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.
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Curious Question: Why does the air smell so good after it's been raining?
That wonderful scent in the air when the rain stops falling has entranced people since the dawn of time — but what causes it? Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: Why isn't there a Crufts for Cats?
Charles Cruft was a salesman-turned-showman who created the world's biggest dog show — yet Cruft himself owned a cat. So why didn't he do the same for felines and create a Crufts for Cats? Well, it turns out that he did — but it was scuppered by the British weather. Martin Fone tells the extraordinary tale.
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Curious Questions: Where do wedding anniversary traditions come from?
Martin Fone discovers the origins of wedding anniversary names and investigates the origins of the Flitch Trial tradition.
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Curious questions: Who was the first person to receive the Victoria Cross?
Martin Fone retraces the history of the order and discovers the stories of its early recipients.
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Curious Questions: Who invented the lawnmower?
Martin Fone delves into the history of the lawnmower and discovers a link to weaving machines.
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Curious Questions: What is a weed?
They're the bane of gardeners' lives, but do they even exist, at least in any consistent and logical sense? Martin Fone takes a step back to think about which plants are and aren't weeds — and how the mystery of fast adaptive evolution means that the 'wrong plant in the wrong place at the wrong time' definition isn't quite enough.
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Curious Questions: What was the world’s greatest sea rescue?
Eighty-three years after it was founded, the RNLI made its largest rescue off the coast of the Lizard, in Cornwall.
