Like all encyclopedias should, we aim to be a useful resource for the general reader, and a starting point for further research by providing reliable sources for those seeking to find out more.
Some articles from our collection; click on any image to see more

Plastic classroom
First fully structural plastic building in England, completed in 1974

Gas Light
1938 play which gave rise to the term "gaslighting"

Annie Kenney
Working-class suffragette and poster girl for the movement

Jack Sprat
Nursery rhyme first recorded in 1670

The Singing Butler
Banksy's reimagining of the original by Jack Vettriano

The Room in the Tower
Horror story by E. F. Benson, first published in 1912

The Enigma of Hitler
Painting by Salvador Dalí, created in 1939

Bagpuss
Children's television series about a saggy old cat

Lady Lovibond
Ghost ship said to be sailing in British waters

Eton mess
No, not Boris Johnson, a dessert

Witch's Broomstick
Broomsticks smeared with flying ointment were believed to give witches the power of flight

Uley Long Barrow
Neolithic burial mound in Gloucestershire

Inspiration
World land-speed record holder for a steam-powered car

RHS Garden Bridgewater
Royal Horticultural Society’s first new garden since 2003

Cottingley Fairies
Five photographs taken by Elsie Wright (1901–1988) and Frances Griffiths (1907–1986)

Metrovick 950
Early British transistorised computer, built in 1956

Mandrake
Plant the cries of which when pulled from the ground can be fatal

Rover safety bicycle
The 1886 inspiration for all modern bicycles

Lilias Adie
Reconstructed face of an alleged Scottish witch exhumed in 1852

Brown Lady of Raynham Hall
Most famous ghost photograph ever taken

Ruby Cycle Company
British mtorcycle manufacturer 1909–1922

Ordsall Hall
15th-century manor house in which the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 may have been hatched

Eilean Mòr Lighthouse Mystery
Disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in 1900

Tam o'Shanter
Poem by Robert Burns describing Tam's encounter with a coven of witches




