BBC History UK
Who was Prester John?
In 1165, the Byzantine emperor received a letter purporting to have been sent by the mysterious ruler of an unknown distant land in the east.
1 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
What was Chairman Mao's 'mango cult'?
In summer 1968, Beijing factory workers received a strange gift: a box of fragrant mangoes, a fruit virtually unknown in China at that time, sent by Chairman Mao himself.
1 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
"Economists studying history tend to focus on men, overlooking the contributions of half the population"
VICTORIA BATEMAN speaks to Danny Bird about the crucial roles women played in historical economies - and how recognising those contributions transforms our understanding of the past
10 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
The lie of succession
Did James I 'steal' Elizabeth I's crown? Tracy Borman considers evidence that the transition from Tudor to Stuart dynasties may not have been quite as seamless as we've been led to believe
10 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
"A tidal wave of digital material will overwhelm recordkeeping institutions"
If you've ever posted a comment on social media, you've created a potential source for future historians. But what problems does this mass of new material pose? Matt Elton asked historians JANE WINTERS and JOHN WILLS about how recent archives differ from those of the past - and how experts might make sense of them
10 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her own bodyguards
The Indian prime minister's violent end follows a deadly assault on a Sikh shrine
1 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
WHO WAS THE RIGHTFUL KING?
Which of four main contenders for the English throne had the strongest claim? Was it the Anglo-Saxon strongman, the Norman duke, the 'Thunderbolt of the North' or a callow teenager? Caitlin Ellis sizes up the rivals
10+ min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
Continental rift
GILBERT M JOSEPH is enthused by a novel exploration of the intertwined stories of North and Latin America
2 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
Siege warfare
JAMES OSBORNE plays a crusades-themed reboot of an old favourite among real-time strategy fans
1 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
The making of Rome's monster
In the second century BC, Roman troops razed the city of Carthage and obliterated its civilisation. So why, asks Eve MacDonald, did the victors remain obsessed by their conquered foes for the next 200 years?
10 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
Reign of terror
In the 12th century, a sect of killers spread fear across the Middle East, executing a series of high-profile political murders. Steve Tibble introduces the original Assassins
9 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
"What it means to be young has shifted over time"
As the government moves forward with plans to lower the voting age to 16, JULIE V GOTTLIEB examines previous changes to the age of suffrage - from Victorian democratic reforms to the dawn of the teenager
6 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
Did Victorians really eat ancient Egyptian mummies?
In short, yes: the Victorians did indeed think eating mummified remains pilfered from ancient Egyptian tombs was a good idea, although they did not come up with the idea themselves.
1 min |
October 2025
BBC History UK
// We don't talk about the war in Asia which was a messy, complicated conflict//
On the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, broadcaster Kavita Puri – presenter of a new BBC Radio 4 series on the Second World War in Asia – considers why this was the conflict's forgotten theatre
10+ min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
"This is the biggest history news story of my career"
The Bayeux Tapestry is set to go on display in the UK next year, almost a millennium after its creation. Following the announcement of the news, 10 historians reveal their hopes and fears about the loan
6 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
Ötzi the iceman is discovered in the Alps
The prehistoric mummy offers a remarkable glimpse of life - and death - 5,000 years ago
1 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
England's colossus
The rise of Athelstan was as important a moment in English history as 1066 and Magna Carta. On the 1,100th anniversary of his coronation, David Woodman salutes a king who forged a nation
9 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
"Christianity didn't invent itself as an empire from nothing: it adapted existing Roman structures"
ALICE ROBERTS speaks to Danny Bird about the evolution of the new religion that swept across the Roman empire and beyond
10 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
What have the Romans Etruscans ever done for us?
The wealthy civilisation that dominated the Italian peninsula before the Romans left a legacy that's full of surprises. Lucy Shipley explains why we have the Etruscans to thank for the way we write, the shape of our towns, Renaissance art – and even horror movies
8 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
The sinister secrets of Samuel Pepys
His diaries are revered for their kaleidoscopic evocation of Restoration England. Yet a fresh analysis of Pepys’ world-famous journals – carried out by Guy de la Bédoyère - reveals a man with a proclivity for coercion and sexual violence
10 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
Marrakech in five places
This most magical of north African cities is a dazzling mosaic of bazaars, mosques and gardens. BARNABY ROGERSON picks five unmissable historical highlights
3 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
Information superhighways
ANDREW PETTEGREE reviews a book that charts how news networks flourished across Europe even before the advent of printing technology
4 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
Crucial contributions
MATTHEW JONES is impressed by a new account of the Manhattan Project that spotlights the role of British scientists in developing nuclear weapons
2 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
The Atomic Plague
In the wake of the nuclear attacks on Japan, the official Allied line was that radiation sickness was not a danger. Yet, as Steve O'Hagan reveals, the first western journalist to witness the effects on the people of Hiroshima told a very different story
7 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
Tomato soup cake
ELEANOR BARNETT bakes a flavoursome wartime favourite that contains a surprising mystery ingredient
2 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
The Ragamuffin War explodes in southern Brazil
‘The regional revolution attracts Italian firebrand Garibaldi
2 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
The lost mayor of Hiroshima
The world’s first nuclear attack brought to an end a turbulent half-century in Japanese history — one that Senkichi Awaya witnessed firsthand. Iain MacGregor reveals how one man’s fate mirrored the rise and fall of a nation
10 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
Fractured lens
PIPPA VIRDEE has doubts about an overview of the divisions that created modern states from imperial British Asia
2 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
"A UK museum that tells the long, rich history of migration is long overdue"
IF YOU GAZE UP AT THE SKYLINE IN ROTTERDAM, in the Netherlands, you might spot a new addition. Made from stainless-steel panels and shaped like a rollercoaster, the Tornado sits on top of the city's newly opened Fenix, a museum that tells the story of human migration.
2 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
The queen in the eye of a storm
She was an Italian Catholic in a ferociously anti-papist English court. An aspiring nun in a hotbed of hedonism. Breeze Barrington follows the extraordinary trials and tribulations of James II & VII's second wife, Maria of Modena
9 min |