Silverware, with its glistering surface and ornate designs, dresses the table like no other material and has an unmatched capacity for turning a meal into an occasion, as Matthew Dennison discovers

LEISURE

There are many occupations described in historical documents or censuses that almost no one is gainfully employed doing any more.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.

→ When the Tudor poet Thomas Tusser wrote of “Turkey wel drest” as part of a Christmas feast in 1573, he was in fact taking part in a trend new to these shores. Turkeys, those red-necked birds who gob

AT the most basic level, they give us a rundown of what we might fancy eating at our favourite restaurant, café or takeaway. But there’s so much more to menus than merely a list of dishes and ingredie

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