“The ten best things about Christmas” is entirely subjective; everyone has their own, unique, perception of an event. Even if you took a poll, the results would depend on who and how many participated and, anyway, ‘best’ is not something…

“The ten best things about Christmas” is entirely subjective; everyone has their own, unique, perception of an event. Even if you took a poll, the results would depend on who and how many participated and, anyway, ‘best’ is not something…
The UK census is a decennial occurrence, held since 1801, with some regional or national variations and the exception of 1941 (when we had other things on our minds). Therefore, 2021 is a census year – at least, it is…
Ghost stories have long been popular at Christmas, and Victorians loved them. In that tradition, and by way of a change from researching a factual article, I thought I would have a go at writing a spectral anecdote. So, in…
VE Day, Victory in Europe Day, is celebrated on 8 May as the day the Second World War came to an end in Europe in 1945. Writing 75 years on in 2020, most people had no memory of the event,…
“I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses…
Christmas post A Bit About Britain provides several seasonal ever-green offerings with which to amuse its reader (click or tap on an image below). A new topical article is planned for Christmas 2019. Meanwhile, last posting dates in the UK…
A guest post by Anne Clare The United States’ celebration of Thanksgiving might seem, at first glance, like a surprising choice for a blog dedicated to Britain. After all, modern U.S. celebrations largely focus on eating turkey (a bird native…
When you are old and grey, and full of sleep, shall I compare thee to a summer’s day; or do you walk in beauty, like the night, down by the Sally Garden? Shall I count the ways I loved you,…
Every Christmas Eve, millions of people all round the world tune in to their TVs or radios to listen to carols from King’s – or ‘Nine Lessons and Carols’ – from King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The broadcasts are an essential…
A version of this feature is included in the book, ‘A Bit about Britain’s High Days and Holidays’. Of course, Christmas is Christmas and the basics are ubiquitous in any country with a Christian tradition. That said, everybody celebrates it,…
15 September is Battle of Britain Day. It commemorates the legendary air battle that took place in Britain’s skies, mainly – though not exclusively – over southern England, during the long hot summer and early autumn of 1940. The conflict…
At 10pm BST on 4th August 2014, the villagers of Burton in Lonsdale, a small community of fewer than 600 souls in North Yorkshire, on the borders with Lancashire and Cumbria, gathered on the village green by the old war…
It should be simple enough to write a bit about Easter, I thought. After all, it is the most important festival in the Christian calendar, and a good deal of Britain’s heritage, at least for the last fourteen centuries or…
In case I’ve missed the Christmas post and my card hasn’t arrived through the door yet, here some pretty, wintry, pictures for you. A very merry Christmas and a peaceful, happy, New Year to everyone who has visited A Bit…