In a 2002 poll by the BBC, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was voted the second greatest Briton of all time, after Winston Churchill.

The Clyde made Glasgow, and Glasgow made the Clyde.’ – anon. This is particularly true of its shipyards which lined the river ...

One of the most famous Kings of England, perhaps one that epitomises the Tudor period the most, was Henry VIII. His reign was dominated by the Reformation which shared the spotlight with his ...

Who are the British? Do they really drink tea, eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and never leave home without an umbrella? Find out more about true Brits; past and present, myth and legend, fact ...

We take single-sex public toilets for granted today. It is hard to believe that when public conveniences were first constructed, the vast majority of these toilets were just for men. Great Exhibition ...

There have always been fashion ‘tribes’, from fops and beaux, bucks and dandies to Goths and punks, but the ‘macaronis’ of the 1760s and 1770s exceeded them all in their dedication to excess and ...

The British Empire is remembered for its extensive, long-lasting and far-reaching imperial activities that ushered in an era of globalisation and connectivity. The British Empire began in its ...

The Victorian Workhouse was an institution that was intended to provide work and shelter for poverty stricken people who had no means to support themselves. With the advent of the Poor Law system, ...

During his reign as King of England, as well as Denmark and Norway, Cnut had succeeded in the mission which his father had endeavoured to achieve, to rule over a vast North Sea Empire, united by his ...

On 29th May 1660, on his 30th birthday, Charles II arrived in London to a rapturous welcome. This was a defining moment not only for Charles personally but for a nation that wanted to see a restored ...

The Huguenots were French Protestants from the sixteenth and seventeenth century who fled from the French Catholic government fearing persecution and violence. As they fled, a diaspora of Huguenots ...

On 18th June 1815, in what was arguably one of the most significant and memorable battles of its era, the Battle of Waterloo brought an end to Napoleon’s power-hungry ambitions for Europe, severing ...