Topic description and stories

Black and white photograph of a family lined up against a wall, taken from a report on the physical welfare of mothers and children.

Cambridge experts bust myths about family, sex, marriage and work in English history

11 Jul 2024

On World Population Day, University of Cambridge researchers bust some of the biggest myths about life in England since the Middle Ages, challenging...

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Illustration of Calamophyton trees

Earth’s earliest forest revealed in Somerset fossils

07 Mar 2024

The oldest fossilised forest known on Earth – dating from 390 million years ago – has been found in the high sandstone cliffs along the Devon and...

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Intercity 2 train at Warnemünde station in Rostock, one of the parts of eastern Germany look at in the report.

Services across England now lag far behind East Germany, as experts call for ‘universal basic infrastructure’ in UK

05 Dec 2023

Per capita access to hospitals, mental health services, and further education facilities in German towns and cities – primarily in the former GDR –...

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Abingdon street in central Blackpool, the English town with the highest rate of hospital admissions for self-harm.

People in England’s poorest towns ‘lose over a decade of good health’, research finds

17 Jun 2020

Cambridge researchers find major health inequalities – as well as a geographic divide – between the most and least deprived English towns. They say...

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Teignmouth seafront

Opinion: Methods for protecting England’s coastal communities ‘not fit for purpose’

07 Nov 2018

Professor Tom Spencer from Cambridge’s Department of Geography and Professor Gerd Masselink from the University of Plymouth say evidence suggests...

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Argentina fans at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Underdogs, curses and ‘Neymaresque’ histrionics: Cambridge University Press reveals what’s been getting us talking this World Cup

13 Jul 2018

Cambridge University Press has revealed the results of its global study into the language used around the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

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The Vikings are coming

Opinion: From Medieval kings to modern politics: the origins of England’s North-South divide

26 Feb 2016

Fiona Edmonds (Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic) discusses devolution and the medieval kingdoms of England.

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Screen grab of one of the app's questions

Do you say splinter, spool, spile or spell? English Dialects app tries to guess your regional accent

11 Jan 2016

An app that tries to guess your regional accent based on your pronunciation of 26 words and colloquialisms will help Cambridge academics track the...

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Detail from the cover image of “The English and Their History”.

Stability, unity and nonchalance: What does it mean to be English?

06 Nov 2014

An epic new history of England offers some eye-catching conclusions on Englishness – suggesting, among other things, that a “remarkable” level of...

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John Speed's proof map of Cambridgeshire

Mapping the origins of a masterpiece

21 Apr 2011

Published 400 years ago, the first comprehensive atlas of Great Britain is being celebrated by Cambridge University Library, home to one of only five...

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