In eighteenth century London, if you wanted to fence, you headed straight to the Angelo School of Arms. The salle, which was originally based above the pit door at Her Majesty’s Theatre at Haymarket, was moved to 13 Bond Street when the theatre burned in 1789. The Angelo family were a dynasty of fencing masters, famed all over Europe. Although…
Today, is the day we celebrate all biographers. Notably, we celebrate the meeting between James Boswell and Samuel Johnson at Tom Davies’ bookshop. Boswell’s Attempts to meet Johnson On 16 May 1763, James Boswell met the man whose name would forever be tied to his own, Dr Samuel Johnson. Johnson was the leading moralist, essayist, critic, author and lexicographer of…
With the weekend coming up, I am looking forward to putting down my research books and reading something a little lighter. I normally have a couple of books on the go and I am currently reading work by Doerr and Rubenhold. I am absolutely loving the stunning, lyrical language in Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. The imagery,…
History depends on documents. During my research on Mary Bryant and her family’s inheritance, I have trawled archives, but there are various documents that I have yet to track down. Some are supposed lost to history, but I live in hope that they will be found. Do you know where any of the following are to be found? If so,…