William blake: romantic visionary

I’ve wandered into an oil painting. In front of me is a millpond with a cream-coloured cottage at its edge and a froth of English greenery on its banks. The scene is unmistakable. Where my mind’s eye

The precocious poetry of Charlotte Brontë

THERE was a time – seemingly not so long ago – when influence was something held by politicians, bosses and world leaders. Now influencers are those many had never heard of, who have somehow amassed m

Andrew Doyle is an author, journalist and satirist

Edward VII swept away the cobwebs of mid-Victorian style, Queen Mary had passion for all things small and the Queen Mother bought rather avant-garde art. In a forthcoming talk, Tim Knox, director of the Royal Collection, charts a century of regal taste

Fantasy author JRR Tolkien’s mythological Middle Earth takes inspiration from a number of places in Gloucestershire and the West Midlands. Tolkien frequently visited the Forest of Dean and its tempera