Great gifts of history rated

Edward VII swept away the cobwebs of mid-Victorian style, Queen Mary had passion for all things small and the Queen Mother bought rather avant-garde art. In a forthcoming talk, Tim Knox, director of the Royal Collection, charts a century of regal taste

Obelisks, pyramids and motifs from ancient Egypt didn’t only influence grand country houses or powerful Biblical paintings, but also shaped tea-ware, cinemas and even factory floors, as Michael Hall reveals

Whether it is adding contemporary paintings to a gallery of Old Masters or branching out into territories as diverse as Modernist chairs, Iranian tiles or Churchill memorabilia, the passion for collecting seems to run in some families, as Eleanor Doughty discovers

I greatly enjoyed your interview with Alice Roberts about her new book Domination, (Books Interview, September), and its argument that the church was essentially Rome rebadged, with its structures and

This week’s dream: the Waldorf Astoria glitters again ...

I n 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That, at least, is what the famous rhyme tells us. Memorising such dates is a common experience of being taught history – a cliché superbly lampooned by the w