The Rest Is History

“Every man is the architect of his own destiny” Long before Rome reigned supreme over the Mediterranean, there was Carthage: the supreme predator of Antiquity...

“An aristocratic republic, secret and well-ordered, where individuals are subject to the harsh laws of the austere and disciplined rich…” The mysterious, wealthy and glamorous city of Carthage flourished between the ninth and second centuries BC, becoming one of the greatest naval and mercantile powers in the world...

“Carthago delenda est.” Carthage must be destroyed: this was the rallying cry of Cato the Elder, the senator endlessly pushing for war against Rome’s sworn enemy, Carthage. But what are the origins of this supposedly decadent and sinister city, and did the Carthaginians really sacrifice their children? Starting as a crafty, seafaring people called the Phoenicians, a mighty mercantile civilisation emerged, who would eventually come to be know as the Carthaginians...

The horrific Guildford Pub Bombing of Saturday 5th October 1974 sent shockwaves through Britain, worsening the sense of crisis sweeping through the nation. It cast a dark shadow over the election campaign due to take place five days later. Things in Britain had never seemed grimmer, with a general sense of moral and economic panic, weariness and depression. For the fourth time, Labour’s Harold Wilson and the Conservative’s Edward Heath faced, with Wilson able to scrape a three seat majority...

Following a tumultuous election in February 1974, Labour’s Harold Wilson has been re-elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Wilson, an unpretentious, kind man, has inherited a nation in crisis: train strikes in Norfolk, students fighting in Oxford, inflation, an ongoing oil crisis, a terrible cost of living crisis, striking miners, and weekly IRA terrorist attacks...

Three days after one of the most devastating IRA attacks launched upon British soil, the Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath called an election, in circumstances that had never been more dire. Running against him was the veteran Labour leader, Harold Wilson, now as tired and beleaguered as his rival, and whose party was increasingly divided by internal conflict. Jeremy Thorpe, the charming but reckless leader of the liberal party, had also thrown his hat into the ring...

“Does the government run the country, or a powerful group of workers?” Britain in the early 1970’s was a state in crisis, and by 1974, things had never seemed bleaker. Held hostage by the Trade Unions, British industry was flailing. England’s sporting record was atrocious, the economy was tanking and the prospect of a miners’ strike loomed large...

Geoffrey Chaucer stands as a founding father of English literature, and ‘The Canterbury Tales’ is an enthralling account of his age, holding a mirror up to the traditional hierarchies of 14th century England. Chaucer’s own life was spent navigating the rapids of a particularly tumultuous period, from fighting in the Hundred Years’ War alongside Edward III, to working for the infamous John of Gaunt, becoming embroiled in London politics, and surviving the gruesome Black Death...

“For within the hollow crown that rounds the hollow temple of a king...” Richard II, son of the dashing Black Prince and grandson of Edward III, became King of England at only ten years old. By the age of fifteen he had overcome one of the most terrifying threats to the English Crown up to that point: the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. In the ensuing years, Richard’s rule became increasingly autocratic...

On the 13th of June 1381, the rebel army of English peasants, led by Wat Tyler, entered London and brought chaos, death and destruction upon some of the city’s most important buildings and figures, among them the Archbishop of Canterbury and his home at Lambeth Palace. Within the Tower of London, the 14 year-old Richard II and his government still cowered, with the rebels demanding that Richard’s treacherous advisors be handed over...