Hot cockles, handball and hide-and-seek

Held in high esteem and lavished with furs, velvet and precious stones, young male choristers-turned-bishops were all the rage at Christmas in the Middle Ages, says Matthew Dennison

Today’s queues may be digital, but the fight to secure that must-have present and avoid small, disappointed faces is timeless. Tom Howells looks at the toys topping recent (and less recent) Christmas wish lists

There are many occupations described in historical documents or censuses that almost no one is gainfully employed doing any more. People my age may remember certain jobs that have gone by the wayside.

Last Christmas, Kieran O’Brien MRCVS opened up the world of the urban horse in Victorian times. Here he describes the care of their rural counterparts

The Ear of the Beholder Huon Mallalieu (Thomas ...

There is something pleasant in the thought that joviality will reign to-morrow in such grim homes as London workhouses,” a reporter for the West Londoner wrote on Christmas Eve 1870. “There will be an