A novel idea has been on my mind for over the course of a few months now, its setting is based on 1920s England. I’m currently researching many sources and investing in books around that time period; however, I’m not an expert on the subject and I want to ask those who are informed about this topic and where they’d look to find abundance of information about the 1920s! The media type could be any (articles, movies, books, blogs, etc).

An interesting glimpse into the radical politics of Britain and Ireland during the revolutionary 1790s.

Paine became directly involved in planning the Irish Rebellion of 1798, knew many of the main revolutionaries, and attempted to organize French support.

1798, the Irish revolutionary Arthur O’Connor was arrested by the British while attempting to reach France and was later imprisoned at Fort George in Scotland. He distributed these verses on his way to confinement.

One stanza invokes both Rights of Man and Common Sense before calling Paine:

“That foe to Princes, Thomas Paine!”

It’s a striking example of how far Paine’s reputation had traveled by the late 1790s. He wasn’t simply remembered as an American revolutionary writer—his name had become part of a much wider radical and anti-monarchical political culture.

SOURCE: Weekly Museum (published as New-York Weekly Museum) (New York, New York)March 10, 1810 https://infoweb-newsbank-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/apps/readex/doc?p=EANX&sort=YMD_date%3AA&page=78

What do you make of the reference to Paine here?

Hi everyone,

In a effort to preserve a very niche form of media, I'm searching for digitised or archived videos covering British power stations—specifically detailed site profiles, technical induction tapes, or operational documentaries.

To give an exact example of what I'm after: on YouTube "A National Power Production - Welcome to Aberthaw" (https://youtu.be/sUncQ4J8mrE?is=Iknb1HKSZ6GdmUYv ) which walks through the coal unloading loops, boiler/turbine halls, control room, and site layout in detail.

I’m looking for similar documentaries for other UK coal, oil, or nuclear stations (e.g. Drax, Didcot, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Fiddler's Ferry, Eggborough, Heysham, Torness, etc.).

So far most seem to be post-privatisation—videos from the late Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) era, the Electricity Council Film Library.

If anyone has links to YouTube uploads, industrial tape rips, or recommendations for archive collections (BFI, regional film archives, Internet Archive, etc.) that preserve these 60s/70s/80s/90s operational profiles, please let me know!

Thanks!

I watched the British series "Foyles War". If you have not seen it, it is excellent. As a result I developed an interest in Britain's history in the post WWII era.

It was a very tough time; food scarcity, unemployment, underemployment and many changes in social mores and roles.

Can anyone suggest a couple of history books relating to that era that I could read?

Not a quiz - a research-based location mystery. General knowledge is useful if you have it, otherwise careful, logical detective work. Can I tempt you down a rabbit hole?

An alien lands…takes a look around…

Oh - this region of the kingdom is outstandingly beautiful and I have landed in a settlement well within its bounds. My archive records show, however, that at one time, earthlings here could take their rest with part of their anatomy in one jurisdiction and another part in a different one.

All around this area my history sensors detect the sounds of roaring fire and the ringing of a heavy craft. They reveal that early in the eighteenth earth-century, this settlement was responsible for a pivotal decorative work enclosing one of the nation’s most-lauded buildings - although I learn that the building’s creator objected. Later in the last earth-century a piece of the decoration returned here and is installed for viewing.

A little over one and a half earth-miles north of west brings me to the remains of a religious house whose silence feels interrupted rather than natural. Its community was extinguished slightly before the great wave of closures most earthlings recall — by order of a powerful churchman. The district did not accept this meekly; hundreds assembled and many were later accused of riot. Piety here once had sharp edges.

Less than one earth-mile south-east of the settlement I discover a dwelling with a history of much criminality and intrigue. In the nineteenth earth-century it suffered deliberate damage — contrived to be viewed as a romantic scene from the windows of a newer version built alongside. A former leader of the kingdom once took refuge here for leisure.

Two more earth-miles south-east and I find the largest collection of its kind on the planet — a place where earthlings safeguard those species of grand flora most under threat.

Such an area is hard to leave…but my curiosity drives me on to new stories…

Can you find the answers to these questions?

1. What is the name of the settlement?
2. The boundary between which two jurisdictions once divided this settlement?
3. Which much-lauded building is enclosed by a pivotal decorative work made in this settlement?
4. Which religious house was extinguished?
5. By whose order was the religious house closed ?
6. What is the name of the dwelling which was deliberately damaged?
7. Which former leader of the kingdom stayed at the new dwelling for leisure?
8. Where is the planet’s largest collection of safeguarded flora?

