Free Republic

"The tradition for most of my lifetime has been that the speaker is not a player in political debates — if he was doing his job well then you wouldn't notice him," said Jack Simson Caird, a former constitutional law expert in the House of Commons Library. "John Bercow has challenged that idea." Bercow, 56, became a Conservative Party lawmaker in 1997 but was forced to renounce this affiliation when elected speaker 12 years later. It's a job older than the United Kingdom itself, stretching back more than six centuries to 1377. Bercow is the 157th person to occupy the...

When farmer Ifor Edwards dropped his keys in a field he had no idea the search to find them would result in the discovery of buried treasure. Mr Edwards, 56 and his wife Anna, 40, called in enthusiasts from Wrexham Heritage Society when he lost his keys on land at Oak Farm in Bronington, near Whitchurch. But as well as finding his keys -- which had gone through a lawn mower -- the team armed with metal detectors also found 14 mediaeval coins dated from the 14th and 15th centuries. At an inquest in Ruthin the North East Wales Coroner...

Tt is often regarded as the British Army’s greatest military victory. Led into battle by the Duke of Wellington, UK troops routed Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, a triumph ushering in almost a century of peace and stability in Europe. But the Government is refusing to mark the battle’s 200th anniversary in 2015 amid suspicions it does not want to offend France. SNIP Brussels is spending at least £20million on commemorative events, including restoring the battlefield. SNIP James Morrow, secretary of Waterloo 200, ...said he was ‘disappointed’. SNIP ‘The Belgian government has spent millions on events to commemorate the...

The royal princes plodded slowly and sadly behind the coffin of their father, George V, as it was hauled through the streets of London to lie in state in Westminster Hall. In the silent crowd, Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell looked on the gun carriage draped with the royal standard and surmounted by the Imperial Crown and thought it 'unexpectedly lovely'. But then she caught sight of the new King, Edward VIII. What struck her was not just that he looked utterly miserable and very small, but that he was 'disreputable, patchy and debauched'. She was not impressed.

It is a legendary artefact of British history - albeit one for which there is no evidence. In 1344, King Edward III supposedly built a huge round hall to house a table for his 300 knights. His aim was to recreate the Arthurian legend of the Knights of the Round Table. The only problem was that - much like King Arthur's original Table at Camelot - many historians doubted whether it actually existed. Until now that is. For archaeologists digging up the Queen's front lawn at Windsor Castle yesterday unearthed a spectacular find. Below the turf of one of the...