Images Dated 29th July 2005

Scene from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843. Artist: John Leech

Scene from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843. The irascible, curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge, sitting alone on Christmas Eve, is visited by the ghost of Marley, his late business partner. The same night he is visited by three more apparitions, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future, whose revelations cause him to wake on Christmas Day a changed man. He sends a turkey to Bob Cratchit his clerk, thoroughly enjoys the festivities and becomes a kindly, jolly old man. From A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. (London, 1843). This was the first in the series of five Christmas books Dickens published

© Ann Ronan Picture Library / Heritage-Images

The Spanish Armada which threatened England in July 1588

The Spanish Armada which threatened England in July 1588. The ships of the Spanish fleet are shown in combat with British vessels. The Armada, a fleet of 130 ships under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia was intended to protect an invasion force commanded by the Duke of Parma as it crossed the English Channel. Harrassment from the smaller, more manoeuvrable vessels of the British Navy, the use of fireships and unfavourable weather conditions meant that the Armada could not achieve its objective of guaranteeing Parma's barges safe passage across the Channel. Ultimately the Armada was swept up the North Sea and much of it was destroyed in storms around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Painting in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England

© Ann Ronan Picture Library / Heritage-Images

Richard Neville and Ann, the wife of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. Richard

Richard Neville and Ann, the wife of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.
Richard Neville 16th Earl of Warwick (1428 April 14, 1471), was also known as "Warwick the Kingmaker." Neville was the richest man in England outside the royal family, and he used his wealth and power to help depose the "Lancastrian" Henry VI in favor of the "Yorkist" Edward IV, and then later to place Henry VI back on the throne.
Warwick was the eldest son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury and Alice Montagu, Countess of Salisbury. His younger brother was Sir John Neville, Marquess of Montagu and for a brief time Earl of Northumberland. He married Anne de Beauchamp, the sister of Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick, 14th Earl of Warwick. When the Duke died, his Earldom was inherited by the infant Anne de Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick. Lady Warwick died at age five, and Neville inherited the Earldom through his wife. Thus he controlled two great earldoms, with estates throughout the English Midlands and the Welsh March

© TopFoto.co.uk