Pietra dura – the art of creating images by cutting stones and fitting them into a jigsaw of shapes – flowered under the Florentine Medicis, but there’s only one man in Britain creating these precious-stone mosaics today: Thomas Greenaway.
Once the first set of books required in any home library, encyclopedias have long since been superseded by the internet. But rather extraordinarily there is still a market for them, as Octavia Pollock finds out.
Every year, millions of people across Britain will chuckle their way through a pantomime featuring a man playing the main female role, and usually a girl playing the lead male role. How it came to be so is a fascinating tale.
Octavia Pollock takes a trip to Cheltenham to experience the best that this equestrian retreat has to offer.
Twenty years after the death of Gordon Beningfield, Octavia Pollock revisits the work of the artist and countryside champion.
The silent star of Downton Abbey, Highclere castle is commemorating 100 years since the end of World War I with a display of Tiger Moths and Red Arrows, among other aircrafts and celebrations.
Roll up, roll up! The tricks, flicks and show-stopping stunts of the modern circus owe their existence to the vision of Philip Astley, who marked out a circus ring 250 years ago, says Octavia Pollock.
Simpson's is a restaurant so English that they even banned the word 'menu' – and while they're still serving Champagne, they're now making a real effort to champion the English alternatives. Octavia Pollock went along to try it out.
Highclere Castle was made famous across the world as Downton Abbey – and the money that it generated saved this beautiful country home for future generations. But they're still moving onwards in a post-Downton world, as Octavia Pollock explains.
