It takes the biscuit

THE British love affair with biscuits goes back a long way. There are recorded uses of the word “biscuit” in Middle English as far back as the 14th century. It’s derived from the Latin bis coctus, mea

Across centuries and cultures, clay has been baked, coloured and finished with heat-bonded coatings to create tiles – and the ancient techniques used to produce these durable, decorative claddings are being preserved by artisan studios today

Take a good dollop of Victorian innovation, add a fistful of classics, season it liberally with creative genius and you’ll cook up the very British art of literary illustration. Carla Passino charts its history and discovers that it still thrives

The sugary delights that take us straight back to our childhood days

Modern high streets are dotted with coffee chains, cafes and tea shops of all kinds, but in the late 19th century the tea shop was a groundbreaking innovation. A genteel alternative to bawdy pubs or t

Quaint relic or symbol of bad taste, garden gnomes have gone in and out of fashion. They are generally thought to have originated in Switzerland and Germany in the late 18th century. Then, in 1841, a