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  1. Blackleaf

    Site of the battle which saved England from Vikings is discovered near motorway

    A TV historian believes he may have discovered the real location of the Battle of Brunanburh on a humble lay-by off the A1. The battle is long believed to have saved England from Viking invaders over 1,000 years ago. It pitted a West Saxon army against a combined horde of Vikings, Scots and...
  2. Blackleaf

    Queen's sacred coronation oil is filmed for the first time

    The programme that will likely gather the most viewers on British TV tonight is The Coronation on BBC1 in which the Queen, who never does interviews, has a converation with Alistair Bruce, the Royal, Religious and National Events Commentator for Sky News. The programme will see Her Majesty...
  3. Blackleaf

    Hero surgeon of the Falklands War dies aged 71

    A Royal Navy medical officer who saved the lives of hundreds of British and Argentine troops during the Falklands War has died, aged 71. Working amid terrible conditions in the field, Surgeon Capt Rick Jolly, from Torpoint, Cornwall, saved the life of every British troop he treated. He is the...
  4. Blackleaf

    Pro-Trump protesters try to arrest London Mayor Sadiq Khan

    This is the dramatic moment a group of Trump supporters tried to arrest Sadiq Khan while quoting the Magna Carta. The men stormed the left-wing Fabian Society conference in London moments after the mayor took to the stage and accused him of 'subverting the English constitution'. Mr Khan's...
  5. Blackleaf

    Castle where Richard the Lionheart died goes on sale for under €1m

    The French chateau where Richard the Lionheart died after being hit by a bolt from a crossbow has quietly been put on the market with a small ad offering this remarkable piece of Anglo-French history for well under a million pounds. The castle of Châlus-Chabrol, about 110 miles...
  6. Blackleaf

    Boy on Cornish beach finds message in a bottle from Canada

    An eight-year-old boy has made a new friend thousands of miles away after finding a message in a bottle washed up on a Cornish beach. Noah Crooks was helping to clear plastic debris from Storm Eleanor at Stanbury Mouth near Bude with his brother and father earlier this month. His father...
  7. Blackleaf

    Early tea bill discovered in archive

    A 373-year-old bill with "one of the earliest" mentions of tea in England has been unearthed in an archive. A curator from Temple Newsam House, near Leeds, found the 1644 bill for medicinal ingredients bought by the estate. Rachel Conroy found mention of bottles of China drink, the old name...
  8. Blackleaf

    Four oarsmen smash 3,000 mile Atlantic row in 29 days

    Four British amateur rowers are believed to have set a new world record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Friends George Biggar, Dicky Taylor, Peter Robinson and Stuart Watts spent 29 days and 15 hours at sea during the 3,000-mile crossing from the Canary Islands to the...
  9. Blackleaf

    Trapped butcher saved by black pudding

    A butcher who became trapped in a walk-in freezer escaped thanks to a frozen black pudding. Chris McCabe, 70, said he got trapped after the freezer door in his shop in Totnes, Devon, blew shut behind him. Black pudding saves butcher trapped in freezer 11 January 2018 BBC News Chris McCabe...
  10. Blackleaf

    Lady Jane Grey: the curse of the nine-day queen

    On 13 November 1553, the 17-year-old Lady Jane Grey became the youngest royal woman to be condemned for treason in British history. Her trial – staged at Guildhall in the heart of the City of London – was a very public humiliation. For Jane, its outcome was a personal catastrophe. How had...
  11. Blackleaf

    As the RAF reaches 100, let's salute the plucky little plane that won the war

    The RAF - the world's oldest airforce - celebrates its 100th birthday on 1st April, so it's time to celebrate the plucky little aircraft that helped win the war... The plucky little plane that won the war! As the RAF celebrates its centenary, Robert Hardman salutes the Spitfire that sent...
  12. Blackleaf

    My grandmother, the ONLY person who dared stand up to Churchill

    New movie Darkest Hour follows Britain's great wartime leader Winston Churchill in his early days as Prime Minister as Hitler closes in on Britain and highlights the pivotal role of his wife Clementine. Their granddaughter Emma Soames says it's about time that Clementine's role was recognised...
  13. Blackleaf

    Crown Jewels hidden in biscuit tin during WW2

    Gemstones from the Crown Jewels were hidden in a biscuit tin at Windsor Castle for safekeeping during World War Two, a BBC documentary will reveal. It was buried below a secret exit on the orders of King George VI to prevent the jewels falling into Nazi hands. Crown Jewels hidden in biscuit...
  14. Blackleaf

    Fire, cider and blackface: Herefordshire villages celebrate New Year

    Morris dancers have celebrated the ancient pagan custom of wassailing by donning black make-up and leading a procession in a bid to prepare orchards for the New Year. The tradition through the villages of Much Marcle and Dilwyn in Herefordshire involves people pouring cider over tree roots...
  15. Blackleaf

    The 400-year-old Bible which survived being used as toilet paper

    A leather bound 400-year-old Welsh bible that survived a French invasion, fires and even being used as toilet paper was discovered gathering dust in the back of a church after four centuries. The leather bound 1620 Llanwnda Bible, which withstood the last invasion of Britain in 1797, defied the...
  16. Blackleaf

    Show on the Woad: How new drama Britannia aims to be new Game of Thrones

    New British historical drama Britannia aims to be the new Game of Thrones. Set in AD 43, the series follows ancient Rome's conquest of the Celts in the British Isles — "a mysterious land ruled by wild warrior women and powerful druids who can channel the powerful forces of the underworld."...
  17. Blackleaf

    Hard Sun: Just how scared should we be of solar apocalypse?

    New BBC pre-apocalyptic drama Hard Sun started last night. The series opened with a man hacking into security service GCHQ and coming across a secret so terrifying the authorities want to keep it from public knowledge: that the Sun is going to cause global mass extinction within the next five...
  18. Blackleaf

    Theresa May must end end Britain's great 140 Character Crisis

    Last week the NHS collapsed. So did the national rail network, and the police service. This was preceded by an explosion in homelessness, and before that an implosion of the judicial and penal system. The year is seven days old. And, if you believe the reports, the country is already on...
  19. Blackleaf

    Sir David Attenborough and a macabre murder mystery in Lyme Regis

    Last year’s documentary Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur, which traced the discovery of a new titanosaur species in Argentina, pulled in an impressive 7.5 million viewers, the highest rating for a natural history programme since an episode of Frozen Planet in 2011. Now the veteran...
  20. Blackleaf

    London confounds Brexit doom-mongers to be crowned Europe’s top tech investment city

    London beat every other EU city to be crowned tech investment champion of 2017 despite the move to Brexit. The capital had more technology money pour in than the rest of the top ten combined, including Paris, Dublin and Berlin. Best Brexcity London confounds doom-mongers to be crowned...