Farm rioters banished, flogged and treadmilled By Terry Walker | read time 4 minutes In 1831, riots, hayrick burning and vandalism erupted in the English countryside. Impoverished law-breakers, like farm labourer William Acres, age 22, were hunted down, dragged from their families and transported by convict ships 12,000 miles to penal colonies in Australia and […]

The wartime journey began on the day Britain declared war against Hitler. From the Hebrides to the Cotswolds involved rowing a mile to the Isle of Mull, driving to the mailboat port and a three-hour sea crossing to Oban. Here, teenager Deborah Mitford and her travelling companions, a nanny goat, a whippet and a Labrador, […]

It was just another question posed at the English village community centre quiz night: “How many presidents of the United States have been assassinated?” Then, as fingers around the team tables counted up the most likely answer, the quizmaster revealed a long-held family secret that shocked the quizzers. One of his ancestors had assassinated a […]

Fossil hunters head for Britain’s terror bird beach Fossil hunters from around the world, armed with buckets and spades, are heading for Britain’s terror bird beach, where a local amateur collector discovered the skeleton of a flesh-eating bird. The metre-tall raptor ate its last meal 54 million years ago. The previously unknown flightless bird has […]

A peaceful village wedding and the biggest military bombardment in history, taking place simultaneously… The first wedding bells and the first shots of World War II rang out as Hitler invaded Poland and spoiled an ancestor’s runaway wedding. It was a Friday like no other in the history of our family and the history of the world. By Terry […]

President John F Kennedy had been shot in Dallas at 12:30 pm Texas time, and that meant tight Press deadlines in Darlington. I guess it was near 7:00 pm UK time when I heard the news flash on my car radio. I was 20 miles from the offices where I’d just been entrusted with the […]