History Topics

In pictures: a history of British elections
27th January 2015
This February, the People’s History Museum in Manchester will be examining the history of British voting over the past 100 years
Auschwitz: the men behind the mass murder
27th January 2015
The Nazi death camp at Auschwitz was liberated 70 years ago today, but the world still struggles to understand the minds of those who committed the atrocities there. Laurence Rees, writer and producer of a major BBC TV series marking the event, has interviewed war criminals from German, Russian and Japanese camps and he explains why many of the former Nazi soldiers he met had a different mentality from the others. This article was first published in the January 2005 issue of BBC History Magazine
In pictures: Sir Jacob Epstein – Babies and Bloomsbury
26th January 2015
An exhibition that explores how babies and children inspired modernist sculptor Jacob Epstein opens at The Foundling Museum this month
Anne Boleyn was executed on 19 May 1536 © World History Archive / Alamy
Tudor timeline: 10 momentous dates
23rd January 2015
It was one of the most transformative periods in English history, but which dates in the Tudor calendar had the greatest impact? Historian Lauren Mackay maps out the top 10…
Wolf Hall (BBC/Company Productions Ltd)
TV & radio: what to tune in to next week (24–29 January 2015)
23rd January 2015
Can't decide what programmes to watch or listen to this week? Here are 10 you won't want to miss...
(Tegotego/Dreamstime)
‘Bite-sized’ history textbooks accused of ‘dumbing down’ the subject: should we be worried?
22nd January 2015
History textbooks are designed for the “supposedly minimal attention spans” of today’s pupils, a prominent history teacher has said
How the Tudors invented breakfast
22nd January 2015
In the Middle Ages, the nation that was to give the world the full English widely skipped breakfast. Yet, by 1600, a culinary non-entity had become a key part of our daily routine. Why the change? Ian Mortimer investigates. This article was first published in the April 2013 issue of BBC History Magazine
A man in a 15th-century English woodcut. (Bridgeman Art Library)
Life as a Tudor gent: the 16th-century diary of Humphrey Newton
22nd January 2015
History tells us much about the lives of the people who ruled in the 1500s, but what of those further down the social scale? Deborah Youngs examines a rare personal notebook from one of the lesser gentry. This article was first published in the May 2009 issue of BBC History Magazine.
Wolf Hall. (BBC/Company Productions Ltd)
‘What did a Tudor coffin look like?’: the weird and wonderful world of a Wolf Hall adviser
21st January 2015
One of the most hotly anticipated historical dramas of recent years will finally come to television screens tonight. Starring Homeland’s Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall will follow the meteoric rise of Thomas Cromwell in the Tudor court, from his lowly start as the son of a blacksmith to becoming Henry VIII’s closest advisor. We caught up with Dr Catherine Fletcher, a historical adviser on the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s award-winning novels. Here, she shares some of the more unusual elements of the job…
Hans Holbein’s portrait of the “pudgy, watchful” Thomas Cromwell. (Getty Images)
Thomas Cromwell: a thug in a doublet?
21st January 2015
For most of the five centuries since Henry VIII sent his chief minister to the scaffold, historians have cast Thomas Cromwell as a scheming, rapacious vulture. But does this characterisation really do him justice? Diarmaid MacCulloch investigates. This article was first published in the March 2013 issue of BBC History Magazine
Appaloosa horse © Bjakko | Dreamstime.com
How did the Appaloosa horse get to North America?
20th January 2015
It’s long been assumed the Appaloosa, a spotted breed of horse, was brought to the New World from Europe. But how should it change our view of history if that’s not true?
Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire © National Trust Images/Mark Bolton
Wolf Halls: take a look inside the properties where the new BBC series is filmed
20th January 2015
Hilary Mantel fans are eagerly awaiting a major TV adaptation of her award-winning Wolf Hall, set to be broadcast on BBC Two this week.
The wedding of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in January 1533 © INTERFOTO / Alamy
Love and marriage in Tudor England
20th January 2015
It is a period famed for the high-profile marriages of Henry VIII and his six wives, but what of nuptials lower down the social pecking order? Here, as part of our Tudor Week celebrating the arrival to television screens of the BBC adaptation of Wolf Hall, Professor Ralph Houlbrooke from the University of Reading reveals the customs surrounding love and marriage in Tudor times
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)
5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Tudors
20th January 2015
The Tudor dynasty is one of the best known in history, popularised by the likes of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Edward VI. But do we really know all there is about this turbulent period? Here, to mark the launch of our September issue, which includes a feature on the fall of Thomas Cromwell, historian Tracy Borman reveals five things you (probably) didn’t know about the Tudors. This article was first published at HistoryExtra.com in August 2014
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