BBC History UK
Hot cockles, handball and hide-and-seek
Nicholas Orme highlights some of the most popular children's pastimes in Tudor England - from ball games to blind man's buff - and explores their place in wider society
8 min |
April 2023
BBC History UK
GEORGE VI'S NAZI DILEMMA
As war raged across the globe, the king had to confront admirers of Adolf Hitler uncomfortably close to home
8 min |
April 2023
BBC History UK
William Douglas: The infamous bushranger
Hard drinker, bandit, prize-fighter and reader of skulls. MEG FOSTER unravels the myth of \"Black Douglas\", whose life of crime across 19th-century Australia made him a target of lynch mobs and the popular press
7 min |
April 2023
BBC History UK
AT THE MERCY OF THE MONGOLS
They pulled off one of the most astonishing campaigns of conquest in history. But how did they treat their subject populations once the dust had settled?
9 min |
April 2023
Country Life UK
Women at war
In the historical context of the First World War, entrenched traditionalism, separate spheres ideology, patriarchy and, to some extent, Imperialism all contributed to the argument against using women in wartime British intelligence,’ writes Sarah-Louise Miller.
3 min |
March 08, 2023
BBC History UK
12 February 1554 Lady Jane Grey is executed for treason
The young woman installed as a Protestant alternative to Queen Mary meets a tragic end
2 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
13 February 1858 European explorers first glimpse Lake Tanganyika
Burton and Speke seek the source of the river Nile
1 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
When art turns odd
Our podcast editor Ellie Cawthorne discusses a recent episode on the weirdest masterpieces in art history - and what they can tell us about the depth of human imagination
2 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
"Indigenous Americans who travelled across the Atlantic were horrified by inequalities in European society"
Caroline Dodds pennock talks to Ellie Cawthorne about her new book tracing the remarkable stories of Indigenous Americans who voyaged to Europe after 1492
10+ min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
The age of transmation
Those who write off the Middle Ages as an unchanging backwater are overlooking the seismic advances - in everything from scientific knowledge to self-awareness - that redefined what it meant to be human, argues lan Mortimer
10+ min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
The voice of a female golden age
The 14th century was a time of great change in England - not least for women, who enjoyed more autonomy, work opportunities and wealth. Marion Turner explains what Chaucer's outspoken Wife of Bath reveals about their lives and thoughts
10+ min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
7 Alyce Boyle, the ballad singer who performed for a queen
1 Elizabeth Stile, the condemned witch Elizabeth Stile was a witch - at least, in the minds of many of her contemporaries. She was 65 years old, widowed, and living in Windsor when she was accused of witchcraft. Together with her associates, she was accused of killing several people and bringing harm to many others, with the help of familiars including a rat, a black cat and a toad.
10 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
How people power fuelled England's century of chaos
Charles I's clashes with parliament may dominate the history books, but behind the turmoil of the 17th century lay something deeper: a political awakening of the people
10+ min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
Centuries of iron
JONATHAN BOFF is impressed by a comprehensive and insightful military history of Germany and its southern neighbours
2 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
Britain's century of strike action
Recent months have seen thousands of workers - including nurses, railway employees and postal staff go on strike around the United Kingdom. RICHARD TOYE explores the nation's history of industrial action, and the extent to which it has been driven by political ideology or practical concerns
5 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
Olive's role in the BBC's earliest days deserves to be remembered
WHEN WE CONSIDER THE BBC'S FIRST 100 YEARS, distinguished director generals come to mind, along with famous presenters and favourite programmes. Yet it's likely that you have never heard of the wonderfully named Olive Bottle.
2 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
The long fight over abortion rights in the United States
Fifty years ago, the US Supreme Court's landmark Roe v Wade ruling guaranteed access to abortion throughout the United States - a decision that was reversed last summer. ALLISON MCKIBBAN charts the complex, often contradictory currents that have shaped women's reproductive rights in America
5 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
Trading on reputations
LUBAABA AL-AZAMI has mixed feelings about an insightful but sometimes Eurocentric look at the development of the East India Company
4 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
Liberal views
RICHARD TOYE is intrigued but ultimately unconvinced by a detailed account of the state of British liberal politics in the first years of the 20th century
2 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
Breast practice
Joanna Wolfarth's new book is a love letter to all women who have cradled an infant close to their breasts.
1 min |
February 2023
BBC History UK
Writing for her life
Marie Antoinette spent much of her reign engaged in a battle: first to cement her position as queen of France, and then to avoid the guillotine. Catriona Seth uses the queen's letters to trace her desperate bid for survival
10+ min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
THE BOY WHO DISCOVERED THE BOY KING
When Howard Carter located the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb, he became an archaeological hero. Yet, as Toby Wilkinson reveals, the British Egyptologist failed to credit the person behind the historic find
10 min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
A DYNASTY OF DESPOTS
From the colossal to Tutankhamun's temples of Luxor golden death mask, the pharaohs of ancient Egypt's golden age created some of history's greatest treasures. Yet, writes Guy de la Bédoyère, behind the glittering facade lay a society built on brutality, inequality and staggering levels of corruption
10+ min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
The history that shaped the Queen’s funeral
People around the world were transfixed by the scale and splendour of Elizabeth II's funeral in September - a ceremony that drew explicitly on centuries of British royal traditions. TRACY BORMAN reveals how such events have changed, yet remained the same, across generations
5 min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
Power behind the throne
KATIA WRIGHT is entertained and (mostly) impressed by a book examining the lives and influence of five English queens of the 14th century
3 min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
Marching into infamy
RJB Bosworth reveals how the March on Rome which saw Benito Mussolini's Fascist squads seize power a century ago - set Italy on a path to totalitarianism
9 min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
QUEENS OF BLING
When Henry VIII's wives sought to project messages about themselves to the watching world, they often did so via jewellery. Using six portraits, Nicola Tallis reveals how the consorts' choice of pendants, rubies and brooches shaped their public images
6 min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
“What unites these commanders Is selt-beliet. It they didn't have faith in themselves, no one else would”
AL MURRAY tells Spencer Mizen about his new book profiling 10 military leaders whose experiences shine a light on the Allies’ extraordinary transformation in the Second World War
9 min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
Past tense, future perfect?
PATRICIA FARA lauds a detailed double biography of grandfather-and-grandson thinkers whose ideas on evolution were both influential and inflammatory
2 min |
December 2022
BBC History UK
Ruins and royalty
Surrounded by verdant Suffolk countryside, Bury St Edmunds rose to prominence as a pilgrim hotspot in the Anglo-Saxon era before its fortunes dipped during the Dissolution. RHIANNON DAVIES pays a visit
3 min |