British History
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Twelve Days of Christmas: Five Gold Rings
By Dr Heike Schmidt Five Rings of Gold – But Where Did It Come From? When the Gold Coast gained independence from Britain in 1957 the anti-colonial nationalists proudly renamed the country Ghana. Their first head of stead, Kwame Nkrumah,… Continue reading
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Twelve Days of Christmas: Four Calling Birds
By Dr James P. Bowen In 2018, Dr James P. Bowen of Leeds Trinity University was awarded the Poultry Club of Great Britain Research Fellowship at the University of Reading’s Museum of English Rural Life. ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’… Continue reading
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Twelve Days of Christmas: Three French Hens
By Professor Joel Felix To a French historian the three French hens of the 12 Days of Christmas inevitably recalls the story of King Henri IV and the poule au pot (chicken in the pot) which was popularized by Voltaire… Continue reading
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Twelve Days of Christmas: Two Turtle Doves – Boiled!
By Professor David Stack Charles Darwin was not a romantic. The brutally pragmatic ‘Pros and Cons list’ he wrote before deciding upon marriage to his cousin Emma Wedgwood proves that. We can safely assume that if the nineteenth century’s greatest… Continue reading
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Twelve Days of Christmas: A Partridge in a Pear Tree
By Professor Anne Lawrence-Mathers The partridge is the only figure in the song which appears every day throughout the twelve days of Christmas. There is an obvious explanation – the partridge is not only the harbinger of holidays (and food… Continue reading
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