Events in Britain, celebrations, commemorations and traditions – the things that help define Britain and British society.
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 memorial. At 10.15, there was a short service. Then, the people walked around the old […]
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 so, has been informed by a Christian tradition. So we should be sure of our
Easter, eggs, bunnies and buns Read More »
Scotland’s national saint, St Andrew, has his day on 30th November. As well as being the patron saint of Scotland, St Andrew is the patron saint of Amalfi, Barbados, Greece, Romania, Russia, the Ukraine, singers, spinsters, would-be mothers, fishmongers and fishermen, gout and sore throats. According to the Scottish Government’s website, St Andrew’s Day “is
St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland Read More »
What are you doing on the 2nd Saturday in November? If you want to experience a little pageantry – well, quite a lot, actually – get yourself up, down, over, across, or whatever, to the City of London for the 800-year old annual Lord Mayor’s Show. Other cities may well have their own, rudimentary, mayoral
London’s Lord Mayor’s Show Read More »
The British like to see themselves as keen gardeners. Indeed, some consider gardening to be a national pastime and would be mildly surprised to discover that people in other countries do it too. Of course, as an island race, we often prefer well-ordered borders; for some, it is a perennial fixation. According to the Horticultural
Village open gardens Read More »
St George is the patron saint of England and St George’s Day is on 23rd April. Every year. Curiously enough, 23rd April is also the day that William Shakespeare, who put the words “Cry ‘God for Harry! England and Saint George’ “ into the mouth of his King Henry V, died; and it might even
For England and St George! Read More »
In the dying moments of 1914 and the opening days of 1915, remarkable stories began to circulate in Britain’s newspapers. The stories came from France and Belgium, where great armies were locked in mighty conflict, and told of a truce between British and German soldiers. At this time of peace and goodwill, it was said
The Christmas Truce of 1914 Read More »
Do you believe in Christmas magic? Some years ago, when my children were very small, I was dismayed to hear my son pipe up that little Johnny at school said that his dad had told him there was no such person as Santa Claus. I knew the family kept Christmas and wondered how such a
We take traditions for granted but, when you think about it, some of them are pretty weird. Amongst the more bizarre British Christmas customs are Christmas crackers. I refer, not to dry biscuits eaten with cheese and pâté, but to short tubes of cardboard covered with coloured paper, twisted at both ends, each typically containing
The custom and origins of Christmas crackers Read More »
A brief history of Christmas cards Of course, there is nothing new about the custom of contact at Christmas. In 1843, Sir Henry Cole (1808-82), a civil servant, inventor and author, was juggling his heavy workload with his habit of writing Christmas letters to his many friends and relatives. Cole thought that sending a
A bit about Christmas cards Read More »
Amazing; moving; humbling; impressive: words you could choose to describe the annual National Service of Remembrance held in London on Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November. Thousands attend every year; thousands watch it on TV; thousands more attend similar, albeit slightly more modest, services throughout the United Kingdom – and beyond. It is an
National Service of Remembrance Read More »
The local supermarket is pretending to be the props department for “Night of the Living Dead”. There are plastic skulls, axes, hairy hands, spiders, broomsticks, masks more gruesome than many of the weekend shoppers in the Trafford Centre – and even life-size ravens with glowing red eyes. Also, a plastic fish skeleton – the relevance
