Contrary to popular belief, school uniforms did not begin within the English public school system, but among charity schools.
Dr Kathryn Bates is a graduate of archaeology and history. She has excavated across the world as an archaeologist, and tutored medieval history at Leicester University. She joined the administrative team at Oxford Open Learning twelve years ago. Alongside her distance learning work, Dr Bates is a bestselling novelist, and an itinerant creative writing tutor for primary school children.
Schools in Children’s Fiction
It wasn’t until the nineteenth century, when improvements in education meant that children could learn to read, that school based stories grew in popularity.
The Origins of Football: The Game That Couldn’t Be Banned
Football has its earliest roots in Ancient Greek. Known as cuju (which means kick-ball), the game was played by the military as a form of exercise. Its first mention appears in a military manual from the third and second centuries BC. It wasn’t only the Ancient Greeks who used cuju in this way. Documentary evidence […]
On poetry and Addressing the Haggis : The story of Burns Night
Robert (or Robbie) Burns is the most famous and celebrated of all the Scottish poets. In 1801, on the fifth anniversary of his death, nine of Burns’ friends got together for a dinner at his old home in Alloway, Scotland, to celebrate his life. This very first Burns evening was a grand affair, with a […]
A Brief History of the Calculator
Even before numbers themselves were invented, people needed a way to keep track of the cost of goods they were selling. To fulfil this need, in ninth century China the abacus was invented- a basic calculating device made out of a wooden frame and counting beads. Despite the importance of being able to calculate numbers […]
When is New Year?
Each year in Britain we mark the start of a New Year on the 1st January. Often following an evening of celebrations on 31st December, including the singing of Auld Lang Syne, (‘Auld Lang Syne’ is Scottish for ‘times gone by.’), listening to Big Ben chime midnight, going to parties, and setting off fireworks. Other countries […]
What is Philosophy?
The word “Philosophy” is a combination of the Greek words “philos” and “sophy”, which together mean “love of wisdom.” In the case of philosophy, wisdom is defined as coming from knowledge from your own experience. Socrates, one of the first and most influential of Greek philosophers, stated that “Wisdom begins in wonder”. Until the 19th […]
The History of Boxing Day
Boxing Day became a regular tradition in England in the middle of the nineteenth century under Queen Victoria. Celebrated every year on December 26th, Boxing Day was nothing to do with the sport of boxing, but rather the day when tradesmen were presented with Christmas boxes or gifts, in return for good and reliable service […]
Christmas in Europe
Christmas is celebrated across Europe in a fascinating variety of ways. The word “Christmas” which we use in Britain came from the masses for Christ, held by English evangelists in December: “Christ’s mass” became “Christmas.” In France the word “Noël” is used for the Christmas period, which comes from the Latin word natalis, which means […]
The History of The Christmas Tree
One of the most recognisable symbols associated with Christmas is the Christmas Tree. The evergreen fir tree has been used to celebrate winter both pagan and Christian festivals for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice to remind them of the spring to come. The Romans […]