Curious Questions
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Curious Questions: Who invented the jelly cube?
Once a sweet treat fit for the Royal Court, jelly was transformed into a favourite dessert of the masses by the launch of Rowntree’s concentrated jelly cubes. Harry Pearson tells their tale.
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What sort of man is King Charles III, and what sort of king will he be?
A brilliant conversationalist, a cracking host and, surprisingly, an excellent actor, Charles III genuinely cares for people and strives to make a difference to their lives. Anna Tyzack speaks to some of those who have crossed his path.
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Curious Questions: Can you really live off the grid in 2022?
The pandemic forced millions of us to re-evaluate where and how we live — and what's important to us. The answer for many was to live off the grid. But can it really be compatible with modern life? Adam Hay-Nicholls tried it out — and spoke to some of those who have made it work.
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Curious Questions: Is a pumpkin a fruit or a vegetable?
The rows upon rows of ghoulish, glowing squash down your street can only mean one thing: it’s Halloween. But have you ever stopped to wonder whether a pumpkin is a fruit or a vegetable? Alexandra Fraser investigates.
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Curious Questions: What is a barrow? The burial mounds that pre-date Stonehenge by seven centuries
Long or round, large or small, prehistoric tumuli dot the countryside. Vicky Liddell explores the history, folklore and literary influence of burial mounds or barrows and reveals how they were nearly lost to the 18th-century digging mania.
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Curious Questions: How do sycamore seeds spin?
A chance encounter with Nature's answer to the helicopter prompts Martin Fone to ponder how sycamore seeds managed to fall to earth so gracefully.
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Curious Questions: How did a Swedish lighthouse genius and the 'father of advertising' make the Aga a country house must-have?
No English country house is complete, or so it sometimes seems, without an Aga at the heart of the kitchen — yet it's a Swedish invention whose roots are rooted in a tragic explosion, as Martin Fone discovers.
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Curious Questions: Is there any such thing as coincidence?
Just when you were musing about the nature of coincidences, along comes Martin Fone to explain exactly what they are — and what they aren't.
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Who wrote 'God Save The King'? The extraordinary tale of the British national anthem
What are the origins of our national anthem? John Goodall investigates the extraordinary story behind both the tune and the words, as well as their influence on other nations.
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Curious Questions: Can ancient technology of wind, water and hot springs help make a sustainable future?
The UK is switching on to a future of home-grown, greener power — and yet this future is drawing on the past. Jonathan Lee revisits the renewable revolution that started right here.
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Curious Questions: Why do the British love to queue?
After a summer of stoic queuing in planes, trains and automobiles, Country Life has identified five reasons why patient queueing is the British tradition that we secretly love to love.
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Curious Questions: Was Captain Webb the first to swim the channel?
Captain Matthew Webb was famously the first man to successfully swim the English Channel — or was he? Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: What is the world's oldest extant rowing race?
The annual Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race has been a fixture on the sporting calendar of Britain for almost two centuries — but there is a far older example still going, Doggett's Coat and Badge, which boasts an unbroken record of winners for more than three centuries examples. Martin Fone explains.
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Curious Questions: Which came first — the plastic flower pot or the garden centre?
Martin Fone takes a look at the curiously intriguing tale of the evolution of nurseries in Britain.
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Curious Questions: Should you get rid of wasps?
Yes, they're a pain at your summer barbecue, but wasps are also voracious predators of other insects — and some of Nature’s most important pest controllers. Seirian Sumner, author of ‘Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps’, explains a few of the reasons that you might want to hold off calling the pest controller — and, indeed, why you it might be time to start providing wasp nesting houses in your garden, alongside that designer bee hotel.
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Curious Questions: How did the strawberry become the ultimate summer fruit?
Martin Fone tells a tale of fruit, sensuality and espionage as he digs in to the tale of the strawberry we know and love.
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Curious Questions: When did the first passenger jet take off?
'Nowadays we travel to all parts of the globe, often within a day and often without changing planes,' says Martin Fone, as he muses on the birth of commercial air travel exactly 70 years ago.
