On September 18th, 1634, the Reverend John Lothropp arrived at Plymouth in New England, with some 200 religious dissidents aboard The Griffin, a ship that had sailed from England. The passengers included several families who…

History might have been very different if Violet had achieved her goal.

Politics in the United Kingdom has recently been awash with allegations of scandal, corruption and malfeasance. It is, unfortunately, nothing new. When Robert Walpole resigned on February 1st 1742 he left in his wake a lengthy trail of political successes, ruthless dealings and reverberating allegations of corruption. Commonly referred to…

James Stanhope, who was the First Earl Stanhope, can lay claim to being the first Prime Minister of England. It might be pointed out that Robert Walpole is often referred to as such, but that’s debatable because Stanhope was certainly referred to as First Lord of the Treasury, the title…

For the pub quiz or the TV game show the name of the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated is useful to know. Less well-known is the name of his assassin: John Bellingham. Even less well-known is why he did it and what happened afterwards. On May 11th 1812…

No doubt you have seen it: Vladimir Putins’ long, oval table. I would guess that it is at least three metres long. It has, I think, three supports beneath it, saving it from looking like a misplaced suspension bridge. It is a white table, possibly embossed around the edges, although…

“Can you tell me,” enquired Mr Louis Staunton of the local postmaster, “whether Forbes Road, Penge, is in the county of Surrey or Kent?” It was a question that, later, he surely regretted asking, overheard as he was by a relative of his deceased wife, Harriet. Staunton needed to know…

Charles Bravo was a successful lawyer in Victorian London. His wife, born Florence Campbell, had been previously married to one Captain Ricardo, a very wealthy dipsomaniac. After they separated, he died and left his wealth to Florence. When his body was examined traces of the poison antimony were discovered. Florence…

Sir Robert Peel, who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Tory party in parliament, was targeted for assassination by one Daniel McNaughten. At least, that’s what people thought. Daniel grew up in Glasgow and worked for his father before setting up his own business…