Is there anything more British than politely dying of a mysterious illness while sweating profusely and refusing to make a fuss about it. Enter: The Sweating Sickness of 1485 - or as I like to call it, the Tudor’s very own bout of medieval man-flu, except it killed you quicker than a court summons from … Continue reading The Tudors Break a Sweat: My Encounter With the Most Pointless Plague in History
Month: July 2025
Bearing the Broken: Van Gogh’s Good Samaritan and the Art of Endurance
Art imitates life, or so I’m told, but in The Good Samaritan by Vincent van Gogh, life doesn’t just inspire the art - it bleeds into it. You can feel the strain in every brushstroke. This isn’t a tranquil tale of neighbourly virtue. This is what compassion looks like after the cameras stop rolling. After … Continue reading Bearing the Broken: Van Gogh’s Good Samaritan and the Art of Endurance
“Laughter Contorts the Face and Makes Monkeys of Men”: Witch-Hunting for the Bewitched and Bewildered
The problem with witches - and I say this as someone deeply in their thrall - is that once you start looking for them, you see them everywhere. In a sharp-tongued woman at the checkout, in your aunt’s herb garden, in your dog’s knowing eyes. It begins as a curious fascination and ends with you … Continue reading “Laughter Contorts the Face and Makes Monkeys of Men”: Witch-Hunting for the Bewitched and Bewildered
The Day That Betrayed Me
Birthdays and the Memory that Won’t Leave There’s a certain performance expected of you on your birthday. Even if you don’t care for cake or crowds, even if you prefer solitude to ceremony, there’s a social contract - unspoken but ironclad - that on this one day, you’re to be grateful. Festive. Present. Pleased. It … Continue reading The Day That Betrayed Me
Mastro Titta: Pope’s Little Helper with a Big Sword
Giovanni Battista Bugatti - what a name, eh? It sounds like the kind of bloke you’d expect to sell you a fine bottle of chianti or offer unsolicited advice about your olive oil. But no - our man Bugatti wasn’t swirling wine or chasing goats in the hills. He was the official executioner for the … Continue reading Mastro Titta: Pope’s Little Helper with a Big Sword
Wording 