History
Who Was Puss In Boots?
“To Southwark Fair, very dirty, and there saw the puppet show of Whittington, which was pretty to see” – Samuel Pepys In the fourteenth century the toll required of a prostitute who wished to cross [more…]
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Arts
A Hard Bunch Of Old Folkers
This a true story, and for once I can be unusually precise as to the date: towards the end of July in 1983. I was living in North Yorkshire at the time, and me and [more…]
History
20th Century
A Kinder, Gentler Nazism?
Their neighbours in the luxury apartment block on the swanky Prinzregentenplatz in Munich knew that the couple in Flat 16 had a volatile relationship. What was less clear was the nature of that relationship. He [more…]
20th Century
The ‘Crockford’s Clerical’ Murder
On Sunday 6 December 1987, the Reverend Doctor Canon Gareth Vaughan Bennett returned home after spending a most agreeable weekend with friends in Cambridge. On the way he had given a colleague a lift home, [more…]
History
Edward, Piers And Isabella. And Hugh, Too
On the morning of 19th June 1312, as reckoned by the old style Calendar, a party of mounted men left Warwick Castle. My Lords Leicester and Warwick rode in front on nobly caparisoned destriers, with [more…]
Literature
‘I Will Haunt You’
James Irving was….Well, even at this early juncture in our story the sources are ambiguous and contradictory. Said to have been a prosperous Liverpudlian businessman, the nature of his business is variously described as a [more…]
Arts
Ramble On!
I must go out for a walk again, just my walking boots and I. And all I ask is an OS map and one of those little plastic wallets to keep it dry. As [more…]
Biography
Hashtag Henry!
It is the time of year when the wife launches her annual campaign to get me to agree to replace our old Henry the Hoover with a modern upright machine. As ever my response is [more…]