Miss Tickletoby’s Lectures on English History: Celts and Romans

In 1842, William Thackeray published the second of his satirical pieces titled Miss Tickletoby's Lectures on English History, in Punch magazine, for which he was a regular contributor. They are a hilarious send-up of 19th-century English education, as captured through the lectures of the imaginary schoolmistress/historian, Miss Tickletoby. Readers who can remember Our Island Story may see some similarities …

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Can we ever fully understand the past?

One of the most interesting things about history is that it's both far and near. Sometimes I read something and suddenly feel very close to the people of the past, realising that they often endured the same trials and shared the same joys. The tablets found at Vindolanda, an ancient Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall, …

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