The clock tower of the Houses of Parliament is known the world over, but is only part of a sprawling neo-Gothic complex built to house the British legislative system. Parliament has been several hundr
The London Underground is the heart of London life, used by millions of commuters and shoppers every year, its tentacles extending into the suburbs it has helped to create. Its turbulent life has been
Museums are at the heart of the nation's cultural life, bastions of Britishness in almost every major city and town. Together they detail myriad aspects of our heritage: from lawnmowers to cuckoo cloc
Coal heated the homes, fuelled the furnaces and powered the engines of the Industrial Revolution. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the coalfields – distinct landscapes of colliery winding fra
London's many cemeteries, churches and graveyards are the last resting places of a multitude of important people from many different walks of life. Politicians, writers and military heroes rub shoulde
Spoons have perhaps the longest history of any artefact, having been forged ever since man discovered the importance of handling liquids. Simon Moore traces the history of English spoons, explaining t
From cooks and clerks to weapons analysts and air mechanics, generations of women have served in the Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service or WRNS). The Royal Navy was the first of the UK armed services
In the early years of the Industrial Revolution, canals formed the arteries of Britain. Most waterways were local concerns, carrying cargoes over short distances and fitted into regional groups with t
In the 1950s and 1960s, luxury car buyers, from government ministers to captains of industry, almost invariably bought British. These were stately, dignified, and grand vehicles, with many featuring l
In the 1950s and 1960s, British sports car ruled the road, and their charge was led by Triumphs. From the TR2, its first modern sports car, Triumph went on to produce a host of classic sports design
The streets and public spaces of London are rich with statues and monuments commemorating the city's great figures and events--from Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square and Sir Christopher Wren's Great
The London and North Eastern Railway, or LNER as it was familiarly known, was one of the Big Four companies that took control of Britain's railway network following the "Grouping" in 1923. This networ
Brunel called his Great Western Railway the "finest work in England" and it certainly contained many special and groundbreaking new features, but none was as unorthodox as the decision to abandon the
Though beer is one of the oldest beverages around, beer can collecting--particularly in the United States--really picked up steam in the 1930s when beer in cans first appeared. Since then, beer can co
At the turn of the last century, the American middle class was expanding rapidly as homesteaders moved west and as trains took travellers across the country, where they established themselves in the d
Central to the prompt delivery of the nation's mail is its efficient transit throughout the country. From 1830, the Post Office relied increasingly on the overland rail network to achieve this. Railwa
