Francis Young

The ancient roots of Christmas ghost stories

24 December 2023 6:00 pm

Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is either, depending on your perspective, the ultimate Christmas ghost story or a complete subversion of the…

The Ministry of Justice is engaged in historical vandalism

20 December 2023 12:01 am

This week, the Ministry of Justice launched a consultation on its plan to digitise its vast archive of wills. The…

The anarchy of bonfire night

5 November 2023 9:15 pm

Bonfire night festivities in Britain today are increasingly highly choreographed events: council-sponsored firework displays mounted by professional companies, sponsored by…

The mystery of the Baltic god in Kent

13 August 2023 5:30 pm

One of the stranger events of the summer of 2023 is the sudden and unexplained appearance, one night in early…

How the ancient rites of the coronation survived

6 May 2023 4:45 pm

It is a cliché to say that Britain’s customs were invented by the Victorians. In the case of the coronation,…

Does King Charles’ Green Man make him a pagan?

6 April 2023 8:55 pm

On 4 April the Royal Household revealed the design for invitations to the Coronation, the work of heraldic artist Andrew…

Is Christmas really a pagan festival?

23 December 2022 9:00 pm

It’s as much a part of the season now as baubles, tinsel and the Christmas Number One: those articles, blogs…