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 Why is Regency England the backdrop for so many love stories? Countless films have been made from Jane Austen’s novels, drawing us into the world of the Regency gentry. Miss Austen is the harbinger of this period of romance, and yet, her novels are hard- hitting tastes of reality, where true love does not always win, but good sense, modesty, and propriety always do. As we move forward in time to the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer, currently being republished by Sourcebooks Casablanca, we find that these novels follow in the vein of Miss Austen with simplicity and wit, and always a love story. Of course, romance in Miss Heyer’s world does not mean bodice-ripping and overwhelming passion. Gentlemen and ladies fall in love, but they do it with grace, under the watchful eyes of the ladies’ chaperones. But there is another kind of Regency romance, like the ones I write, that bear little resemblance to the novels of Heyer or Austen, where Regency England is portrayed as a sort ...

by Carol McGrath Christmas 1065 was one of the most significant Christmases in England's history. Thanes and their families, bishops and two Archbishops gathered in Westminster for the king's Christmas feast and for the consecration of newly built Cathedral Church of St Peter (Westminster), close to the king's palace on Thorny Island. However, during the twelve days of Christmas the childless King Edward died thus setting in motion a not unexpected succession crisis. The day after King Edward's death Harold Godwin was crowned king thus leading to invasions of England from two usurped contenders, William of Normandy and Harold Harthrada of Norway. The story of that Christmas is recorded in both Norman and English writing from the period. William of Poitiers, a Norman historian, refers to Harold Godwin as 'a mad Englishman who seized the throne of England while his people were in mourning for Edward the Confessor.' This is, of course, opinionat...

by Tim Vicary One Sunday afternoon in July 1916 two women, Eva Gore-Booth and her friend Esther Roper, were talking quietly in a flat they shared in London. They were discussing Eva’s sister Constance, whom she hadn’t seen for months. Suddenly, Esther stood up. ‘We must go to Euston Station to meet the Irish Mail,’ she said.  She couldn’t explain why this was so urgent, but Eva agreed. At the station Esther stood near the ticket barrier while Eva went to the far of the platform. When the train came in, Eva looked into a carriage and saw her sister, Constance. Delighted, Constance got out and the two sisters embraced. Esther, waiting at the ticket barrier, saw some people approaching through the steam on the platform.  It was ‘the strangest little procession ever seen by astonished eyes. First a brown cocker spaniel, well known in Dublin as “The Poppet”, then a couple of soldiers with rifles, then Eva and Constance together smiling and talking hard. Lastly an officer with a dra...

*** Cigares de Joy (Joy's Cigarettes) Immediately Relieve Asthma, Whee z ing, Chronic Bronchitis . Of All Chemists and Stores. Box of 35, 2s. 6d., and post free from WILCOX & CO. , 83, Mortimer Street, Great Portland Street , W., London. I thought you might enjoy this advertisement courtesy of the Daily Graphic, Friday, December 11, 1896. The title of the paper is adorned with wee flying naked babies in a gossip chain carrying messages from one whispering woman, classicly clad with the gown quite fallen off one shoulder to another woman who seems to be writing down on a scroll what she hears. Which could be false advertising? Unintent ionally, I am sure, by Wilcox and Co. There is another lovely picture of a classic woman sitting on a wall, one foot up on the wall, but her gown hangs down draping over her beautifully (though her entire leg is well outlined by the fabric) and one bare foot on the ground- the women are all barefoot- under the heading "The Weather". Un...