Bellamy's, the refreshment rooms in the pre-1834 Palace of Westminster, occupied a distinctive place in the late Georgian and early Victorian political world, a place where different worlds collided.
Category: Leisure
The Smoking Room of the House of Commons
The smoking room of the House of Commons has long intrigued commentators on and spectators of politics: one of the places where knots of members get together to weigh reputations, exchange gossip, spread discontent, foment revolts, hatch conspiracies.
The House of Commons Steeplechase
Although it has passed the world of racing by, so far as I’m aware, this month is the 130th anniversary of what was apparently the first House of Commons Steeplechase, and possibly also the first occasion on which a formal sporting competition had been organised among Members of Parliament.
Reformation to Referendum: Writing a New History of Parliament 