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The ancient Celtic peoples of north-west Europe celebrated New Year around the start of November. As Christianity spread in the Celtic lands during the ninth century, the Celtic festival was used as a base for a new Christian Holy day. So 1 November was made All saints' day, or All Hallows. One hundred and fifty years later, the Christian Church chose 2 November as All Souls' Day. On All Souls' Day Christians remember those who have died and pray that their souls may enter Heaven. Despite the Christian Church's efforts, Celtic tradition continued in a festival that became known as Hallowe'en. This is held on 31 October, the evening of All Hallows. Is the suffix -e'en meant evening? Like that in Christmas Eve? Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Pirate were cut-throat robbers who had no loyalty to any king or country, and who swooped on any ship of every nation, including their own. Treachery and murder were a way of life in the days when sailing-ships roamed the world. There was also another sort of pirate, a privateer. He was a kind of commissioned pirate, actually given permission by his own country  to rob his enemies; but if he ever stole from his own country's ships, then he was called a pirate, and hunted down and hanged. The treasure stolen by privateers was shared with the king.

You can find many articles on the internet, which list top 10, top 20, or top 50 weirdest job in the world. But they seem all miss one oddest job, that's Steward of Chiltern Hundreds, an office of the crown in United Kingdom! A hundred is a traditional division of an English county, and the three hundreds of Stoke, Desborough, and Burnham are in Buckinghamshire. These three hundreds are situated in the hilly, wooded Chiltern Hills, which were once notorious as a hiding place for robbers. The hundreds have been Crown property since at least the 13th century and a Crown Steward and a Bailiff was appointed to maintain law and order in the area. In UK, an MP cannot resign, but under certain conditions he may be compelled to retire. He cannot for instance, hold an office of profit under the Crown and remain an MP. So it come about that when a member wishes to resign for health or other personal reasons he applies for the post of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. There are no dutie...

Richard Wilson was a landscape painter, and known as ''the Father of British Landscape". Though he achieved great fame, he died in poverty, just because of a costly joke. In 1776 he sent to the Academy a picture of "Sion House from Kew Garden", which attracted the notice of king George III., and which he thought of buying. The King told Lord Bute thought the price too high, whereupon Wilson smilingly said: "Tell His Majesty he may pay for it by instalments." Lord Bute took the laughing remark seriously and was profoundly shocked. Poor Wilson lost the little favour that the Court ever showed to artists, and for the last years of his life his income was no more than £50 a year.

Before 1971 the pound was divided into twenty shillings (abbreviated as s) and subdivided again in to twelve pennies (d). There were thus 240 pennies to the pound. A guinea was worth 21s. It is almost impossible to give any idea of what this was worth in modern terms A mid-Victorian labourer might hope to earn between 20s and 30s per week but of course many had to support their families on much less, particularly in times of economic distress. By contrast the minimum wage rate for workers over 22 today is well over £5 an hour. When Mary Higgs and her friend spent a week visiting lodging houses and casual wards in the north of England in the early 1900s, they each took just 2s 6d to last a whole week. It was claimed that a beggar or loafer in London and other big cities might make up to five shillings a day through a combination of begging and doing odd jobs such as holding horses or taking messages. -- Workhouse , by simon fowler

When our Grandfathers and Grandmothers were at school they used to say that they began by learning the three R's; this was a sort of old fashioned joke, for the three R's  were meant to stand for Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, and they certainly all begin with a strong R sound, but our Grandparents hadn't learned much about writing if they thought it was spelt with an R, and they seem to have lost sight of the A in arithmetic! But that famous phrase - the Tree R's - is a useful reminder that education starts with learning to read, to write and to work with figures. You sart by getting to know the shapes of the letters - by reading them; then you learn to made these shapes yourself - that is writing.

There are many differences between American English and British Egnlish. Sometimes the same word has different meanings, and very often, different words are used for the same idea. BrE: CV is short for the Latin term "curriculum vitae" which means "the story of your life". AmE: Résumé is a French word, means 'a summery'. Now Résumé has the meaning of 'boigraphical summary of a person's carrer'. BrE: Sweets AmE: Candy, originates from old French, means crystallized sugar, this word ultimately comes from Arabic word 'cane sugar'. BrE: Cot AmE: Crib, its root probably related to German krebe "basket." Meaning "child's bed with barred sides" probably from frequent use in reference to the manger where infant Jesus was laid. BrE: nappy AmE: Diaper, from Old French, diapre "ornamental cloth." BrE: torch AmE: flash-light BrE: rubbish AmE: garbage, trash. Garbage originally was "giblets of ...

The Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 elected members known as MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly ). The UK government kept the power to suspend the Northern Ireland Assembly if the political leaders no longer agreed to work together or if the Assembly was not working in the interests of the people of Northern Ireland. This has happened several times. Towns, cities and rural areas in the UK are governed by democratically elected councils, often called local authorities. Many councils representing towns and cities appoint a mayor who is the ceremonial leader of the council but in some towns a mayor is appointed to be the effective leader of the administration. Most of the money for the local authority services comes from the government through taxes. Only about 20% is funded through 'council tax'. It applies to all domestic properties, including houses, bungalows, flats, maisonettes, mobile homes or houseboats, whether owned or rented. It's the task of judges ...

From the 1670s, Grenadiers were the elite troops of the British army. The term "grenadier" is derived from the fact that these troops originally hurled iron or porcelain grenades into enemy positions.They were instantly recognizable by their headgear: a tall, mitre cap, like a bishop's headdress, designed to allow them to hurl the small grenades they carried in their packs. Such a hat was more suited to crowd-pleasing on the parade ground of Whitehall than the chaos and filth of a battlefield but the men wore it with pride. http://www.militaryheritage.com/40thregt.htm

Reading the book "Man of Honour -- Jack Steel: for queen and Country" by Iain Gale. This is a story of lieutenant Jack Steel , a gentleman, a soldier, and a hero. The battle happened in Upper Bavaria, 1704. The enemy was Louis XIV of France, a megalomaniac intent on possessing all Europe. Lieutenant Jack Steel leads his men, the finest infantry in Queen Anne's army, through the battle of Blenheim, risking death and destruction in the fight against the tyrant. In chapter three, the author wrote about the rules and punishment in the British army in 18 century. Through lieutenant Jack Steel's observation and feeling, the author presented for us a horrible scene of brutality and barbarian. In the army, every major or captain has the responsibility of telling every man in his company that if one of them steals so much as an egg they will be either hanged or flogged without mercy. All men found gathering peas or beans or under pretence of rooting to be hanged as marauders ...

In the 18th century the question might not be "which school?", but "school or private tutor?". Rich people sent their boys to a Public School,  or Boarding School, under the cares of different personals of a Boarding school, which include: Headmaster would be hightly recommended particularly for the art of whipping little boys, parents in 19th century thought, in terms of education, there was nothing to be done without corporal punishment. Sometimes, mothers felt such a wrench to send their children away, so towards the end of the 19th century the position of Matron in boarding schools had become established, and mothers could feel that there was, in effect, a mother substitute to look after their children. House Masters ,  scholars lived in different boarding house, and every house has its master and assistant house master. Some pupils might live in almost as a member of his tutor's family, those were called parlour boarder, so their tutor were also t...

Florence Nightingale is famous for being the 'Lady with the Lamp' who nursed soldiers during the Crimean War (1853 - 56). After the Crimean War she demanded a Royal Commission into the Military Hospitals and the health of the Army, she began investigating the health and sanitation in the British Army in India, and the local population. She established the first organised, training school for nurses, the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas’ Hospital. Her greatest achievement was to make nursing a respectable profession for women. Florence's writings on hospital planning and organization had a profound effect in England and across the world, publishing over 200 books, reports and pamphlets. At the time and after, 'Florence' became a popular choice of name for a girl. Miss Nightingale was born in Florence Italy, 1820, hence her Christian name, which before her adulation, was never a name for a girl.

Walks The simplest (and usually the most boring) pastime for children was walking. Gardens Most children, where circumstances allowed, were given their own patch of garden to look after. This could be very satisfying, but only in the growing season. Pets The conventional pets are cats, dogs, puppies, hens, chickens, birds, more unusual pets are dormouse, peacocks, parrots, ferrets. Rural trio of hunting, shooting and fishing Shooting was not as popular in the early 19th century as it became later, when loading and firing sporting guns became simpler and quicker. Fishing was a more usual and safer sport for children. Hunting was an extension of riding, which was an accomplishment rather than a pastime in itself. Like 20th century children learning to ride a bicycle, children in the 18th and 19th centuries, if they could, learned to ride a donkey or a pony (owned, hired or borrowed) and later graduated to a horse. Criket and other outdoor pastimes Cricket was well establi...

