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Category: Britain

Stories, places and people that reveal the character of modern Britain. This section explores the country’s culture, quirks, history, landscapes and shifting identity — from seaside oddities and regional traditions to contemporary arts, politics and everyday life. Expect an informed, warm and slightly ironic lens on the island that manages to be timeless, unpredictable and endlessly fascinating.

Britain

Parliamentary Whips: Why British Politics Borrowed a Word from Fox Hunting

Parliamentary Whips: Why British Politics Borrowed a Word from Fox Hunting

Parliamentary whips sound as if they belong in a dusty constitutional footnote, or perhaps in a Victorian melodrama involving wigs, corridors and someone whispering…

5 min read

Britain

British Orders of Chivalry Explained: From the Garter to the British Empire

British Orders of Chivalry Explained: From the Garter to the British Empire

There is a particular kind of quiet drama attached to British orders of chivalry. Not the loud, cinematic kind with clashing swords and banners…

6 min read

Britain

Inside the Most Noble Order of the Garter

Inside the Most Noble Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter: Britain’s Strangest Club of Velvet, Power and Excellent Hats There are many ways to tell the story…

6 min read

Britain

The Last Days of Severus in Eboracum

The Last Days of Severus in Eboracum

There is something quietly revealing about the fact that one of Rome’s most formidable emperors chose to spend his final years in Eboracum, modern-day…

6 min read

Britain

How Magna Carta Was Rewritten — And Why That Version Endured

How Magna Carta Was Rewritten — And Why That Version Endured

Everyone thinks they know the story. Angry barons, a sulking king, a meadow called Runnymede, and a document that allegedly launched liberty into the…

9 min read

Britain

Stink Pipes and Victorian Art of Managing Bad Smells

Stink Pipes and Victorian Art of Managing Bad Smells

London has many landmarks that shout for attention. The towers glow. The bridges pose. Even the buses perform in red. Meanwhile, other objects do…

6 min read

Britain

The Great Stink That Transformed London

The Great Stink That Transformed London

Summer in London can be rather lovely. Parks brimming with picnickers, the Thames glittering in the sunshine, perhaps a cold pint by the river.…

9 min read

Britain

The Dark History of Chimney Boys

The Dark History of Chimney Boys

When London burned to the ground in September 1666, nobody could have predicted the horror show that would follow. Certainly, the Great Fire was…

7 min read

Britain

How Britain Lost 11 Days Overnight

How Britain Lost 11 Days Overnight

Britain did not wake up one morning feeling slightly less alive, yet in September 1752 something quietly unsettling happened. The country went to bed…

6 min read

Britain

How Henry VII Invented the Tudor Brand

How Henry VII Invented the Tudor Brand

Henry Tudor did not arrive in England looking inevitable. Instead, he appeared cautious, slightly foreign, and inconveniently dependent on a single battle going his…

4 min read