Tag: Victorian
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Energising Fashion: The Craze for Electric Corsets and Belts

Fashion is fashionable. It is ever-changing, inspired by culture, religion, and society, and every century has had its own “craze” where people go to extremes that are sometimes criticised by contemporaries, and sometimes by those looking back and wondering “what were they thinking?”. But one trend of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries was that for…
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Victorian Romance: The Art of Cobweb Valentines

Today is Valentine’s Day, a centuries-old holiday celebrating love, strangely on a day commemorating someone’s execution. From the late medieval period in Europe, when courtly love and chivalry were at their peak, it became popular to think of romantic love on this day. By the 18th century, the day had become a time for lovers…
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Windsor Castle, Heart of the Monarchy

Windsor Castle is one of the most recognisable sites in England. Built in the 11th century just after the Norman invasion of England, it has inspired castles across the world and has been the hub of the English and British monarchy for centuries. The castle is the longest-occupied palace in the whole of Europe, the…
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Historical Fashion: Victorian Women’s Clothing

The Victorian period in Britain saw huge changes in society, but something that often sticks in our minds is the fashion of the period. With the development of photography, it is the first period where we have a real burst in evidence in what people wore. Its relatively close proximity to us in time, the…
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The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Music Hall

Today we have a fantastic guest post from Ruby Cardona about the fascinating history behind the Victorian Music Halls which were a mainstay of entertainment for decades. We hope you enjoy reading! The Victorian music halls were packed with exciting entertainments, visited by some of the most famous performers of the day and became notorious…
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When Pineapples Were The Height Of Luxury

If you go to a supermarket in a developed country today, then you will find aisles upon aisles of fresh fruit and vegetables imported from all over the world. Carrots, potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, apples, bananas, pears, peppers, avocado, lychees, pineapples. A whole pineapple will usually set you back about £1 in the UK. Whilst pineapples…
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“Dazzling in the Extreme”: Ice Skating in the Victorian Era

Winter is well and truly here, and that means that a plethora of sites have popped up outdoor ice skating rinks for the public to enjoy. In England, at least, Christmas seems to be tied strongly with the sport – although there are plenty of indoor rinks that people can use all year round, many…
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Historical Figures: Ada Lovelace, The First Computer Programmer

I have been meaning to write about Ada Lovelace for a very long time, and as today is Ada Lovelace day I figured what better excuse to start my new series on important historical figures of the past with her. The day falls on the second Tuesday of every October, and was founded in 2009…

