Bless the beasts

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

The Bohemian King Wenceslas really was good, but his reward for gracious piety was not, discovers Ian Morton

Let’s start with the numbers. There are about 13.5 million tame wolves (we call them pet dogs), 12.5 million cats, one million rabbits, 700,000 tortoises and turtles, 700,000 guinea pigs, 600,000 hams

With Hallowe’en out of the way, Christmas is the next big ghostly occasion in the UK traditional calendar. But what, one may wonder, of the rest of Europe? Ghost hunter Peter Underwood called Europe “

Animal Friends Insurance has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to animal welfare, placing it at the core of its operations. Since its founding in 1998, the organisation has donated over £9 millio

“Christmas is the busiest – and most exciting – time of the year in Cats Protection shops,” reveals Adele Allen, shop manager at the Cats Protection shop in Stone, Staffordshire. “There’s an incredibl