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British Heritage
TravelThe Mayor of Casterbridge can still be walked scene by scene through modern DorchesterMichael Henchard's house on South Street is a branch of Barclays now, but the King's Arms still pours and the Maumbury Rings still swallow the noise of the traffic.
RoyalsRoyal protection officers called Queen Elizabeth “Sharon” when she was out in publicFrom Sharon and Daphne Clark to Operation London Bridge, the royal household has long leaned on code names to move its most recognisable faces through public life unnoticed.
TravelAsk at this Winchester almshouse and you still get free bread and beer, tourists includedThe Wayfarer's Dole has been handed out at the Hospital of St Cross for centuries, and the ale these days is a London Pride donated by Fuller's.
HistoryBletchley Park’s 10,000 codebreakers signed the Official Secrets Act and not one talkedRuth Bourne was 18 when the Navy sent her to a windowless room full of Bombe machines and told her never to ask what the work meant.
HistoryThe city marking America’s 250th was planned by a Quaker England kept jailingWilliam Penn was fined, imprisoned and put on trial for his beliefs in London before King Charles II handed him the land that became Pennsylvania in 1681.
CultureWales still has around 100 male voice choirs and visitors can sit in on rehearsals for freeBorn in the chapels and coalfields of the 19th century, the choirs of the Land of Song are now chasing younger recruits while welcoming curious visitors through the door.
HistoryAutumn is the season to walk Edinburgh, from Castle Rock down to HolyroodWith the festival crowds gone and Auld Reekie settling into its quieter months, Scotland's capital rewards anyone willing to climb its hills on foot.
HistoryIncredible Prince Albert facts you’ve probably never heard ofThe prince consort was also the queen's first cousin, and he went on to wield the power of a king without ever holding the title.
RoyalsKing George V’s only daughter left the palace for Yorkshire and a “Downton” legacyPrincess Mary, the Princess Royal, swapped royal life for Harewood House, nursed the wounded in wartime, and sent Christmas parcels to the trenches long before her story reached the screen.
TravelNewtonmore’s 80-acre folk museum lets you walk into a Highland village from 1700The Highland Folk Museum recreates three centuries of Scottish rural life on an open air site where every building is either an original or an exact period replica, and admission costs nothing.