Doc Holliday: The Perennial Sidekick
Misfit, Old West villain or tragic hero of the O.K. Corral: who was the real Doc Holliday?
Victorian
Solving the Victorian Housing Crisis
The acute housing crisis of mid-Victorian Britain generated stormy opinions about the nature of state intervention and the need for ‘wholesome despotism’.
Death of the King of Siam
On 1 October 1868 King Mongkut – who reigned as Rama IV – passed away having trod a delicate course to keep Thailand free of European empires.
‘Crimean Quagmire’ by Gregory Carleton review
In listening to the war’s loudest voices, Crimean Quagmire: Tolstoy, Russell and the Birth of Modern Warfare by Gregory Carleton drowns out the diversity of opinion.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers Across the Atlantic
In 1874 a choir of African American singers concluded a successful tour of Britain, singing songs that confronted American racism. Victorian audiences had never heard music like it.
The Rebirth of Chivalry is Rained Off
On 28 August 1839, the earl of Eglinton hosted a ‘medieval’ tournament to mark Queen Victoria’s coronation. It was a damp squib.
The Extraordinary Rise and Inexplicable Decline of Lit & Phils
The Literary and Philosophical Society was once ubiquitous, allowing minds to meet and views to collide. Their disappearance has left more questions than answers.
Verlaine Shoots Rimbaud
On 10 July 1873, decadent duo Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud’s poetic frenzy ended with a gunshot.
‘Broken Archangel’ by Roland Philipps review
Broken Archangel: The Tempestuous Lives of Roger Casement by Roland Philipps unearths the complexities and contradictions of the Irish rebel.
Cecil Rhodes and the Election That Caused the Boer War
As mentioned on the Empire podcast, Cecil Rhodes was once described as the single biggest threat to peace in southern Africa. In 1898 a bitter election campaign did little to suggest otherwise.