Our image of the Victorians is shaped by the photographs we see in history books – stern, austere and relentlessly severe. Yet there was a playful side to our 19th-century ancestors, and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones has the proof. Here he introduces a selection of portraits that show the sitters doing something entirely unexpected: smiling
On 19 June 2022, Star Gold left everyone surprised by giving an unusual ad in the matrimonial section of two leading papers. It read, "Parents wanted urgently". The matrimonial section of newspapers often carries ads that demand homely brides and grooms with hefty salaries and government jobs.