Food and drink

The fourth earl of Sandwich, contemplating a sandwich in a thought bubble

Did the Earl of Sandwich invent the sandwich?

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Pod Annabel Abbs WL

Eliza Acton: Britain’s first modern cookery writer . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Pod Mark Schrad WL

Prohibition: busting myths about the ban on booze

A woman holds a pitchfork in an image from a recruitment poster for the Women’s Land Army, 1940s.

Second World War

Dig for Victory: Britain’s WW2 war on hunger

Pod John Martin WL

Second World War

Carrot conspiracies & digging for victory: feeding Britain in WW2

Pancake day celebrations

The history of Shrove Tuesday: why do we eat pancakes?

The Eridge Hunt, Boxing Day 1952

A brief history of Boxing Day

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Pod Annie Gray WL

Christmas feasts with Annie Gray Episode 4: WW2 rationing & postwar absurdity . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Christmas merriment in an old English manor in the 1500s

How to host a medieval Christmas

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Pod Annie Gray WL

Christmas feasts with Annie Gray Episode 3: Victorian merrymaking . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Still Life of Game Birds, oil on canvas. Birds such as goose, swan and peacock were often on the late medieval festive menu

General History

The roasts of Christmas past: 5 festive dinners from British history

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Pod Annie Gray WL

Christmas feasts with Annie Gray Episode 2: Georgian elegance . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Pod Annie Gray WL

Christmas feasts with Annie Gray Episode 1: Medieval & Tudor revelry . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Photograph of Mrs Beeton bracing herself against a chair while wearing a long, dark-coloured gown

The secret life of Mrs Beeton: 10 pieces of life advice from her famous Book of Household Management

Daniel Lambert in a 19th-century painting

Super-sized Georgians: why satirists were fixated with fatness