17th-century ancestors

Alfred and Bede. These are the two figures who tower over the first half-millennium of the history of Anglo-Saxon England. There’s a reason for that, of course: they wrote this history. The Venerable

How a Castilian knight fought Christians and Muslims alike to become a national icon

I use a lot of images in my blogs, published articles and presentations. Some are photos of people. Many are diagrams, graphs or copies of documents from parish registers, books and articles or websit

One day late in 1939, a small article appeared in our daily newspaper. It was submitted by the government and was an appeal for British women to knit socks for men in the army, which was unable to obt

What would the warm summer months be without a glorious array of music-making? Thankfully we don’t have to find out – all over the world in 2025, festivals large and small have pulled out the stops to