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Spirit of the New World
What links Fidel Castro, pirates from the Caribbean and George Washington? Rum. A Rum Tale: Spirit of the New World is a look at the history of one of the Caribbean’s most famous and favourite drinks. From its start as a by-product of a mysterious plant called ‘sugar cane’ to twentieth-century bootlegging, smuggling and prohibition, rum’s heritage is as rich as its flavour – so pour yourself a drink and turn the page.
24th May, 2024 in History, Maritime
Pirates and music: I imagine what comes into your head is that haunting refrain from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, or perhaps the soaring chords of an orchestral film score and the thumping rhythm of a sea shanty. Maybe you think of the much later history of ‘pirate r…
10th August, 2023 in Natural World, Society & Culture
There is a need for definition, as spices have meant different things in different periods of history. ‘Spice’ is not a botanical term, but we can use botanical words to describe them. Today we might reasonably define a spice as the (usually) dried part of a plant used to season…
13th April, 2023 in History, True Crime
In his book Hawkhurst: Murder, Corruption, and Britain’s Most Notorious Smuggling Gang author Joseph Dragovich covers a fascinating era that is underrepresented in non-fiction historical true crime… 18 December 1744 John Bolton sat in the King’s Head Inn in Shoreham in Kent. Wi…
19th July, 2019 in Natural World, Society & Culture
In 2014 Indonesia had a total of 3.6 million hectares of coconut plantations, more than 90 per cent of it farmed by smallholders working an average of just 1.5 hectares each. Copra and the oil derived from it still dominate the industry as they did a century ago, with scant resea…
