BBC History Magazine
The family behind the Tudors
The name Tudor has reverberated down the centuries, but another family lurked in the background, helping the dynasty to greatness - and sometimes seeking to tear it down. Joanne Paul chronicles the meteoric rise and deadly fall of the Dudleys
10 min |
May 2022
BBC History Magazine
Voyage into the unknown
MARGARET SMALL commends a new biography of Ferdinand Magellan that looks beyond the Portuguese explorer's globe-circling achievements to reveal the man behind the myth
3 min |
May 2022
BBC History Magazine
Victoria Drummond Engineering trailblazer
A century ago, the barriers facing any woman longing for a career in marine engineering seemed almost insurmountable - but not quite. JO STANLEY introduces a woman who had the talent, bravery and determination to make her mark in the male-dominated maritime world
6 min |
May 2022
BBC History Magazine
This will be seen as a hybrid war, in which a key weapon is the deliberate misreading of history
In February, following months of escalating tensions, Russia invaded Ukraine. Are parallels with the past useful in making sense of the war, or is history being used for more sinister ends? Four experts have their say
10+ min |
May 2022
BBC History Magazine
A Cruel Renaissance
“Wicked, an abomination, and against all humanity.” These words, uttered in 1416, shine a light on a dark truth: that slavery thrived in Renaissance Europe. Hannah Skoda tells the stories of people living in bondage in a period when ideals of liberty and the nobility of human nature didn't apply to all
9 min |
May 2022
BBC History Magazine
Black Communities Have Had to Pay for the Failures of Emancipation
Kris Manjapra speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about his new book, which explores how emancipations of enslaved people have left troubled legacies that still endure today
9 min |
May 2022
Philosophy Now
The Determined Will
Stephen Brewer’s couple are determined to argue about free will.
5 min |
April/May 2022
Philosophy Now
Diogenes the Cynic (c.404-323 BC)
Martin Jenkins recalls what we know for sure about the philosopher in the barrel.
9 min |
April/May 2022
Philosophy Now
Paradox Lost
Paul Tissier argues that Russell’s Paradox isn’t really a paradox.
5 min |
April/May 2022
Philosophy Now
The Goodness of Existence
Jarlath Cox says whether life brings pleasure or pain, the value of being born is the ability to experience at all.
10+ min |
April/May 2022
Philosophy Now
The Lottery' & Locke's Politics
John P. Irish considers through an infamous lottery.
10+ min |
April/May 2022
All About Space
VERY LARGE TELESCOPE FINDS NEW SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE
Scientists spotted the supermassive black hole hiding inside thick cosmic dust
3 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
THE MOON-LANDING HOAX
WHY DOES THE THEORY STILL LIVE ON? ALL ABOUT SPACE DEBUNKS A HOAX THAT RAGES AMONG CONSPIRACY THEORISTS EVER SINCE NEIL ARMSTRONG AND BUZZ ALDRIN LANDED ON THE LUNAR SURFACE
6 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
THIS MONTH'S PLANETS
A planetary parade featuring Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn is something spectacular to look out for in the dawn sky
3 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
SECRETS OF BLACK HOLES
PLACES WHERE THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ARE PUSHED TO THE EXTREME
10+ min |
Issue 128
All About Space
KILLER UNIVERSE
RELATIVELY SAFE IN OUR PROTECTIVE BUBBLE, SOME FORCES COULD END LIFE ON EARTH FOREVER. IS THE COSMOS OUT TO GET US?
10 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
HOW MANY STARS ARE THERE IN THE UNIVERSE?
WITH A FLEET OF: MISSIONS SCOURING THE COSMOS, WILL IT EVER BE POSSIBLE TO COME TO AN ESTIMATE?
5 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
PLANET PROFILE: URANUS
The ice giant that's shrouded in mystery has fascinated explorers for decades
6 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
HOW DID EARTH GET ITS WATER?
Moon rocks suggest that the water might have been here all along
3 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
FEDOR ŠIMKOVIC: BILLIONS OF THEM PASS-THROUGH US EVERY SECOND
The nuclear physicist and ESET Science Award laureate reveals what tantalising information neutrinos can tell us about the cosmos
9 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
GREATEST SPACE MYSTERIES
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, ACCORDING TO ASTROPHYSICISTS, PLANETARY SCIENTISTS AND ASTRONOMERS
9 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
DISTANT TARGET ANALYSIS
When it comes to protecting Earth from impacts, it's crucial to know what asteroids are made of. NASA is working on a device to find out
3 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
DID MARS' DEEP INTERIOR CAUSE A LOSS OF ITS ATMOSPHERE?
A new study gives insight into how the Red Planet's magnetic field faded away
3 min |
Issue 128
All About Space
CANON 10x42L IS WP BINOCULAR
An outstanding choice for super-steady stargazing thanks to fabulous image stabilisation, a waterproof design and large objective lenses
6 min |
Issue 128
BBC History Magazine
Suleyman was just as bellicose as his father, if not as gratuitously cruel
CHRISTOPHER DE BELLAIGUE talks to Rhiannon Davies about his book charting the early years of Suleyman the Magnificent's reign, when the sultan had to navigate the deadly machinations of the Ottoman court as well as battle Christian powers
10 min |
April 2022
BBC History Magazine
“Mary Seacole never aspired to be a pioneer of women's nursing. It is only in recent decades that we have invested her with this status”
Helen Rappaport, who has spent 20 years researching Mary Seacole's life, argues that the Jamaican healer's transformation into a modern cultural icon has obscured the real woman
10+ min |
April 2022
BBC History Magazine
We decide for ourselves who we think we are - and museums are central to that
In his new BBC Radio 4 series, curator and broadcaster Neil MacGregor explores the changing role of Britain's museums. He explains to Matt Elton why these venues are more vital now than ever
9 min |
April 2022
BBC History Magazine
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BRITAIN
Charles I was dead, Oliver Cromwell was on the rise, and a nation was grappling with a strange new reality - one without a monarchy. Anna Keay tells the story of the 1650s, through the eyes of three of the people who helped shape Britain's republican decade
9 min |
April 2022
BBC History Magazine
The brutish empire
ALEX VON TUNZELMANN considers a global investigation into the intrinsic connection between racialised violence and the history of the world's largest-ever empire
4 min |
April 2022
BBC History Magazine
1942 CHURCHILL'S DARKEST HOUR
If 1940 was the year in which Winston Churchill's reputation was forged, 1942 was the one in which it was almost destroyed. Taylor Downing chronicles a terrible period for the prime minister - both on the battlefield and in the court of public opinion
10+ min |