In the early 1940s, the Royal Mint replaced the familiar image of a portcullis on the threepenny coin with a thrift plant. This was part of the government’s campaign reminding the public of the need f

Ross Pearson takes a look back at tools from times past and ponders their role in a more reliable gardening future

Samurai rose to be global emblems of honour and courage, but their story doesn’t always match the myths they told about themselves, as a British Museum exhibition shows

Discover wildly different courting customs and the origin of international wedding traditions

It’s out with winter blues and in with the blossoming prunus, unless it happens to be English pottery. Lucien de Guise finds out what Coalport brought to the tableware

Dan Sperrin State of Ridicule A history of satire in English literature 816pp. Princeton University Press. £38 (US $45). In State of Ridicule: A history of satire in English literature, Dan Sperrin ha