Vikings
We must never lose the treasured Orkneys
Fertile fields and spectacular sea stacks are matched by an extraordinarily rich, dramatic history. No wonder the islands have been so celebrated for centuries
Island queendom
Alice Albinia reminds us that Orkney was a trading station long before London, Iona the epicentre of Celtic Christianity and Shetland a haven for liberal Udal law
Dark side of the rune
In Rus, which we now call Ukraine, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) begins his pursuit of revenge. A sea captain who later…
In the land of the subtitle
The iron law of TV these days is that if you want to avoid series that are suffocatingly right-on the…
Can’t anyone travel for fun any more?
There was a time when travel writers would set off with a spring in their step: Coleridge knocking the bristles…
To say this is a ‘once in a generation’ exhibition seems absurdly modest
‘The barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea drives us to the barbarians; between these two means of death…
Demonised by history
Some oleaginous interviewer once suggested to Winston Churchill that he was the greatest Briton who ever lived. The grand old…
Faroe Islands: A whale of a time
The Faroes are a wonderful place to visit, discovers Camilla Swift
Losing the plot
Probably the two greatest advances in western culture in my lifetime have been the Sopranos-style epic serial drama and the…
Serpents’ tale
Did you know that the 8th-century Kingdom of Northumbria was the epicentre of an international exotic reptile trade? I only…
How the Delingpoles triumphed over the Vikings
Have you managed to book tickets to the Viking exhibition at the British Museum yet? If you haven’t, my advice…
Alfred’s greatest moment
If he hadn’t survived the Twelfth Night raid of 878, England as we know it might never have existed
A look ahead
Andrew Lambirth reveals the treats on show in 2014
Bloody Vikings
Forget that guff about peaceful farmers with an interest in travel
