BBC History UK
"The Roman empire cannot have been governed by a series of psychopaths. It would not have survived"
MARY BEARD tells Matt Elton what life would have been like for Rome's - from the path to the top to the almost inevitable sticky end emperors
10+ min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
Spooks, spirits and psychiatry
ANNA MARIA BARRY recommends a new exploration of the interplay between science, faith and superstition in 19th-century attitudes to mental health
2 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
A fool's errand
The play Henry VIII, written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, opens with a warning. Those who have made their way to the Globe Theatre expecting to \"hear a merry bawdy play\" can expect disappointment, for they, the prologue puns, \"Will be deceived\". This play is serious, even tragic, portraying how \"mightiness meets misery\" where there is no room for merriness - and thus no room for the king's fool himself, Will Somer.
2 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
"The India Club briefly transported new arrivals back to their homeland"
BY THE TIME THIS ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED, London’s India Club will have closed. It’s been a well-kept secret for years. On the Strand, squeezed between a cafe and a newsagent, is a small door bearing the sign of the Hotel Strand Continental.
2 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
Tom Neil 1920-2018
Tom Neil served as an RAF flying ace during the Second World War, having joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1938 at the age of 18. He flew in a Hurricane during the 1940 Battle of Britain, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross later that year. He died in 2018 at the age of 97.
2 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
Anne Boleyn's fatal French connection
John Guy and Julia Fox reveal how international diplomacy supercharged the rise of Henry's VIII's second wife and hastened her fall
10 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
"In sun-beaten Greece, I learned that the past is receding faster than ever"
ITS OBVIOUS, I KNOW, BUT CHANGE IN HISTORY moves at a different pace at different times and in different places.
3 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
Are black histories still being overlooked?
The global protests of 2020 thrust the importance of understanding black history into the spotlight - but, three years on, has that focus been maintained? As the UK marks Black History Month, MATT ELTON gauges the views of three historians
10 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
HELL IN ITALY
The Allied invasion of Italy in 1943 was envisaged as a swift push on Rome. Yet, as James Holland explains, by the end of the year, the campaign was stymied by German defences far from the capital
10+ min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
An Anglo-Saxon detective story
Why do the bones of luminaries such as King Cnut, Emma of Normandy and William II lie mixed up in six chests in Winchester Cathedral? And what do these remains tell us about the evolution of early England? Cat Jarman investigates
8 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
The medieval Stalingrad
Edward III's siege of Calais was a pivotal moment in the Hundred Years' War. Here Dan Jones argues that it bears comparison with one of the most brutal clashes of the modern era
9 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
EMPIRE ON THE BRINK
In September 1923, the British empire reached its maximum territorial extent. A staggering 460 million people lived within its borders. Yet just as the imperial project reached its apex, writes Matthew Parker, cracks were widening...
9 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
Britain gets swinging
ALWYN TURNER investigates the latest volume in David Kynaston's epic history of modern Britain, as the author turns his attention to the heady days of the early 1960s
2 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
Broadcast views: Radio Times at 100
Since its launch in 1923 as the BBC's official listings guide, the magazine has charted enormous shifts in media and society alike. David Hendy explores how its pages reflected changes across Britain
6 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
Forgotten heroes
PATRICIA FARA reviews a history of black TB nurses in the United States during the first half of the 20th century
1 min |
November 2023
BBC History UK
"It was Joan of Arc who persuaded the French that they could win"
Jonathan Sumption speaks to Rob Attar about the final volume in his epic history of the Hundred Years' War, which reveals how the French turned the tide against the English monarchy
10+ min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
A woman's world
BRONWEN RILEY appraises an irreverent study that examines the Roman empire through the lives of 21 of its female subjects, from fearsome queens to vestal virgins
2 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
Ignatius of Loyola 1491-1556
Children's Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza chooses
2 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
Templars on trial
From 1307, members of the Knights Templar were beaten, brutalised and put to death on charges of heresy, Satanism and mass murder. But, asks Steve Tibble, were this elite band of holy warriors fitted up for crimes they didn't commit?
10 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
How life returned to the streets of Pompeii
With a new BBC TV series about Pompeii in the offing, Sophie Hay looks back 100 years to a dig that transformed our understanding of daily life on the city's streets
7 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
Eleanor Glanville The butterfly collector
Today, insects are seen as a vital part of our ecosystem, but in the late 17th century, they were often overlooked by science. PATRICIA FARA tells the story of a groundbreaking lepidopterist whose research provided solace from a turbulent personal life
5 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
WHEN PIRATES RULED ASIA'S WAVES
Pirates didn't only spread chaos in Caribbean and Atlantic waters. Adam Clulow reveals how east Asian raiders terrorised China's shores from the 16th century
10 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
MY HUNT FOR JOSEF MENGELE
In 1949 the notorious Nazi doctor fled to South America. Three decades later, Gerald Posner (left) set out to track him down. Here the former lawyer tells us about his mission to catch the 'Angel of Death'
10+ min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
Voices from the picket line
LUCY ROBINSON enjoys a new history of the 1984-85 Miners' Strike that puts first-hand accounts from those involved front and centre
4 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
"My historical research shows that much higher levels of inclusion are possible for people labelled disabled"
A new study by historian LUCY DELAP suggests we need to rethink the experiences of people with learning disabilities in the 20th century. Here she explains how many thrived in work and wider society
4 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
Have nations always used sport to launder their reputations?
As countries with questionable human rights records buy overseas teams and vie to host global tournaments, MATT MCDOWELL speaks to Matt Elton about the rise of 'sportswashing' - and whether sport and power have always gone hand in hand
6 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
Golden boy
Over the past 200 years, Dick Whittington has become one of Britain's best-loved pantomime heroes. Yet, as Michael McCarthy tells Jon Bauckham, the real-life story that inspired Dick's rags to riches tale is even more remarkable than the fiction
8 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
HATE MAIL
The 19th and early 20th centuries saw an explosion of malicious letters penned by anonymous authors. As Emily Cockayne reveals via six cases, these messages often reflected the fears and prejudices that stalked Britain
9 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
Renaissance beauty tips
From snail-slime face cream to poisonous makeup, our podcast editor ELLIE CAWTHORNE discusses a recent episode on creative 16th-century beauty regimes
1 min |
October 2023
BBC History UK
Follow the money
JANE HUMPHRIES reviews a wide-ranging but very readable study of the changing tides of global economics from the Great Depression to the present day
2 min |