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Conrad of Montferrat, King of Jerusalem, was stabbed to death in broad daylight on 28th April, 1192. He was king of the crusader kingdom by marriage, and had been unanimously elected on 20th April, 1192. Conrad was a respected warrior … Read More

“Long Shadows” were the effects of debilitating injuries and what was worse, amputations, suffered by men who had fought in World War 1. The cheerful approach of ‘Home by Christmas’ was drowned within a year in Flanders mud, or at … Read More

Were people 300 years ago like us in many ways? Look at this picture of a Coffee House, new and very popular in Queen Anne’s reign.  Discussion ranged from trivial gossip to arguing for or against having the Tories or … Read More

Beverley. and East Yorkshire took part in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.  Surely not!  We saw pictures of rebels from Kent and Essex following Wat Tyler into London. The people of 1381 is an innovative research project developed from several … Read More

The Second World War impacted on all aspects of children’s lives, from their home life and education to the games they played. Later in the post-war period new ideas emerged in medicine and psychology about child development and family life … Read More

Lasting memories of the American Civil War (1861-65) challenge the view that ’History is written by the victors’. War leaders’ statues, in both the South (the Confederacy) and the North, were revered as those showing the righteousness of their particular … Read More

The Eurovision Song Contest catches headline news. In the early days when families sat round their relatively new TV set it was a one night programme from a concert hall.   Seven  countries competed in the first contest in 1956.  By … Read More

Coppergate excavations at York were drawing visitors by 1980. This was an enormous site. Interest in Roman York and the medieval   Minster were no longer the main places to visit. When the Jorvik Viking Centre opened  in 1984 the evidence … Read More

This picture from Sheffield in1820 suggests cricket was well established. The team, the wickets, the crowd, the imposing Club House -just what was expected. However, this match at Sheffield was not typical. Yorkshire in the 18th century lagged many years … Read More

Observers of 19th-century cities frequently wrote about ‘urban types’, the new kinds of human beings they found in these new conurbations, with their own distinctive physiognomies and folkways.  This habit has not gone away and in this talk I will … Read More