I love shoehorns, body and sole. Mark Palmer on how to get out of a tight squeeze

We credit Elizabeth I for all sorts of achievements. Turning down Phillip II of Spain’s proposal of marriage in 1559 was astute. Encouraging Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh in their explorations paid dividends. But so too was recognising the importance of shoehorns – known variously in the past as ‘shoespooners’, ‘shoe schlipps’ and ‘shoe tongues’. Between 1563 and 1566, Her Majesty ordered 18 of them from her shoemaker, Garrett Johnson, and promptly dispensed them to members of her household who were struggling every morning to put on their boots. Then, three years later, she acquired a further three, made in steel from the blacksmiths Gilbert Polson and Richard Jeffrey. The shoehorn’s origin goes back further. A ‘schoying horne’ is referred to in literature from the 15th century – and strikes me as a more lyrical and transformative name for such an important piece of kit. Mind you, until...

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