What do our beloved hostelries have to do with the discovery of DNA, the D-Day landings and The Lord of the Rings ? Everything, as Ashleigh Arnott discovers

My fresher’s year at Edinburgh University offered a few rude awakenings. The first: learning the university had run out of self-catered accommodation. The next was that the uni’s solution was to have

There’s plenty to criticise about that ancient approach We wouldn’t recognise the system practised in ancient Athens as democracy in the sense we understand it today. Women did not have the vote, and

Shakespeare’s works are peppered with countless food references: pies, cakes, capons and a great deal of sherry, for starters. Some are set-dressing details, but many were allusions that would have be

Fyodor Uspensky History of the Byzantine Empire Translated and edited by Dean Marais Five volumes; 1,852pp. Based. Paperback, £92.05. James Howard-Johnston Byzantium Economy, society, institutions 600

It’s the pub-quiz question that no one would ever get right. Which medieval nation permitted no-blame divorce, provided a form of consumer protection, and offered illegitimate children the same inheri