Britain

A Sympathetic Ear: Napoleon, Elba and the British

Was Napoleon's escape from his first exile unwittingly aided by his erstwhile opponents from Albion? Katharine MacDonogh weighs up the enigmatic response that certain British citizens showed towards their imperial prisoner.

Dickens and the Construction of Christmas

The best-loved of Britain's novelists penned a tale that struck a potent chord in the popular revival of the season of goodwill. Geoffrey Rowell explains its appeal and its powerful religious and social overtones.

Art and Empire - Wembley, 1924

Tom August explores the imperial assumptions - and the hints of independence from Britannia - to be found in the paintings and artists on show in the Palace of Arts at the British Empire Exhibition.

The Birmingham Coiners, 1770-1816

John Powell chronicles the activities of a Midlands ring of counterfeiters whose activities open a window on the economic and social ambiguities of late Georgian England.

Glimpses of the Blitz

Raymond Postgate is well-known today as the founder of The Good Food Guide, but he was also a vivid eyewitness of events as a Londoner under siege from Hitler's bombs. We publish here for the first time, a selection from his wartime correspondence with the American publisher Alfred Knopf, introduced and edited by his son, John Postgate.