April 2012

Articles from the April 2012 issue of BBC History Magazine

Staff hard at work at Bletchley Park. The people who worked here did so under conditions of utmost secrecy, and with little idea of how their work slotted into the grand scheme of things. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Second World War

Bletchley Park: Britain’s wartime intelligence factory

A relief portrays patrons of a Roman tavern. (Photo By DEA / A. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The dangerous streets of ancient Rome

A cast of a Roman warship carrying armed soldiers. (Photo By DEA / G. NIMATALLAH/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The Roman invasion: Whose side were the Britons on?

(Illustration by Jonty Clark for BBC History Magazine)

Ye olde travel guide: Hedeby AD 950

The Queen's silver jubilee took place in 1977. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

Why the Seventies still matter

Richard II, led captive by Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV), renounces the throne in Jean Creton's 'Histoire du Roy d'Angleterre Richard II' (1401-05). (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Richard II: “I find myself a traitor”

British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is portrayed as pirate in an Argentine newspaper from 30 April 1982.(Photo by Alain Nogues/Sygma via Getty Images)

Sir Max Hastings: Witness to the Falklands War

The RMS Titanic. (Image by Perspectives/Getty Images)

Where history happened: The Titanic disaster

The death of Aelfeah at the hands of the Danes, portrayed in a window of St Luke's church, Bath. (Photo by: MyLoupe/UIG via Getty Images)

St Ælfheah: Canterbury’s other martyr

Sue Townsend admires Charles Dickens (pictured c1960) for his battles against social injustice. (Photo by London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images)

My history hero: Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Maximilien Robespierre (shown in a c1792 portrait) continues to divide opinion to this day. (Photo by: Christophel Fine Art/UIG via Getty Images)

Books interview: A Man of the Terror