The Elizabethans loved news — the stranger, the better. London presses cranked out pamphlets carried by chapmen to every village, to be read out loud beside the hearth in the local public house. Everyone loved reports of marvelous fish washed up in Cornwall or the bizarre tribes encountered in the New World.… Read More »Poets and spies: intelligence work in the sixteenth century by Anna Castle
“Freedom of speech” is an idea that is frequently bantered about in the media, especially when one group or another feels it is being censored, or merely criticized by another. Of course, throughout history, every person has been “free” to express himself or herself, but the powers that be were… Read More »Freedom of Speech by Annmarie Banks
Lighthouses have been manned since ancient times and most of us feel it must be a very lonely occupation. And indeed it can be and there are terrible tales of lighthouse keepers going mad. The 19th century in particular seemed to have many tales of madness, murder and suicide on… Read More »Are Lonely Lighthouses for Lonely Men? by Loretta Proctor
Everywhere in medieval life, you read about ‘rushes’ on the floor. However, I question the image of women in long gowns walking around on loose rushes, whether or not they were sprinkled with herbs. Wouldn’t the rushes catch in the dress? This page has this to say, and started off… Read More »Rushes on the Floor by Sarah Woodbury
Before Downton Abbey premiered on television, I had an interest in the era between the world wars and the Golden Age just prior. I knew I wanted to somehow dramatize the social impacts of the Great War. I began writing fiction in the mid 1990s. Downton Abbey has since kindled… Read More »Before Downton Abbey by John B. Campbell