Weymouth

 I wrote a history of the English seaside town of Weymouth 

History of Inverness

 I wrote a history of the Scottish town of Inverness, the capital of the Highlands

Women's Underwear

 I have revamped and enlarged my history of women's underwear 

Westbury, Wiltshire

 I wrote a little history of the town of Westbury 

Selling Your wife

 In the 18th century and 19th century men sometimes sold their wives. (There were also cases where women sold their husbands). This strange custom arose because poor people could not divorce. (Until 1857 it took an act of parliament to dissolve a marriage so divorce was only possible for the rich).

However the wife had to consent to the sale and often she was sold to her lover. Selling your husband or wife was not actually legal but in the early 19th century it was tolerated, especially in rural communities.

However divorce became easier after 1857 and the police began to prosecute men who sold their wives. The last known case of a man selling his wife in Britain was in Leeds in 1926. He sold her for £10 (a large amount of money at that time). The woman consented to being sold but the man was prosecuted.

History of cloth

 This is my history of cloth. A look at fabrics across time.

A Cock and Bull Story

 A ‘cock and bull story’ means a story that isn’t true. It’s a persistent myth that it’s because some town or village had two inns, one called the cock and another called the bull. You would hear one version of a story in a pub called the cock and another version in the bull. So if a story was doubtful it was a cock and bull story. It’s true that several places in England had two inns, one called the cock and the other called the bull.

But it’s very unlikely that the saying has anything to do with inns. The truth is that the phrase was originally ‘he/she told me a story about a cock and a bull’. Far more recently it was shortened to ‘he/she told me a cock and bull story’. There was probably once a story about a cock and a bull that has now been lost. There is no evidence the saying has anything to do with inns.