August 19th, 1588: On this day Queen Elizabeth I of England delivered her famous speech to her assembled land forces at Tilbury, Essex.

July 29th, 1588: On this day in 1588, the fearsome Spanish Armada is sighted off England’s southern coast.

Impressment, colloquially known as ‘the press’ or the ‘press gang’, was a means by which European navies could forcibly compel men into...

Wrecking Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered or run aground close to shore. Wrecks were...

Pictured below is a spear recovered from an outbuilding at a former family residence, at the time called “Parthia”, in Beckhampton,...

The Union Flag pictured hangs in an upper hall of a London school recently visited by Tastes Of History to deliver a “ Knight and...

Crucifixion?...Good. Out of the door. Line on the left. One cross each. Next... Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which...

After several years of wishing we could be involved a chance encounter while “pirating” in Scarborough has led to Tastes Of History’s...

Recently the BBC broadcast an episode of “Rick Stein’s Food Stories” that stated the origin of fish and chips lay with the Portuguese who...

In an earlier article we explored the origin of the French dish Chicken à la Marengo which was named, according to a popular myth, after...

For some time we, at Tastes Of History, believed the hare was a native species in Britain belonging to the genus Lepus [1]. A recent post...

February 12th, 1554: England's forgotten queen, Lady Jane Grey, is executed for treason. In most popular histories, and as taught in...

While working in one of our favourite schools, the book “ Roman Adventure ” (pictured right ) was discovered and was instantly...

In warfare, throwing weapons at your enemies has a very long history indeed. In its simplest form, rocks could be hand-thrown by early...

As the New Year slowly unfolds, we look back to the festive season and the recipe for a mince pie that rather fortuitously was published...

On This Day, December 17th, the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia began. Held in honour of the deity Saturnus, as its name implies,...

We will be ‘ Sailing the Pirate Round ’ once again and as before we will be visiting several English Heritage sites across Britain and...

The diet of a Roman soldier consisted of wheat, rations of smoked bacon or fresh meat (when available, usually pork), vegetables,...

Over the years we have periodically encountered claims that prostitutes in the Roman Iron Age and then later in the Mediæval period wore...

Chicken à la Marengo is a French dish, similar to chicken à la Provençale, that consists of a chicken sautéed in oil with garlic and...