The coronation of King Charles III approacheth. The event is being hailed as a once-in-a-lifetime event given that it’s been seventy years since the last one, but we should remember that as the longest-reigning British monarch Elizabeth II’s reign is the exception rather than the rule. Her coronation in 1953 was in fact the fifth… Read More Breaking Down Pomp and Circumstance II: The Coronation
You are about to come with me on a journey into a wild rabbit hole. It started while perusing the list of survivors on the RMS Titanic, as one does, and discovering the survival of one William Wright. Wright was a crewman aboard the Titanic and his position was described as ‘Steward of the Glory-Hole’.… Read More Queer Culture, Stewards, and The Titanic’s Glory-Holes
The Wonder (2022) is a period drama set in Ireland, 1862 in a community recovering from the Great Famine. Based on the book of the same name by Emma Donoghue, the film follows English nurse, Elizabeth Wright, as she is instructed to closely watch over Anna O’Donnell, a young girl who hasn’t eaten since her… Read More The History Behind: The Wonder (2022)
On April 18th 1912, the RMS Carpathia arrived in New York City to disembark seven hundred passengers. The seven hundred were not their own. They were survivors of the RMS Titanic which had sunk six days earlier after striking an iceberg during its maiden crossing to New York. The sinking had generated incredible media coverage… Read More “Where Manhood Perished Not”: The Surviving Men of the Titanic
Mummies have fascinated popular imagination since the days of their earliest discoveries. Fictionalised accounts of mummies coming back to life have been a staple of the horror genre since 1827 with the publication of ‘The Mummy! A Tale of the 22nd Century’ in which the mummy of Cheops (an actual Egyptian pharaoh) was reanimated. Unlike… Read More Creepy History: The Curse of the Pharaohs (Tutankhamun Edition)
For the weeks following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain was on show. There followed two weeks of ceremony, tradition, and queuing which drew the attention of the world. Ceremony is what the monarchy does best. Its entire existence is predicated on traditions and splendour that date back centuries specifically with the goal of… Read More The Queen’s Funeral: Breaking down Pomp and Circumstance
The death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8th September 2022 has prompted numerous changes among the Royal Family, big and small. Prince Charles and his wife are now King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Angela Kelly, one of the queen’s closest confidantes and responsible for the queen’s iconic sense of style, will now perform her… Read More The History of the Prince of Wales; or, Why a Growing Number of Welsh people don’t want one
Queen Elizabeth II, like her predecessor, did not pass her childhood in any certain expectation of the Crown. But already we know her well, and we understand why her gifts, and those of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, have stirred the only part of the Commonwealth she has yet been able to visit. She… Read More The Queen is Dead, Long Live the King: What happens next?
Hello followers of history and other such things! My blog has been pretty quiet lately, as unfortunately I can be found in a hospital emergency room more than I can be found at my computer. Readers from the UK will know what I mean when I say ‘postcode lottery’ which refers to how your access… Read More Ill Health Hiatus
In 79CE, Mount Vesuvius, a volcano along the Bay of Naples, erupted catastrophically burying nearby towns in ash. The most famous of these was Pompeii, which remained undiscovered for centuries. When it was discovered, it was practically a time capsule with the ash preserving the city as it had been in its final moments. This… Read More The Eruption of Vesuvius: A Timeline
History in the (Re)Making 