Notebooks

Notebooks are snapshots from our writers, reflecting on current affairs and underappreciated aspects of culture and history.

Brocade paper is the seventeenth-century German invention which still has the power to dazzle.

Ancient criticisms of over-educated elitists can show us how to heal our divided democracies.

Overlooked in his own lifetime, Giles Gilbert Scott's architectural skill in uniting the past and the present make his buildings unforgettable.

Sophie Scholl paid the ultimate price for her defiance of Nazi evil. The actions of her and her compatriots are remembered to this day.

The histories of R.J. Unstead brought the past to life for millions of school children. His name and his story-telling talents deserve reviving.

Early twentieth-century poet Edna St Vincent Millay's laconic verse is an antidote to modern pop's cult of heartbreak.

The early pioneers of AI music were derided and feared. Does it deserve a revival?

Was it a crown or a ship that inspired the ancient inventor's discovery?

Within this international drink is a microcosm of all the movements and ambitions and exchanges of mankind.