Place names are signposts to the past. and how revealing they are

One day late in 1939, a small article appeared in our daily newspaper. It was submitted by the government and was an appeal for British women to knit socks for men in the army, which was unable to obt

The shared struggles of Hieronymous Bosch, Max Beckmann and William Kentridge

Well, not quite – but it’s true that about 80 per cent of our ocean floor remains unexplored and uncharted. Discovering what our ocean depths look like and what life might be found there is just as ch

“I used to watch a lot of telly as a kid,” says Jarvis Cocker, relaxing on a sofa in the meeting room at Rough Trade Records HQ in Notting Hill. “It would give me a representation of the world that wa

How an upstart noble family emerged from the Wars of the Roses to rule England

Surname studies are not always the whole, or the easiest, answer to researching families. Most of us love to research the name we currently go by or were born with. But does that give us the complete