My thanks to reader Tom Stewart for alerting me to 'What Lies Beneath?', a multimedia extravaganza about Britain's experiences  in - and British views of - the Cold War. The site is very flashy (I don't mean that in the true computing sense), with an introductory page which requires you to use the mouse to scroll the screen about, and which has you starting a five second countdown, complete with explosion, to get to some of the text. However, beneath the surface is content provided by the British Imperial War Museum, and British readers may be interested to note it's funded by the National Lottery. It's obviously aimed at younger readers - there are comments like "To date there has not been a nuclear war" - but I'm sure it does a fine job in introducing aspects of the Cold War to them.

The Pierre Berton Award, Canada's leading prize for history, is typically given to historians and other writers who have done the most to popularise Canadian history. This year it's been given to actor-director Paul Gross for his film Passchendaele. The film, named after one of World War 1's most (in)famous battles, follows members of the Canadian Corps as they fight in the titular battle on Europe's Western Front, and is certainly worth viewing if you're interested in the war.

Has everyone seen this Bayeux Tapestry themed birthday cake? The real tapestry is a medieval embroidery showing the events of the Norman Conquest of England, and the cake does a very good job of copying the style. Perfect for any medievalist.

How long ago does something have to have happened for you to consider it history? BBC History Magazine recently ran a poll, and 59% of people said that history was anything older than a decade or less, including 31% saying it could be something that happened a second ago. Obviously, as a writer on the subject I'm interested by this as it affects what I cover, and I'm interested in your comments. How close to the present day do you think 'history' comes?