One of the lesser-known suspects for the Ripper murders is William Bury and his is a strange tale indeed!

He was born in May 1859, orphaned at an early age and attended a charitable school in the Midlands. After he left school, he was in regular employment for a while and then got into financial difficulties and was dismissed for stealing. He became a street pedlar. In 1887 he moved to London and met and married Ellen Elliot, who was probably a prostitute. Their marriage was stormy, punctuated...

The British Museum’s exhibition ‘Thomas Becket murder and the making of a saint’ is into its last days now and will close on 22 August. It is being held to mark the 850th year of his death (or the 900th of his birth), with the slight discrepancy of it now being 2021 (he lived 1120 to 1170) being explained by a postponement from last year due to lock-down.

The main drawback of exhibitions is usually the other people there, preventing you seeing what you want to see when you want to see it...

Albemarle Street is one of Mayfair’s quieter streets, but it has not always been so. It is home to the Royal Institution and with its imposing classical columns it is one of the most notable buildings on the street. But it is also the reason Albemarle Street became Britain’s first one- way street.

The Royal Institution (RI for short) is one of the UK’s leading scientific institutions, founded in 1799. It has always had an emphasis not only on research but also teaching and you may have s...