Paul Chrystal's 100 iconic objects through British history

That’s how author Paul Chrystal describes one entry in his book ‘A history of Britain in 100 Objects.’

He is talking about the Daleks - the unforgettable machines brought to life in the TV series Dr Who.

Conceived by science-fiction writer Terry Nation, they first appeared in 1963 and to this day continue to fascinate and entertain both children and adults.

But did you know that it was the Nazi regime in and before the Second World War that inspired Nation? Writes Paul: ‘his Dalek’s were violent, merciless and unforgiving cyborg aliens, who accepted nothing other than unquestioning compliance and were bent on the conquest of the universe.’

A Dalek in the 1965 film Dr Who and The Daleks (Image: Pixabay)

The Daleks have been selected by the Yorkshire-based author as one of 100 historically significant objects in the history of the nation - from the earliest fossil and stone tools of our ancient ancestors, to the development of a vaccine for coronavirus; from the Magna Carta which forms the basis of our justice system to the iconic red telephone box and Queen’s head postage stamp.

Each object is illustrated with colour photographs and insightful descriptions by the author as to its significance in such an important list.

We can all remember the red telephone boxes that used to grace streets across the country. In 2006, one of the series of boxes spanning decades, the K2, was voted one of Britain’s top ten design icons, alongside other standout designs including the Spitfire, the Mini and the London tube map.

The classic K2 red telephone box

An early four-panelled rugby ball, dating from 1870, features in the illustrated paperback. ‘Two enterprising cobblers, Richard Lindon (1816-87) and William Gilbert (1799-1877) gave us the distinctive rugby ball,’ writes Paul. ‘Rugby School wanted an oval ball to further distinguish their game from soccer.’They made a more egg-shaped buttonless ball out of hand-stitched, four-panel leather casings and pigs’ bladders. ‘This was the first specifically designed four-panel rugby ball and the start of sizes being standardised.’ In 1892 the Rugby Football Union (RFU) made it compulsory for all rugby balls to be oval.

An early, four-panelled rugby ball (Image: submitted)

Paul includes a section on women’s rugby: the sport has been played by females since the late 19th century.

The cricket bat and tennis racket feature as other sporting objects that have forged a place in British history. A picture of a wooden, lopsided tilt-top tennis racket, patented in 1894 by Major Walter C. Wingfield, is a far cry from the lightweight aluminium designs used by today's fast and furious players.

There’s a Roman lady’s hairpiece, found in York in a lead coffin discovered in 1875 under the railway station booking office. The well-preserved head of auburn hair was fashioned into a bun with two pins made from jet. It is now in the Yorkshire Museum in York.

Also dug up in York and featuring in Paul’s book are the bodies of gladiators who suffered gruesome deaths.

In 2004 82 burials and 14 cremated burials were excavated, all young male adults. Cuts to the neck bones of 40 individuals suggests that they had been decapitated. Most of the dead had suffered a savage beating or been tortured before death.

The humble potato gets a chapter. Introduced to Europe by the Spanish in the second half of the 16th century, Sir Walter Raleigh often gets credit for its arrival in the UK, but that has been widely disputed. It’s ‘nothing more than a myth’ writes Paul. One thing is for certain - today we would be hard-pressed to manage without it.

The potato is a staple of British mealtimes. Picture: Pixabay (Image: Pixabay)

‘If Raleigh must lose out on claims to the potato, he is on much firmer ground with the introduction of tobacco to Britain,’ writes Paul. He brought the first ‘Virginia’ tobacco to England from North America in the late 18th century.

Paul’s book takes objects from periods throughout history, divided into 14 chapters. The Middle Ages includes the Domesday Book and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales; the Industrial Revolution features coal and Stephenson’s Rocket - now in the National Railway Museum in York; between the wars includes the council house and The Beano comic and post-war, while post-war picks out the Barbie doll, Lego and the LP among others.

The public toilet gets a chapter. 'George Jennings (1810-82) was an English sanitary engineer and plumber who invented the first public flush toilets,' writes Paul. 'We all owe him an eternal debt of gratitude.'

That may be true now, but most of the early public loos, catered only for men, 'women were often left out in the cold, even with a penny to hand.'

Some of the selected objects were invented and developed in Britain, while others were embraced by the British and were allowed to forge a place for themselves in the story of our nation.

It can’t have been easy to narrow down his selection to 100 objects. As Paul writes in his introduction: ‘Selection in a book of this kind is always problematic: what do you include and what do you leave out?’ Nevertheless I have relished the challenge.’

His aim was to ‘illuminate both the less obvious and the more unusual, to describe and depict objects which may surprise readers with their historical significance and enduring importance. To make you readers say to yourselves ‘well, I never realised that…’

*A History of Britain in 100 Objects by Paul Chrystal is published by DestinWorld, priced £14.99.