Grimsby United Kingdom The Yorkshire seaside resort of Withernsea came into being as a result of Victorian railway expansion, with a pier being built as one of the first visitor attractions. The sorry tale of that North Sea pier is a short and disastrous one. But its story is not over yet.

Brundall United Kingdom The seafront Hippodrome at Great Yarmouth has been in continuous use as a circus since 1903. Its first owner made his name as a performer and knew how to please the crowds of Edwardian holidaymakers with daring shows and a venue that embraced the latest Art Nouveau style of design.

Byfleet United Kingdom Only the gatehouse of the once lavish Esher Place remains, but step back in time to imagine the palace in its prime. It was a house of exile for Cardinal Wolsey and a place of mourning for Henry VIII, before serving as a private residence for the remainder of the sixteenth century. It even witnessed an early seventeenth century exorcism.

Diocese of London United Kingdom Take a trip to Suffolk Place, the shortest occupied palace of the Tudor era. This lavish mansion was grand enough to host the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, when he visited England in 1522, while it also played host to a princely Christening.

Diocese of London United Kingdom As the fountainhead of maritime insurance Lloyd's is the most famous coffeehouse. Its story is emblematic of the rise and fall of London’s coffeehouses: part of their meteoric rise was the appeal of auctions; their fall came when these public spaces turned private. Exploring Lloyd’s also reveals the coffeehouse's deep links to the slave trade, from auctions and escaped enslaved Africans to the insuring of slave ships and their human cargo.

St Petersburg Russia In 1911, when Vaslav Nijinsky returned from Paris to dance at the Mariinsky, his revealing costume raised eyebrows in the Tsar's box...

St Petersburg Russia Pause on the Anichkov bridge to take in the distinctive architecture of Petersburg, and consider how the city itself could thematise looking.

Paris 01 Ancien Quartier Place Vend me France How did the square behind the Paris Opera Garnier come to be named for a Russian aristocrat?

Diocese of London United Kingdom Jonathan's Coffee House was at the heart of what has been dubbed ‘the financial revolution’ in late seventeenth-century London. It was home to the stock-jobbers, the scene of the 1720 South Sea Bubble, and the beginning of London's Stock Exchange.

Paris 01 Ancien Quartier Place Vend me France Paris is well-known as a centre of fashion and luxury. The elegant stores on the Rue de la Paix offer a glimpse into the sensations of the early twentieth century, and the class distinctions which structured women's spaces.