The Queen Who Invaded Her Own Country
Isabella of France crossed the Channel with fifteen hundred soldiers in 1326, deposed her husband, and ruled England with her lover. Her son removed her at seventeen.
Read the story →A country
United Kingdom
12 stories set here.
The Doctor Who Invented the Vampire and Took Prussic Acid
John Polidori was twenty-five. He had written the first English vampire novel, been disowned by Byron, and lost a libel suit. He drank prussic acid on a Wednesday.
Read the story →The Heir Who Was Not Killed by a Cricket Ball
Frederick, Prince of Wales died in March 1751, aged forty-four. The story that a cricket ball had killed him survived for two centuries. His lungs had killed him.
Read the story →The Curate Who Doubted John Snow
Henry Whitehead set out to disprove John Snow's water theory. He spent six months knocking on doors in Soho. By the end he had identified the index case.
Read the story →The Seventy Years the Sun Forgot to Have Spots
Between 1645 and 1715 the surface of the Sun was nearly blank. Sunspot counts dropped to almost zero. Europe froze. Astronomers noticed, then forgot.
Read the story →The Earl Who Ruled England From the Queen's Bedchamber
Roger Mortimer escaped the Tower, invaded England, deposed a king, and ran the country for three years. His own teenage king-by-grace overthrew him in a midnight coup.
Read the story →The King Murdered in a Castle Basement (Maybe)
Edward II of England was forced to abdicate, locked in a Gloucestershire castle, and died there in September 1327. Or did he escape and live another fourteen years?
Read the story →The Plague Novel Mary Shelley Wrote in 1826
Eight years after Frankenstein, Mary Shelley published a novel about a global pandemic that kills everyone except one narrator. Critics hated it. They had reasons.
Read the story →The King Who Died on the Close Stool
On the morning of 25 October 1760 the King of Great Britain rang for his chocolate, walked to the privy, and was dead before his valet got back.
Read the story →The Doctor Who Took the Handle Off the Pump
In September 1854, John Snow walked door to door through Soho with a map, a hypothesis, and a problem the city wouldn't believe.
Read the story →The Winters They Roasted Oxen on the Thames
Between 1608 and 1814 the river through London froze solid often enough to hold fairs on its surface. Then they tore down a bridge, and it never froze again.
Read the story →The Smell That Built a City
London's sewer system was funded in eighteen days. It took a heatwave, a river of feces, and a Parliament that could not breathe.
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