Once considered a luxury item and given as a love token — or even used as a makeshift toothbrush — the handkerchief still offers an elegance sorely lacking in a packet of paper tissues, says Matthew Dennison.
The desire to chart the world around us is an impulse as old as time and some map-makers’ efforts have an astonishing longevity, reveals Matthew Dennison.
The reductivist simplicity of a chimney piece designed 200 years ago by Sir John Soane explains the architect’s reputation as a founding father of Modernism.
Far more than a fancy of old ladies, unoccupied hands and evenings are never a problem for enthusiasts of needlepoint. Matthew Dennison takes a look.
Shrouded in myth and mystery, the unremarkable-looking Stone of Scone — the ancient symbol of Scottish sovereigns — still plays a significant role in the coronations of British monarchs, says Matthew Dennison.
It is to the Crown that we owe allegiance. Matthew Dennison considers the history of this most familiar attribute of royalty, which he finds as laden with the hopes of a nation as it is with glittering gold and precious jewels.
From a sentence born of an exhausting teaching job, J. R. R. Tolkien crafted a series of fantastical novels that, 50 years on from his death, still loom as large in our imagination as Sauron’s all-seeing eye, says Matthew Dennison.
Once viewed with suspicion, forks remained the preserve of royalty until nearly 200 years ago. Matthew Dennison takes a stab at the king of cutlery, which changed the way we eat.
A beautifully-folded napkin is the ideal way to finish off your festive table setting. Here's how to fold a rose napkin.
The countryside filled the Matilda author Roald Dahl with joy and proved a constant source of inspiration, as Matthew Dennison reveals in a new biography of the prolific storyteller.
The twist of fate that led the young Princess Elizabeth to become heir to the throne could not have gifted us a better sovereign, says Matthew Dennison, as he looks in depth at Queen Elizabeth II's life and legacy.
Nursery favourite Ruth Manning-Sanders believed it was every child’s birthright to enter a world of enchantment and occasional terrors, where good always triumphs over evil, discovers Matthew Dennison.
Beatix Potter's unforgettable children's stories have left an indelible mark on the cultural life of Britain. Here, her biographer Matthew Dennison looks at her life, work and legacy, and examines the V&A's new exhibition about her life: 'Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature’.
Originally known as ‘pudels’ or ‘puddles’, curly-coated standard poodles raise both smiles and eyebrows, not least with their distinctive pom-pom trim. Matthew Dennison discovers more, with photographs by Sarah Farnsworth.
Known for his bold and thoughtful pictures, as well as a fondness for magenta, Ford Madox Brown was one of the most flamboyantly gifted Pre-Raphaelites, even if he was never a member of the sacred brotherhood.
From the Americas to the roof of country-house follies, Matthew Dennison traces the journey of the pineapple, one of Georgian Britain’s most coveted fruits.
Matthew Dennison takes a look at the life and times of Henry Paget, aka the 'Dancing Marquess', whose legendary shopping sprees saw him blow a vast fortune.
Flamboyant and colourful, the best examples of cloisonné render flowers, fruits and dragons in a rainbow of multi-hued enamel on metal, enthuses Matthew Dennison.
This year, Spode celebrates its 250th anniversary. Matthew Dennison tells the story of how this English ceramics manufacturer, still based in the Potteries.
Francis Wheatley RA (1747–1801) is best known today for his ‘Cries of London’, but, as Matthew Dennison explains, he was also a painter of delightful and accomplished portraits and landscapes.
