Orgies…your first thought is so wrong. Now find out why.

Dispelling the myth of the two-finger salute or V-sign originated in the Medieval period.

In the September edition of BBC History magazine Anatoly Liberman, professor at the University of Minnesota and author of An Analytic...

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...

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

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...

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

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

Yet another urban myth re-appeared on social media the other day, one which regularly does the rounds and has done so for many years...

The legend Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw [1] originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featuring in popular...

What follows was inspired by the tweet on May 25th, 2022 by @HistoryFilmClub shown right. Like many who responded naming just one...

The Known Knowns Since at least the 16th century, Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, has retained a compelling hold on the British imagination...

A recent tweet described Tintagel Castle on the North coast of Cornwall as a ‘medieval fortification’, built in the 13th century, and...

It is highly unlikely that Mediæval divorce was ever settled by combat. Yet a handful of sources do mention judicial duels fought between...

Birds have long been revered, feared and assumed to be capable of predicting weather, marriage partners, disaster and death. In ancient...

Introduction What follows was inspired by a @HistoryFilmClub tweet shown right. Like many who responded, naming just one historical...

It seems nobody knows for certain why the King’s Body Guard of the Yeoman of the Guard are called ‘Beefeaters’. Over the years various...

One of our favourite sources of entertainment and ideas for this Blog are derived from the BBC’s ‘Bargain Hunt’ television series. As...

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