Bloody Sunday report published

Northern Irish history has featured heavily in the headlines this week, following the publication of the Saville Report. The report, which has taken 12 years and cost £195 million to complete, criticised the British army’s actions on Bloody Sunday.

David Cameron called the events of 30th January 1972 ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’ and issued an apology on behalf of the government.

Yet accusations of the report ‘cherry picking’ the evidence have been made, and questions remain about the political legacy of the event.

Elsewhere, there’s outrage on both sides of the channel after vandals desecrated British First World War graves in Loos-en-Gohelle, Northern France. Nicolas Sarkozy has sent a personal apology to the Queen after Nazi graffiti was daubed in pink across the graveyard.

Winston Churchill was back in the news this week after his characteristic cigar was edited out of one of the most iconic images of the Second World War. The photograph, currently on show at a museum in South-East London, shows the wartime leader giving his famous ‘V for Victory’ salute. The identity of the digital editor remains a mystery.

In keeping with the World Cup fever spreading across the country, a medieval badge featuring England’s three lions logo has been unearthed in Coventry. The copper badge is believed to be from the 13th century, and was discovered inside a stone wall by an archaeologist. 

Historic gardens on the outskirts of London were relaunched on Monday following a £12 million restoration. The gardens around Chiswick House were originally created in the 18th century and are widely recognised as the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement.

Scientists believe bones found in a German cathedral belong to one of the earliest members of the English royal family. Queen Eadgyth was the granddaughter of Alfred the Great and is believed to have died in 946AD.

The controversy surrounding the British school syllabus continues this week. There have been suggestions that teaching more British history in schools would create a stronger sense of British identity, whilst calls have been made for Latin to return to the classroom. 

And finally, as Father's Day approaches, are our views of the dads of the past mistaken?