All articles in Biography & Memoir
15th June, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
Was astronomer Caroline Herschel’s success down to extreme politeness?
Caroline Herschel was born in the mid-eighteenth-century, the youngest daughter in a poor, Germanic musical family. By rights, she should have grown old cooking, cleaning and mending in the home of one of her many siblings. But she didn’t. She became an astronomer, assisting…
15th June, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
Doris Delevingne: The Mistress of Mayfair
Doris Delevingne was never going to be mediocre, despite her lowly origins and place, as a woman, in society. She was born Jessie Doris Delevingne in Beckenham in 1900, her mother was a housewife and her father owned a haberdashery shop which also dealt in fancy French goods. Lik…
31st May, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Entertainment, Women in History
Why do people still love Marilyn Monroe?
American actress and model Marilyn Monroe died in 1962, and yet people around the world are still fascinated with her life and work. Here biographer Michelle Morgan explains why Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926, continues to have such an enchanting appeal… Over the past…
26th May, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History
The later diaries of Samuel Pepys
The great Diary for which Pepys is universally known was closed on 31 May 1669. For some while his eyesight had been weakening, and he feared that complete blindness was imminent. He suspected that the Diary, written in shorthand and usually by candlelight, had been much to blame…
26th May, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Fiction
In Dracula’s footsteps
When Abraham Stoker came to Whitby in 1890, on holiday with his family, he could have had no way of knowing that his stay in the town would inspire him to write a Gothic literary masterpiece. A photograph of Bram Stoker, circa 1906 Since its publication, his novel Dracula, origin…
18th May, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Society & Culture
Escaping from Hungary’s Iron Curtain
In 1956 Hungary was separated from the West by what was a believed-to-be impenetrable structure. Churchill called it the ‘Iron Curtain’. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an ‘Iron Curtain’ has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capit…
18th May, 2017 in Aviation, Biography & Memoir, Women in History
Amelia Earhart and Neta Snook: Pioneering aviators
What made Amelia Earhart push the boundaries of aviation? Her peripatetic early childhood took her from place to place and opened her eyes to new experiences. Due to her father’s job working for railroad companies, Amelia moved from house to house and school to school, which she…
17th May, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History, Women in History
Eleanor of Aquitaine’s greatest gamble
The decree was read out and that, for Eleanor, was that. The prize of release from the marriage to Louis VII of France, which she had sought for so long, had been obtained at the cost of a year of her life, plus a pregnancy she had not wanted. But she was free, at a price. Her da…
16th May, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Military
Spying in Berlin during the Cold War
Some younger readers may pigeon-hole the Cold War that ended over a quarter of a century ago with those other events of the twentieth century like the First and Second World Wars. Yet, for those of us who were children during the latter, with memories of German bombers overhead,…
11th May, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History
Emperor Constantine’s legacy: Theocracy
As Rome’s first Christian emperor Constantine’s reign spanned more than three decades, from 306 AD to 337 AD. Although his personality and religious convictions certainly changed over the years, some things, such as his ambition, his exceptional military talent, and his simultane…
11th May, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History, True Crime
The assassination of Spencer Perceval, British Prime Minister
On Monday 11 May 1812, an unremarkable, anonymous man, just over 40 years of age, made his way to the Palace of Westminster, the seat of government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. No one could have known that on the inside left of his overcoat he had a special…
18th April, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History
King Arthur in history and legend
The name King Arthur conjures up fantastical tales of magic, romance, and Knights of the Round Table. But how do we separate the fiction from historical fact, when much of what remains is legend? Author Bronwen Hosie unravels the mysterious real life of Britain’s most famous king…