Volume 28 Issue 4 April 1978

Andrew Jackson was the first President to be a ‘Westerner’ and, writes Larry Gragg, his inauguration in Washington ‘belonged to the people’.

Few European royals, male or female, writes M.L. Clarke, have enjoyed a better education than Christina.

Windmills abounded in England from the twelfth century onwards. Terence Paul Smith describes how their bodies usually revolved on a vertical post so that the miller could face the sails into the wind.

Sarah Searight introduces the fifth century ascetic whose long life on top of a pillar attracted thousands of worshippers.

Born of a notable Devonshire family, Carew saw service in France and Italy, became a favourite companion of Henry VIII and was trusted by the three succeeding sovereigns. Stephen Usherwood describes his life and career.

A fashionable parade and a scene of sporting contests, St James’s Park was first enclosed by Henry VIII. Marjorie Sykes describes the history of the park, including how James I kept a menagerie and aviary there, to which Charles II added pelicans.

In 1917, writes Jamie H. Cockfield, the American Ambassador’s valet reported on revolutionary events in Russia through letters to the family at home.