The enduring spirit of Christmas
Clive Aslet
From pagan rituals to paper hats, the tradition of the festive season has always evolved with the times.
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From pagan rituals to paper hats, the tradition of the festive season has always evolved with the times.
The master storyteller – who has died aged 89 – chronicled the Cold War and revealed powerful truths about the human condition
Alchemy embraces a sophisticated set of beliefs and a high-minded cosmology, much to the chagrin of the pure rationalist.
Beneath the stiff upper lip of Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary in 1914, lay a passion for politics and for love.
Dunwich, once a bustling medieval city, was swept under the waves in a series of storms. Little now remains of this English Atlantis.
The mystery of the role of fire in Heraclitus’s aphorisms has beguiled and delighted generations of readers.
With globalism disrupted by Covid, cities offer a tried and tested way of binding people together.
While celebrity has ruined many a talent, the rest of us miss those small public performances in the pub or theatre, which make life that little bit more exciting.
Tudor composer William Byrd concealed his true faith in music – and his yearning for a return to better times resonates with us today in the chimes of the chapel choir.
The pandemic coincided with the 30th anniversary of the reunification of Germany – the crisis is a chance to find that sense of optimism again.
Blindness offers a metaphor for the perils of worldly delusion. And the physically blind can sometimes discover new ways of seeing.
Statues have become the object of frenzied debate in recent months. They must persist, at least, as a memorial to themselves – to stand above fleeting passions in reach of the eternal.
Throughout history communal spaces have provided refuge and reconnection. We need them more than ever.
Sometimes when a tale concludes we want to know what happens next to fascinating characters. Even Shakespeare leaves his readers wondering.
It is often said that the city is like an organism – now lethargic, but soon to burst forth with renewed vigour.
The fine hand of the artist and the musician has gone a long way for some of history’s great and terrible figures.
George Herbert’s architectural approach to poetry is ideal reading when stuck indoors.
‘Home is homely, though it be poore in sight,’ wrote J.Heywood in 1546. Heywood is an obscure author but many people today will agree with him, having
Few historical figures have left such a lasting impression on such a variety of cultures as Alexander the Great.
Seamus Heaney’s poems are a valuable, moving register of individual intimacy and national pain.
Georgius Agricola’s De Re Metallica gives us a fascinating insight into the late medieval view of metal and its uses.
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