There is a story doing the rounds on social media that the game “tag” derives from “touch and go”. It doesn’t. That is, at best, a backronym. The word “tick” dates back to the mid 15th century as a word to mean “to tap lightly”, and similarly the Middle English word “tek”. By 1721, the…
It is often quoted that Britain has an issue with a lack of diversity among its statues, with most of them being of white men. There is also an often held erroneous belief that impressive women who changed society in Britain appeared in our history in the mid nineteenth century, with many being hard pressed…
The UK has no shortage of unusual ceremonial titles, and alongside the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and the Grand Carver of England is the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. As you may have guessed by the name, the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office is…
Thirty-five years ago today, on the 13th March 1983, there was a rather unusual finish to a motor race, it was the Formula One race where no one finished second. The Brazilian Grand Prix was being held at Jacarepaguá, a circuit that hosted the race ten times, as the opening round of the World Championship…
Football is a game of two halves, as the old saying goes, but there has been at least one time when football was a game of three halves, although it was not recently. The 1st September 1894 saw the opening day of the 1894-95 season for the English First Division, the top league at the time.…
When you ask most people to name some of the pioneers of Rock ‘n’ Roll, there are a series of names that you will commonly hear; Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis are all likely to make an appearance. Less well known is Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who predates many of…
Conversations abut both mythical creatures and cars are a common thing in my house, and I expect quite normal in many places with a four year old. My son likes to point the emblem on the centre of my steering wheel and remind me that it is a jaguar, and also to suggest that I…
For many people, knowledge of British history is an awareness of the Romans, the Norman invasion and its aftermath, and then more recent history from the War of the Roses and the Tudors onward. There are surprisingly few English monarchs who are household names from before the Norman Invasion – perhaps Alfred the Great, Æthelred…
Most people in the UK are familiar with the Mary Rose, the famous ship of the English navy under Henry VIII which was sank in battle in 1545 before being recovered in 1982. Sweden has its own ship with a similar history, the Vasa, a 64 gun ship, that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628,…
I was reminded this week of when Uruguay Won The European Championships, a topic of many quiz questions and cryptic answers. The more astute among you might spot the problem with this conundrum, Uruguay is in South America, and therefore, how would it be eligible for any European Championship? That said, Australia is a recent…
I was in Northern Ireland recently and took a trip to North Down, and after a pleasant lunch in the lovely seaside town of Bangor and a stroll along the marina, headed to nearby Newtownards. Anyone in the area will see one particular landmark rising up over the very scenic views; that of Scrabo Tower.…
Today marks a most remarkable event in history, as the funeral cortege of King Richard III makes its way to Leicester. Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth field in 1485, in an event that changed British history. He was succeeded by Henry Tudor, who became King Henry VII, and with that ended the…