Curious Britain

An extraordinary sighting of a comet over London in 1664 heralded a double disaster of the following two years: The Great Plague and the Great Fire. But it wasn’t just Londoners who suffered. The Peak...

29 Touko 202519min

The heavy snowfall overnight in Devon in February 1855 was unusual. But what was even more unusual was the trail of footprints that appeared in the snow, ranging for over 100 miles, crossing rivers an...

22 Touko 202513min

In 19th century England it seemed that having a distinctive moustache was risky, as chemist Adolf Beck found out to his misfortune. At the time, eyewitness descriptions of criminals were accepted as f...

15 Touko 202516min

Few birds are as quintessentially British as the humble pigeon, but at best, they’re seen as comical, at worst, as vermin. But did you know that pigeons served as daring message carriers in the World ...

4 Touko 202524min

Hampton-on-Sea, a once-thriving Kent village, now lies beneath the waves—forgotten by time but not by history. Among its final residents was Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, famed for his role in the ...

1 Touko 20259min

Fraud, deception, a striking red cloak, and a crashed car on a lonely Welsh clifftop road. What was the enigmatic story behind this curious little-known incident, and why is this spot still known as “...

24 Huhti 202511min

If you shoot a ghost that’s been frightening people to death, is it against the law? This could be one of the strangest murder defences in history, when Francis Smith armed himself with a pistol and w...

17 Huhti 20258min

Think modern fads are strange? Try the Georgian craze for having a hermit living in your back garden. Let’s explore this forgotten trend which saw a spate of advertisements for people to spend seven y...

9 Huhti 202513min