‘i’ve solved the mystery behind our family schism’

My maiden name was Shenton, and for as long as I can remember I’ve had a fascination for names. I grew up in the Hanley area of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in a community that was deeply rooted in

Whenever we start our family history research we can be quite excited at the speed of our initial discoveries, as they come at us thick and fast. Across time, as we push further back, challenges incre

Readers of Fortean Times will know that I have written regularly about real-life experiences of road ghosts, phantom hitchhikers and other apparitions. However, I also come across people who have had

Dear Simon, I was particularly interested in Sylvia Lee’s item on Cope’s Pools in Yesterday Remembered (Pools Party, December). I worked at the company’s offices in Edmonton, north London in 1966-67.

WOULD you look at the man!” Maggie said. She wasn’t much to look at herself, being as black as sin from the coal dust. She’d just finished a shift at the colliery screens, picking lumps of coal out of

On a leisurely weekend break, the last thing I expected to be wearing was a hard hat with a headlamp, a battery pack and a pair of wellingtons. But there I was, fully togged up – along with seven othe