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LATEST ARTICLES ( 383 )

• Alan Turing 1912-1954

  

  Alan Mathison Turing, Elliot and Fry, 1951. Photo: National Portrait Gallery, London.On this day in 1912, my hero Alan Turing, without whom many of us wouldn’t... Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Fear of Forty

  

  Z for Zillah, Edward Gorey. I have this in my kitchen.I had something of a miserable childhood and adolescence for all sorts of reasons too tiresome to enumerat... Read more

  Posted on 20 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• The SS Great Britain After Dark

  

  As the more observant among you may have noticed, I mostly seem to feature museums and historical events in the London area. We do have the occasional... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Sherlock Holmes, October 2014

  

  Exciting news for all fans of Sherlock Holmes and come on, let’s face it, who ISN’T a fan?! Oh, shush, you at the back. Anyway, the much anticipated Museum of... Read more

  Posted on 18 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• The Tower of London

  

  Oh dear, this post is REALLY late but I do hope that you’ll all forgive me as I’ve been working so hard on my next book that my blogging activities have... Read more

  Posted on 18 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Sisters of Treason – Elizabeth Fremantle

  

  As long time readers of this here blog will no doubt remember, I was a huge fan of Elizabeth Fremantle’s debut novel, Queen’s Gambit, which gave the reader a... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Minette’s Birthday

  

  Detail from a portrait of Henrietta Anne Stuart, Duchesse d’Orléans, French school, c1665. Photo: Royal Collection.“My poor little mother was on the run from... Read more

  Posted on 16 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• London Road

  

  documents the events of 2006, when the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. Read more

  Posted on 12 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• The Libertine

  

  John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, Huysmans, Private Collection. Photo: my own.Today marks the 384th birthday of one of my most favourite British kings, Charle... Read more

  Posted on 29 May 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• The Fortune Hunter – Book Review

  

  The Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Winterhalter, 1865. Photo: Hofburg Palace, Vienna.Like a lot of people, I have a sneaking fascination with the Empress... Read more

  Posted on 16 May 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Hampton Court Palace Sleepover – The Midnight Flit

  

  Oh my dears, my DEARS. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it and I’m sorry for that, I really am. I wish I had a really good excuse for staying away for so long,... Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2014 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Wedding Dresses 1775-2014 Exhibition at the V&A

  

  ‘This exhibition will trace the development of the fashionable white wedding dress and its treatment by key fashion designers such as Charles Frederick Worth,... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Fashion Rules at Kensington Palace

  

  Evening gown, probably Norman Hartnell, early 1950s. Lent by kind permission of HM the Queen. Photos: Melanie Clegg.Although there’s a distinctly Georgian... Read more

  Posted on 21 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• The Glorious Georges at Kensington Palace

  

  ‘In 1727, King George II succeeded to the British throne: a German born, military man with a penchant for punctuality and a glamorous succession of mistresses. Read more

  Posted on 20 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• The Glorious Georges at Hampton Court Palace

  

  ‘In 1714, King George I arrived in London: an obscure German prince who spoke little English, spectacularly elevated to the British throne. Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Lucile Desmoulins – a Revolutionary Romance

  

  Lucile Desmoulins, Boilly, c1791. Photo: Musée Carnavalet/Melanie Clegg.Anne Lucile Philippa Laridon-Duplessis was born in Paris in 1771 to a rich financier... Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Hortense De Beauharnais

  

  La reine Hortense sous une tonnelle à Aix-les-Bains, Duclaux, 1813. Photo:Napoleonmuseum, Thurgau, Switzerland.I’ve always had THE most immense soft spot for... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760

  

  A Musical Tea Party, Laroon, 1740. Photo: Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.In 1714 George I ascended the throne as the first... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses

  

  On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down twenty-three steps into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg. The eldest was twenty-two, the youngest only... Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Packing for a Georgian Sleepover…

  

  Frederick, Prince of Wales and his sisters at Kew Palace, Mercier, 1733. Photo: National Portrait Gallery.There’s just under a month to go until the next Hampto... Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE, HISTORY