Every time I plan a new book, one of the first things I do, once the idea has gelled, once I know it will be a book, is to buy the Book ...

What country, friends, is this? Viola asks at the beginning of Twelfth Night. What country indeed? This is Illyria, Lady  the C...

So begins The Walking Song, composed by Bilbo Baggins and sung in J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbit and sometimes in the Lord of the Rings. The...

When I was at school, this was how one of my teachers defined Geography and History. Of course, the scope of both subjects expands far beyo...

Last weekend, I was at the Cropredy Folk Festival, Fairport Convention's annual August gathering, deep in the Oxfordshie countrysid...

I recently visited the Hollywood Costume Exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum*.  It was very popular. I went with my daughter and...

I have belonged to the National Trust for nearly thirty years now. I joined while visiting Moreton Hall in Cheshire. I was with a group from...