The 18th century was good news for toupee manufacturers of Wigtownshire as the act of union between England and Scotland caused nationalist Scots to lose all of their hair. This sacrificial shedding came to be known as The Headland Clearances, celebrity ex-pat Sean Connery being a famous shedder. It led to the invention of the […]

The 17th Century was bad news if you were King and thought you could act like one. No longer could you parade about the kingdom lopping off people’s heads because they looked at you funny or knocked over your drink. Now you had to answer to Parliament and the New Model Army, an indie band […]

The 16th century was bad news if you were a Protestant, Catholic or neither of the above. It was hard work trying to keep track. You’d just convinced the religion police that you were a Catholic by hiding your hair vest behind a life size picture of the pope and throwing rosary beads all over […]

If you were a claustrophobic young heir to the throne the 15th century was one to avoid. When you should have been dreaming of accession, and lopping off the heads of people you took a dislike to, mad uncle Richard was walling you up in the tower. At least you had the company of your […]

The 14th century wasn’t a good time to open a beauty salon. Deep cleansing and exfoliation of the skin is all good and well, but when you have a boil on your neck the size of a football you really can’t be bothered with all that. As for manicures, they generally require the presence of […]

If you were King of England the 13th century was a bit of a bugger. The Magna Carta meant that you could no longer parade through Tesco’s checkout without paying. You had the church on your back demanding money for leaking roofs, or for actually attaching one to Salisbury Cathedral. Uppity barons wouldn’t let you […]

The problem for anyone lucky enough to own possessions in the 12th century was the unsatisfactory state of home security. It was very primitive, a ripple on the moat being enough to set off the alarm. Not everyone could afford their own army of Welsh archers after all. Those that could promptly had them stolen […]

In light of the tabloid newspapers obsession with the ‘good old days’ and Britons forever expressing dissatisfaction with 21st century life, Blighty is beginning a new series. We are taking the Blighty Time Machine through the centuries and it starts here with a look at the 11th century, the limit to this prototype’s reach. We […]