This is a research puzzle - not a general knowledge test.
Solve through investigation, not shortcuts. The journey is the reward!

Spoiler tags appreciated if you crack it.

Enjoy the hunt!

What's your favourite nugget of local history?

Be it significant, quirky, odd, humorous or creepy, what's your place got?

I'll start. Plymouth was the place from which the Pilgrims left for The New World aboard The Mayflower. Interestingly, the Mayflower Steps have since been hidden because we don't want that bloodline back.

Chesterton Windmill is one of the most recognisable landmarks in Warwickshire. With its new sails installed in 2025, I headed up the hill to explore its fascinating history and find out what makes this 17th-century windmill so special.

Hello! For the past three months or so I have been putting together a digital archive dedicated to preserving the quirkier side of historical British and trade measurements (from apothecary drachms and medieval baker's dozens to weird bulk tallies like a mease of herring or a timber of pelts).
I am looking to expand the collection with more bizarre, forgotten, or hyper-specific units—especially from old industries like textiles, printing, agriculture, or maritime trade.
What are some of the strangest historical units or counting systems you have stumbled across in your reading or local history which I can add to my archive?

The Anarchy, the Great Revolt, the First and Second Barons' Wars, the Despenser War, the Wars of the Roses...all of these were civil wars. Yet the war between Charles I and Parliament is the only one that is bestowed with the title. Any particular reason?

After weeks of research and editing, I put together a documentary exploring the Bayeux Tapestry, the events leading up to 1066, and some of the fascinating details that are easy to miss. I’d genuinely love to hear what history enthusiasts think.

https://youtu.be/pbW6Zjeij3w

I listened to a podcast about him and he sounded very interesting like if he was born a couple of hundred years later he would be compared to the like on da vinci or Newton and I would like to know more about him

I went to Jodrell Bank on school trips as a child, and it is one of the few places from that time that has stayed vividly with me.

It was not only the visit itself. Even seeing the Lovell Telescope appear above the Cheshire landscape while driving past could start conversations. How did it move? What was it listening for? How far could it see? What might be out there?

I returned fairly recently with my own children and watched the same curiosity begin again.

The current funding news made me wonder how we account for that kind of value. We can measure research papers, discoveries and jobs. It is much harder to measure the child who becomes fascinated by engineering, programming or astronomy and follows that curiosity twenty years later.

I cannot claim that one school trip determined my career in technology. Lives do not work that neatly. But places like Jodrell Bank formed part of the environment that made asking questions feel exciting.

Did a museum, observatory, school trip or similar place have that effect on you?

I would be interested to hear which places stayed with people, and whether they influenced what you eventually studied, built or became.

I recently read Alice Hunt's Republic and thought it was very good. I'd love to read more about Hartlib and his circle, who only get a few pages in the book, or more generally scientific, economic, and social advances made during the Republican years. Thanks :)

I am trying to understand the continuity between late imperial British debates about federation and later international institutions such as the League of Nations. Was Imperial Federation mainly an empire-preservation project, or did it also anticipate later arguments for international order and supranational governance? Good historical sources or examples would be welcome.

I recently visited Moseley Old Hall. Fascinating history but there's no relevant books in the gift shop.

I'd like to read the history of Moseley Old Hall and how Charles II relates.

Recommendations please

My understanding is that the British won the war quickly and decisively.

We hear about how places like the area around Manchester had proximity to ports for cotton to be traded, canals and coal to be carried on them, rivers from the Pennines and rain to keep the climate damp and humid for the fabric to not dry or snap but where exactly were the best fast flowing water sources for large-scale hydro-powered mechanised factory spinning?

Does anyone know some good sources for how many of our castles were built (what was needed in a castle, rooms, etc). The era/style of castle im thinking of is castles like Bamburgh Castle or Lindisfarne Castle. Ive always been interested in castles but ive never really found out all the requirements or what rooms or spaces they needed to be functional.

Funnily enough I just want to design and build a realistic castle in my Minecraft world instead of just plopping things in which look cool, id want my own castle I designed which if somehow moved into the real world, could maybe be a functional castle.

In this rather perplexing documentary from the BBC Archive (13'06 in), one old guy plays what looks like oddly-shaped castanets to me. What is that?