Everyone knows Mary’s sister, poor Anne Boleyn, the first Queen on British soil to be executed, and by her petty, violent, maniacal husband Henry VIII. She achieved a lasting notoriety but her line petered out with her glorious daughter Elizabeth I. Mary’s history is not well know beyond the fact that she was Henry VIII […]
And the bride wore hand-me-downs… …and what hand me downs they were! Her tiara has been seen gracing the heads of many royals. Originally the tiara was owned by Queen Mary who had it fashioned from a necklace. It was then passed to Queen Elizabeth. In turn, she lent it to her daughter Princess Elizabeth […]
Every winter Steve and I rent a Landmark Trust property and spend a mid-week break living like royalty. The Landmark Trust is a charity that saves remarkable buildings from destruction. They restore them and then they rent them out as holiday lets. We have stayed in castles and banqueting houses and this time we stayed […]
Russian Art after the Revolution – Theodora Clarke. An Arts Society Lecture. Excuse the brevity of this post. I kept forgetting to take notes! Much was lost after the Russian Revolution but I hadn’t realised that we had lost so much stunning art. Not that the paintings were destroyed but the Russian artists fled and […]
Behind the Veil: the Arts of Islamic Persia – John Osborne So my second BODFAS approached and I was determined not to make such a mess of it this time. However, the fates are cruel and things cropped up. The phone rang as I was leaving, the car needed fuel, there were massive roadworks and eventually I […]
There is something very exciting about lost lands and histories. As a maritime nation, we have an uneasy relationship with the sea. It has protected us from invaders (sometimes), it has enabled us to travel and explore the world, it provided food and industry as well as pleasure and inspiration. It has also, from time […]