August 2011

Articles from the August 2011 issue of BBC History Magazine

A portrait of Elizabeth I, who, says Susan Doran, “confounded her Catholic enemies, imposed her will on the political scene, turned England into a strong Protestant state and presided over a glittering court culture”. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Elizabeth I: the great unifier

A badge promoting the Tufty Club, an organisation launched by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to educate children on road safety, 1941. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Safety first: 20th-century health and safety messages

A portrait of Edward VI. The young monarch’s support for a trade venture through the North-East Passage laid the foundations for the Elizabethan age of exploration. (Photo by GeorgiosArt/Getty Images)

Edward VI: boy king and religious zealot

The distinctive polygon towers of Caernarfon Castle. (Photo by Gail Johnson/Getty Images)

History explorer The conquest of Wales

Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire. (Photo by Archimage/Alamy Stock Photo)

Through the Georgian keyhole

This painting in Kensington Palace shows a group standing on a balustrade. Among them are George I’s two Turkish grooms of the chamber, ‘Mustapha’ and ‘Mohamed’. (Photo by Steve Vidler/Alamy Stock Photo)

Tales of the Turk

A poster produced for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) promoting express rail travel to the Lancashire seaside resort of Blackpool, the world’s first working-class seaside resort. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

The Library The great escape: Britain’s love affair with the seaside holiday

Hans Holbein the Younger’s portrait of Henry VIII, c1537. Henry’s clash with the church was, says George Bernard, the most significant episode of the Tudor era and transformed England’s relationship with continental Europe. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Library Henry VIII and the scourge of papal power

A crowned Tudor rose. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Stringer via Getty Images)

Why the Tudors grab us

Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Marston Moor. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

A big day in history: Tuesday 2 July 1644

Illustration by Jonty Clark

Ye olde travel guide: Rome 192 AD

Queen Mary I of England and Ireland. Her legend speaks merely of burning Protestants, yet her time on the throne featured many great achievements, not least establishing that a woman had the right to reign. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Library Mary I: the forgotten trailblazer

A statue of Æthelflæd which stands in the grounds of Tamworth Castle in Staffordshire. (Photo by Chris Gibson/Alamy Stock Photo)

Æthelflæd: iron lady of Mercia

Designer duo, husband and wife Robin and Lucienne Day, 1955. The pair “were perhaps the greatest British man and wife design team there has ever been”, says Wayne Hemingway. (Photo by Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo)

My history hero: Robin Day (1915–2010) and Lucienne Day (1917–2010)

A portrait of Henry VII in 1505. His claim to the throne was tenuous and he had to see off a posse of pretenders, yet he proved a canny and competent ruler, modernising the justice system and filling the crown’s coffers. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

The Library Henry VII: the survivor and stabiliser