Life's A Picnic

The feminist who advised the Lion of Judah

Ken Livingstone's Venezuelan adventure follows in some surprising footsteps

A president in the family can be bad news

It cannot be easy having a sibling who may become the world's most powerful man

The fragrant fraudster who charmed the Old Bailey

The fine art of being an imposter

Look on King's Lynn, ye mighty, and despair

Like Liverpool, the Norfolk port used to be a great commercial centre. The lesson of history is you can't buck geography

The Johnson family - 14th-century style

Past Notes: the Folvilles instigated a huge crime wave in Leicestershire back in 1326

The British Olympic football team lost out by playing to the rules

Ninety-six years of hurt could finally end

Is it relevant whether the leader of the New World has roots in the Old World?

Past Notes

Phones were Churchill's nod to modernity

On why politicians can't keep in touch

Films couldn't show nudity or Jesus Christ

Past Notes

Leona Helmsley: every dog should have its day

Past Notes: If you are a dog, you'd wish you belonged to Sir Mahabut Khanji

History men who took a stand like David Davis

Past Notes: remember two Labour names - Sir Richard Acland and George Lansbury

Modern architects try to dodge the wrecking ball

Past Notes: New brutalism faces the same fate as Georgian terraces

It's 1899: ban the bomb from balloons

Past Notes: today we ban cluster bombs. Then there were different weapons under scrutiny

Remember 1882, as the Cornish say

Past Notes: if the Cornish are to revive their language, they should take a history lesson

Why Margot Asquith is like Cherie Blair

Past Notes: The memoirs of the former Prime Ministers' wives have striking similarities

A 164ft horse - that's nothing!

Past Notes: the idea of colossal works of public art was familiar to those living in 1799

Doing time was done with style

What modern prisoners now buy illicitly used to be all part of the service in the 1700s

Is there cricket in North Korea?

Past Notes: Can cricket be exported? America took to it in the 19th century. Why not China?

Battle of the healers is nothing new

An 18th-century wonder cure was compelling to semi-literate maidservant and Oxford don alike

The 1936 Olympic flame rumpus

Past Notes: if you think the present farce is unprecedented, think back 70 years