In today's lesson we read extracts from the story of Ruth Osborne. A woman who was suspected of being a witch and subsequently murdered in 1751. If you missed the lesson you can read the text here - Ruth Osborne.

The use of slang and bad grammar is to be monitored on the BBC's children's channel CBBC, after complaints about the amount of poor language used on air. Last year, an independent report into the channel criticised "crass" presentation and bad grammar. Examples of bad grammar included:- "ain't" "you was""What d'ya like best" and"What's ya […]

You may have noticed that the web site(s) were off-line for a short time. This was because I have moved them onto a larger server with more volume and hopefully a faster connection. Sorry if you got the dreaded Error 404 message, but I think we should see an improvement in the service.

Today I had my flu jab. All unsuspecting I went to the doctors - I didn't realise they inject it into a cheek - and I'm not talking about my face here. Still, at least I shouldn't get normal flu this year. And I am avoiding ducks and other wild fowl. I shan't be stocking […]

In today's lesson we discussed some of the authors of Victorian Britain and how their books reflected changes in British society at that time. We will continue the discussion this Friday.

I'm reading Neville at Oxford - doesn't have the same ring does it, and yet that's what scholars may have to say in the future. Extraordinary new historical evidence suggests that Shakespeare's plays were not written by the bard, but by a politician descended from King Edward III and John of Gaunt. A British scholar […]