A long-lived annual of riddles, rhymes and really hard maths aimed specifically at Georgian Britain’s hidden public of clever women.

At fifteen John Dalton was a village schoolmaster in Kendal; at forty he had published the first scientific theory of atoms.

Samuel Smiles explains why the London and Birmingham Railway was an achievement superior to the Great Pyramid of Giza.

To prove that steam power was the future of railways, George Stephenson held a truly historic competition.

The opening of the Bombay to Thane line was the real beginning of British India.

Samuel Smiles reminds us that until we brought the railways to India, we had little to boast about as an imperial power.