The Independent - This Britain RSS Feed

Minor British Institutions: Keep Calm and Carry On

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

"Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases"; "Dig for Victory"; "Keep Mum". All still famous. But it is odd that the most currently ubiquitous of the Second World War's propaganda slogans, "Keep Calm and Carry On", was never officially adopted.

Novice finds £1 million Iron Age treasure

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:55:50 GMT

A novice metal-detecting enthusiast said today he was "stunned" to unearth a £1 million Iron Age treasure hoard during his first outing with the machine.

How fireworks night lost its sparkle

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Remember, remember the fifth of November? There is a good chance you may have forgotten. This chilly autumn night, once synonymous with the excitement and drama of fire – whether shooting into the sky with a fizz and a bang or crackling at the bottom of the garden as flames consume a homemade effigy, was for many generations an eagerly anticipated date in the calendar.

Autumn blows in with a vengeance

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Normal autumnal service was resumed yesterday as heavy rain, high winds and flooding conspired to bring the balmy Indian summer crashing to a rude end.

Back to normal, as heavy rain lashes the country

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Normal autumnal service was resumed yesterday as heavy rain, high winds and flooding conspired to bring the balmy Indian summer crashing to a rude end.

Back to normal, as heavy rain lashes the country signals business as usual

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Normal autumnal service was resumed yesterday as heavy rain, high winds and flooding conspired to bring the balmy Indian summer crashing to a rude end.

London to Brighton, in a museum piece

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Poop poop! Parked outside the glossy red windows of the Ferrari store on Regent Street, an 1896 Salvesen is letting off steam. The stoker, for the car is coal fired, pulls a chain and two high-pitched parps cut through the background rumble of a busy shopping Saturday in central London. Fashionably logoed young men amble by gawping, camera phones extended, as John Brydon, 63, explains how this oily dogcart with a big black chimney – in Darwinian terms, the missing link between the carriage and the car – will propel itself the 60 miles to Brighton today.

Why has Hebden Bridge become suicide central?

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

When Jez Lewis decided to make a film about his home town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, he planned a simple 10-minute short in which he would interview a few locals and visually capture the changing moods of the valley. But then one of his oldest friends, Emma, who had grown up on his street, died of a heroin overdose at the age of 37, leaving behind two children. Lewis was distraught and travelled from Suffolk, where he now lives, back to Hebden Bridge to attend her funeral.

Fangs for the memories: The A-Z of vampires

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Trick or treat: Is Halloween another tacky American import or a bit of harmless fun that boosts the economy?

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

As urban legends go, the one about unsuspecting trick-or-treaters having their Halloween loot spiked with razor blades is pretty chilling. Spookier still is the "fact" that the only records of serious injury resulting from poisoned booty involved children booby-trapping the items themselves, or parents poisoning their own offspring. I suspect those rumours, like the one about hospitals offering to X-ray trick-or-treat sweets, are also the stuff of legend – but none the less it's enough to put us paranoid parents off altogether. And yet my children have been at near coma-inducing levels of excitement about their plans for weeks. Their outfits are ready, so too their plastic pumpkin buckets, and their last words before falling asleep each night are a variation of "How many more sleeps now, Mama?"

Minor British Institutions: The Beast of Bodmin

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Beast of Bodmin was first spotted in 1992 and is probably the most celebrated of Britain's phantom big cats, which are usually blamed by farmers for slaughtering their livestock in an especially savage manner (not like the abattoir, then).

London's Crossbones Graveyard is the setting for a very eerie Halloween celebration

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Redcross way was quiet, empty, and suddenly a bit eerie. I felt quite alone in this still stretch of lane that runs between two busy roads just south of the Thames.

Britain's biggest fears revealed

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:12:37 GMT

The fancy dress parade at Halloween never fails to impress. From killer clown to ‘warts and all’ witches, superheroes to dead celebrities, your local ‘trick or treaters’ are no doubt concocting their latest gruesome outfit already - inevitably involving a bed sheet, a pair of scissors and a whole heap of tomato ketchup.

How the battle of Bosworth was lost

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:09:36 GMT

The history books on one of Britain’s most important battles will have to be re-written. The bad news for scholars is that the Battle of Bosworth Field, which marked the end of medieval England, didn’t take place where historians thought it did. But the good news is that the mistake has saved the battlefield from being looted and destroyed by metal detectorists.

When Nelson lost his arm (and returned to work half an hour later)

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The true horror of life on board British fighting vessels in the 18th and 19th centuries has been depicted in a fascinating collection of 1,200 naval journals not seen for 200 years. They include details of the medical treatment given to Horatio Nelson.

New bank holiday proposed

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A new bank holiday should be introduced in 2012 to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics and Paralympics, the Government was urged today.

Only 59 days until Christmas? It must be time for a barbecue

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

It was billed as the "barbecue summer" but in reality brought nothing but rain. After July's string of false promises, the Met Office has put its reputation back on the line, heralding this week as the "official Indian summer".

At the cutting hedge of conservation

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Horizontal rain is lashing into my face. It's the kind that doesn't care whether you close your eyes: it just drives under your eyelids. We're in a muddy field in Herefordshire, people retreating, tortoise-like, into waxed jackets and sheltering under flat caps. Axes and chainsaws lie untended, woodchips fly through the air; it is the 31st National Hedgelaying Championship.

Halloween horrors: Your guide for a ghoulish night in

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Old faithful

As the clocks go back... 10 winter warmers

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

1. There's nothing like a winter's baking session to lift the spirits. It's creative, but in a non-taxing way, and you get to scoff something sweet at the end of it. Plus let's face it; one drawback to summer is that cakes just don't taste as good when it's warm outside. And don't claim you can't cook: stick to the recipe and you really won't go wrong. Especially if you start with cupcakes. Just don't forget the frosting.

Britain's 10 scariest places to visit

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:22:09 GMT

Minor British Institutions: Ede & Ravenscroft

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

There are posh tailors, very posh tailors and then there is the wonderful, living-fossil world of Ede & Ravenscroft, one of the oldest tailoring firms in the world, still family-owned and still enrobing the nation's bigwigs, literally.

The man who set sail on an island... and other works chosen for the Cultural Olympiad

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The task for the competition was to produce a work of art so sensational that it would raise the hairs on the back of the judges' necks. So the artist, Alex Hartley, thought: "Why not tow a newly discovered island, the size of a football field, from the high Arctic to the South-west of England? And why not navigate it across Blighty's waters accompanied by a travelling embassy?" The judges loved it, and yesterday he became one of 12 artists out of 2,000 applicants to be chosen to produce his work as part of the Cultural Olympiad, marking the cultural side of the Olympics.

The Big Question: Why are we asked to wear a poppy, and is its significance being lost?

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Zimmer-frame nation: a vision of Britain in 2083

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Imagine Britain in 2083. A place where everyone seems old. So old, in fact that around 700,000 of our current twenty-somethings will survive to that distant time and receive their centenary birthday card from their close contemporary, King William V, who will be celebrating his 101st birthday that year. Perhaps the Royal Mail will still be around to deliver it. Our streets will be redesigned to ease "Zimmer-rage". Teenagers, prized by their employers, will wonder what is happening. Premier League footballers will earn more than ever. Children will be outnumbered by the over-75s. A grey place indeed.