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Curious Questions: Why were ferns considered magical?
Martin Fone considers the beautiful and ancient fern, once commonly held to have mysterious properties.
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Curious Questions: What is a jubilee?
The celebration of HM's Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee is imminent — but what is a jubilee, and where does this strange word come from? Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: What is a crinkle-crankle wall?
The mysterious term crinkle-crankle wall is something you'll see scattered in to architecture books and even property listings. But what are crinkle-crankle walls? Why are they shaped as they are? And who first came up with the idea? Martin Fone explains all.
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Curious Questions: Who invented the Ploughman's Lunch?
Unimaginable as it seems in the era of the gastropub, in the relatively recent past the ploughman's lunch was the only food served at most British pubs — and it was so much a part of agricultural labourers' lives that some even went to court for their right to bread, cheese and pickles. Martin Fone takes a look at the curious tale of the ploughman's lunch.
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Curious Question: Why was the tomato considered to be poisonous?
Martin Fone takes a look at the history of one of our mealtime staples, from its first introduction into Europe in the early 16th century as an exotic plant, to how it ended up on our plates.
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Curious Questions: Are Mothering Sunday and Mother's Day the same thing?
Mothering Sunday and Mother's Day have distinct meanings, as Martin Fone explains in the latest of his Curious Questions.
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Curious Questions: Did the Tower of London menagerie provide the animals for London Zoo?
Wolves in the Tower of London and an elephant so well trained that Lord Byron wanted to adopt it as his butler — Martin Fone discovers the strange and terrifying history of the last of London's menageries, and how they helped establish what we'd recognise today as its first zoos.
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16 of the best gins for Mother's Day
What better for Mother's Day than a bottle of 'Mother's Ruin'? We've selected some of the finest gins on the market which are sure to give your long-suffering parent a treat.
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Curious Questions: Who invented the pneumatic tyre?
The names of Goodyear, Dunlop, and Michelin are familiar to motorists and cycling enthusiasts alike, but it is thanks to another inventor that we enjoy comfortable rides on inflated rubber tyres. Martin Fone tells a tale of an inventor's extraordinary ingenuity in creating a design that pre-dated its usefulness by several decades.
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Curious Questions: How is plant-based milk made?
Martin Fone takes a deep dive into the world of plant-based milks and discovers that the dairy alternatives have been around for a lot longer than we may have thought.
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Curious Questions: Why do cats have whiskers?
Martin Fone investigates the all-important role of feline whiskers—including how they contribute to enhancing the species' beauty.
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Curious Questions: Should you bring a snowdrop into the house?
Martin Fone delves into Britain's collective passion for Galanthus and looks at the folklore that surrounds it.
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Curious Questions: Do tear-free onions actually stop you crying when you chop them?
Our intrepid correspondent Martin Fone has put the onions (and his eyes) to the test.
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Curious Questions: Who invented the ice skating rink?
With the Winter Olympics approaching, Martin Fone wonders how we came from sliding across frozen ponds to putting on huge sporting spectacles in great, frozen arenas.
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Curious Question: Was St Valentine beaten to it by 1,000 years by the Welsh patron saint of love?
The arrival of St Dwynwen's day on January 25th prompts Martin Fone to recall the tale of a saint whose connection with romance and love predates St Valentine's by centuries.
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Curious Questions: Why are Christmas cracker jokes so corny?
With the dust having settled on Christmas, there is only one question left to ponder: why are the jokes in crackers so intentionally bad? Martin Fone explains all.
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Curious Questions: Why do we take Christmas decorations down on January 6th? (And why it should really be the 5th)
Our houses never look better than they do throughout the festive period, so why do we take down Christmas decorations on January 6? After all we could simply leave them up for a few more weeks, couldn't we? Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: Why do we have Advent calendars?
This week's Country Life Christmas special is an annual treat, with our special Advent calendar cover. But how did the Advent calendar phenomenon start? Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Question: How did the Victoria Sponge get its name?
Our most beloved sponge cake carries a grandly regal name: the Victoria Sponge. But how did it come to be called that? Ahead of National Cake Day on November 26, Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: Who invented the watering can?
You might take it for granted, but the watering can transformed the art and science of gardening — but who came up with its perfect design, which has been essentially unchanged for over a century? Martin Fone, author of More Curious Questions, investigates.
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Curious Questions: Where do conference pears get their name?
Conference pears bear one of the oddest and most incongruous names in the world of fruit and veg. Martin Fone, author of More Curious Questions, delves deeper to see how they came to be called what they are.
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Curious Questions: Where have all the acorns gone?
Last year, oak trees shed acorns by the billion — this year, they're almost nowhere to be seen. What's behind the mystery? Martin Fone, author of More Curious Questions, investigates.
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Curious Questions: Why doesn't Stilton cheese come from Stilton?
Britain's most famous blue cheese takes its name from a picturesque Cambridgeshire village — yet it's made nowhere near the place, and not even in the same county. Martin Fone investigates this strange culinary anomaly.
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Curious Questions: Who compiled the first crossword?
Martin Fone retraces the history of the popular pastime from the word puzzle squares of Roman times to today's cryptic grids.
