BBC History UK
"People like to tell themselves that the origins of American independence were non-violent.But it's not true"
The Boston Tea Party is often cited as a model of peaceful civil protest. But, as reveals, on the 250th anniversary of this milestone in America's foundational story, it occurred against a backdrop of bloodshed
10+ min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
A Christmas feast
serves up festive classic favourites that graced dining tables during three eras of British history
5 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
THE RACE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
In 1969, everyone from Prince Michael of Kent to Billy Butlin competed in a dash between London and New York aboard tandems, sedan chairs and jump jets recalls a madcap forerunner of Race Across the World
7 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
It is one of the most fascinating shows that I have ever seen
I’VE JUST RETURNED FROM A TRIP TO NEW YORK.
3 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
How do intractable conflicts come to an end?
The Israel-Gaza war is dominating the news at the moment, but rather than exploring its roots, I wanted to discuss other examples of seemingly intractable conflicts and how they come to an end. What examples from your research would you like to highlight?
7 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
The long death of the Roman republic
Julius Caesar’s murder is often seen as the event that ushered in the age of emperors. Yet structural weaknesses had plagued Rome’s republic long before his death
10 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
Up to 100 million Chinese became refugees in their own country
IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR A JAPANESE SOLDIER needing a toilet break in July 1937, things could have been so different.
3 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
Hard times: what centuries of cost-of-living crises reveal
As prices have soared in recent months, living costs have outstripped many incomes in the UK.
5 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
THE MANY FACES OF NAPOLEON
As a major new film explores the life of the French emperor, Matt Elton asks historians Laura O'Brien and David Andress how we can make sense of the diverse and contradictory aspects of Napoleon's character and career
10+ min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
The queen behind the veil
Matilda of Scotland, wife of Henry I, did perhaps more than any other figure to bridge the chasm between the Anglo-Saxons and their Norman conquerors. So why, asks has she been written out of history?
7 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
Walter Cowan Britain's oldest commando
For some servicemen hardened by a long military career, death in battle is preferable to simply fading away in old age. Tells the story of one such man, a retired naval officer who leapt bravely back into the fray during the Second World War at the age of 70
6 min |
Christmas 2023
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
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
"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
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
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
"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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
"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
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
Ignatius of Loyola 1491-1556
Children's Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza chooses
2 min |