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
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
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
"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
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
Tomato soup cake
ELEANOR BARNETT bakes a flavoursome wartime favourite that contains a surprising mystery ingredient
2 min |
September 2025
BBC History UK
"There's little understanding of the shared history of Britain and the subcontinent"
As Britain celebrates South Asian Heritage Month, SHALINA PATEL, SUMITA MUKHERJEE and SHRABANI BASU talk to Matt Elton about how histories of the subcontinent can be better shared and explored
10 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
India's Iron Lady
GYAN PRAKASH examines an innovative study of the political transformations experienced in India under the rule of its only female prime minister
2 min |
August 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
WARHORSE
From William the Conqueror's battle-winning cavalry to Richard III's fatal final charge, Oliver H Creighton and Robert Liddiard explore five moments when horsepower changed the course of medieval history
9 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
Grand salad
ELEANOR BARNETT prepares a colourful dish, inspired by Tudor and Stuart recipes, that's designed to impress eyes as well as stomachs
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 |
August 2025
BBC History UK
“A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”
JONATHAN HEALEY tells Ellie Cawthorne about the dramatic moments that sparked the breakdown of Charles I’s relationship with parliament and the outbreak of the Civil War
9 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
What lies beneath
PENELOPE M ALLISON is impressed by a study of the famous Roman town inundated by Vesuvius’s eruption
2 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
"The Age of Spectacle starts here"
When Bob Geldof exhorted audiences to fill Wembley Stadium and empty their pockets for famine relief in Ethiopia, he changed the face of charity fundraising – and of live music. On its 40th anniversary, David Hepworth – one of the BBC presenters on the day – explores the legacy of Live Aid
10 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
Designs for life
In the interwar era, artists and designers embraced a sleek modern style that embodied the optimism and elegance of the age. On the centenary of the Paris expo that launched Art Deco on the international stage, Emma Bastin explores its origins and lasting impacts
8 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
The opening salvo
NICK LLOYD enjoys a rich account of the outbreak of the First World War and the early weeks of the conflict
4 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
Capital ideas
DONALD SASSOON is won over by a comprehensive study of economic theorists and their ideas, despite some key omissions
2 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
Movie star Hedy Lamarr patents the forerunner of wi-fi
The Hollywood actress officially registers the ingenious idea
2 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
A temple to textiles
A magnificent Georgian venue designed to showcase the finest Yorkshire cloth, the Halifax Piece Hall has been repurposed numerous times over the centuries. CONNIE ROUT explores this spectacular al-fresco venue
2 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
Lorenzo Da Ponte
Librettists get overlooked, but Mozart's great operas wouldn't be what they are were it not for Da Ponte, who was immensely gifted
2 min |
August 2025
BBC History UK
"The pope doesn't have to be a great theologian - but he has to be in tune with the zeitgeist"
In May, the new Pope Leo XIV was chosen by the conclave, a secretive gathering of cardinals with a history stretching back many centuries. Matt Elton spoke to REBECCA RIST about the politics, controversies and far-reaching impacts of past papal elections
6 min |
July 2025
BBC History UK
Sarah Mae Flemming Segregation-busting bus commuter
The year before the arrest of Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, another black American woman started a legal fight against segregation on public transport. CLIVE WEBB and TOM ADAM DAVIES highlight her role in the civil rights battle
6 min |
July 2025
BBC History UK
Place names are signposts to the past. And how revealing they are
I WAS RECENTLY BACK IN DEVON. LONG AGO, ON childhood holidays from the industrial north, this seemed to me the ‘real’ England.
3 min |
July 2025
BBC History UK
Billie Holiday 1915-59
When did you first hear about Holiday?
2 min |
July 2025
BBC History UK
Sydney in five places
Australia's largest and oldest city was founded on land used for tens of millennia by indigenous peoples. LAILA ELLMOOS explores five sites revealing its long history
3 min |
July 2025
BBC History UK
Rock of ages
Dartmoor's granite tors aren't just adventure playgrounds for hikers and climbers - the stone they produced built major landmarks and supported local livelihoods. CLARE HARGREAVES climbs the most famous outcrop
2 min |