There is a contradiction at the centre of making charcoal that explains everything about how it was done.
The wood has to be heated to a high temperature, and the…
There is an image that makes most people wince the first time they see it: a hammer driving nails into a horse's foot.
The reaction is reasonable, and it rests…
There is a small object that lines a great many old roads and is almost never looked at: a short stone or cast-iron post at the verge, carrying a name…
There is a type of building standing in fields, farmyards and the grounds of old houses that most people pass without knowing what it was for.
It is frequently round…
There is a question about weathervanes that catches almost everybody out, and it concerns which way the pointer faces.
The natural assumption is that the arrow shows where the wind…
There is a well-documented behaviour in animals that explains the entire history of trying to keep birds off crops, and it is almost never mentioned in that context.
The behaviour…