastes Of History
Jul 18, 2022


Dispelling Some Myths: A Short life
Average height One of the misconceptions about history is that people were shorter ‘back then’. Would it surprise you to know that the...

Tastes Of History
Jul 5, 2022


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

Tastes Of History
May 24, 2022


Dispelling Some Myths: ‘Over and Out’
In the big scheme of things today’s post is a very minor ‘gripe’. It does, however, reflect on the historical accuracy of television...

Tastes Of History
May 18, 2022


Recording History
History is not only the study of past events, particularly in human affairs, but it is most uniquely, also a continuous, typically...

Tastes Of History
May 16, 2022
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