As children grew beyond the toddler stage most well-to-do families found a governess to begin their education. The roles of governess and nanny overlapped. In theory the nanny was responsible for the younger children's welfare and bodily needs, while the governess dealt with the education and social training of the older children. Nannies were usually more permanent, serving two or more generations. Governess tended to move from one family to another after a few years and were usually of a higher social class than nannies. In the early 19th century neither had any qualifications: relatives, friends and acquaintances took the place of advertising or agencies.

Babies born to unmarried women faced great hazards in 19th Century. This was especially so if the father 'disappeared' or refused to acknowledge the child as his. If this happened the baby might simply be abandoned by its mother, hopefully to be found by someone before it died. It could then be looked after by the Parish authorities, or it might be cared for by grandparents or other relatives, or (more commonly in works of fiction) by some wealthy philanthropist. In extreme cases a desperate mother might try to solve her problem by killing the baby. Most mothers, of course, wanted to keep their babies, and if the father was willing to pay for its keep, it was fairly lucky. A Bastardy Bond was the usual method by which the Parish Overseers ensured that illegitimate children did not have to be provided for out of the Parish Rates. The natural father might sealed a Bond for a certain sums of money to be paid to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Parish, if he fai...

The streets and its dark entries were favourite playgrounds and as there were few motor cars, children could play with far more safety than today. One of the exciting game played in the side streets was Lappety Lappety Leaso: This was a two team game. One team made along bridge of backs, with their heads tucked in down to their knees. The other team all endeavoured to get a place on the backs by jumping from the rear of the bridge. The first few children to try had to be good jumpers.

Charles II (1660 - 1685) looked for ways of raising money to pay off his war debts. He began with a request for 'gifts' and in July 1661 Parliament gave its consent to 'The Free and Voluntary Present'. In every county receivers were appointed and names of 'donors' were recorded. Later on 19 May 1662, a new form of taxation was introduced, a tax on hearths . House holds were assessed according to the number of fireplaces, and required to pay a charge of two shillings per annum for each hearth, Exemptions to the tax were granted to the poor.

King Henry VIII hate greens, seemed never to eat vegetables and fruits. He was tall and  handsomen with a bright red-gold cap of hair and beard in his youth,  and he was very athletic, he loved hunting and party.  But he became grossly overweight and ill in his later years,  The fat, balding and unhealthy man has been often remembered. William the Bastard, the Duke of Normandy, known as William the Conqueror was crowned on Christmas Day 1066 as the King of England.  He had become very overweight in his later life and when they tried to get his body into  his stone tomb at Caen, it burst. A foul stench leaked out into the church and into the nostrils of those who had come to pay their respects. George the Fourth  was infamous for being overweight, overdressed, and oversexed and one of the most controversial an outrageous monarchs in British.  He wore horrible greasy make-up on his face and was so fat it w...

When I read Derbyshire Villages , I noticed that in many chapters the author mentioned a book Domesday Book , sounds like "doomsday book". I just wondered what the book looks like, was that a book which recorded church building (domes of churches) by Christian monks? Of course not, the Domesday Book is a great land survey from 1086, commissioned by William the Conqueror to assess the extent of the land and resources being owned in England at the time. Well, I was not totally wrong about the book name. An observer of the survey wrote,  "there was no single hide nor a yard of land, nor indeed one ox nor one cow nor one pig which was left out", the grand and comprehensive scale of the survey and the irriversible nature of the information collected led people to compare it to the Last Judgement, or 'Doomsday', described in the Bible. This book also showed the dvastation caused by the war led by William the Conqueror as village after village appears with t...

The fyrd had begun under Alfred the Great as a way of trying to deal with the invading Danish army. It was a kind of millitia requiring landowners to provide armed men for military service in defence of the realm; a kind of conscription of all able-bodied men between the age of 15 and 54. This was a sophisticated call-up system for the army, where the raising of men was based on how much land was held and worked because of the rule of loyalty and duty, which ran all the way from the lowest peasant to the king - and back again. Ceorls (churls) were free peasants who worked the land. A ceorl did not own much land, and the land he held, he had been granted by a thegn (thane). A thegn would hold much more land than a ceorl and with this extra wealth came extra responsibility. It was a minimum requirement of a thegn that he provide one armed man and the money to keep him for two months. The more land he owned, the more men he would have to supply, and the men of the wealthy thegn would ...