Like any liar, the press is filled with contradictions. Seldom holding itself accountable for what it says, it can blithely produce information and opinions that conflict with previously held ones, ...

King Richard III has long been a puzzle that history is desperate to solve. His reign only lasted twenty-two months, yet the controversy surrounding Richard III has raged for more than five centuries.

The discovery of King Richard III’s remains has had a strange effect on the world of historical research. Because mtDNA results identified the remains found in Leicester as King Richard III, suddenly ...

L ady Hester Stanhope, granddaughter of William Pitt the elder, eldest daughter of Charles Stanhope, the 3 rd Earl Stanhope and niece of William Pitt the younger, was born into money and would become ...

Over the last few decades the word “racist” has become almost synonymous with Enid Blyton’s name. Accusations of sexism and classism have also persisted, along with the BBC’s recent desperate campaign ...

Elizabeth of York was the product of a love match. Her parents King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville had a long and happy marriage and Princess Elizabeth would be raised in a loving environment with ...

Shylock has been residing in a corner of my mind for about four years now, ever since I first studied The Merchant of Venice. I’d like to say ‘quietly’, but he’s not always quiet. I think about him ...

…that with my soul I love thy daughter and do intend to make her Queen of England. That Richard III intended to marry his brother’s daughter, Elizabeth of York, is a rumour that we can date back to ...

The release of The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey last December renewed speculation about whether or not director Peter Jackson was going to take on the project of filming The Silmarillion. It seems ...

var·let /ˈvärlət/ 1. A man or boy acting as a menial servant 2. A knight’s page 3. A rascal, rogue, vagrant or scallywag. An unprincipled person. Middle English, from Old French, variant of valet or ...

In 2004, following the request of colleagues in Belgium, I discovered the mtDNA sequence of King Richard III and his siblings. 1 Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only in the all-female line. In that ...

The Gyptians of Philip Pullman’s ‘Brytain’ and the wider world were introduced in the first episode of His Dark Materials by way of a newly-seen coming-of-age ceremony. The community came together to ...