Christmas 2011

Articles from the Christmas 2011 issue of BBC History Magazine

Vintners in an ale house, 1642. From a broadsheet titled ‘Health to All’, artist unknown. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

No Christmas under Cromwell? The Puritan assault on Christmas during the 1640s and 1650s

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An illustration from ‘A Short History of the English People’ by John Richard Green. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Drowning in Tudor England: why was water so dangerous?

English novelist Charles Dickens c1860. (Photo by London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images)

Charles Dickens: his life and works

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King George V and his wife, Queen Mary, pictured during a visit to Dublin in 1911. The royal couple were deeply conservative but common sense taught them they had to adapt to the modern world. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

How George and Mary saved the royal family

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A postboy drives a mail coach in a contemporary illustration. Soon after their introduction in 1784, coaches were traversing the country at speeds of up to 10mph. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Red Letter Days: 10 milestones in the history of the Post Office

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A woman at a floral tribute to Neville Chamberlain at a florist in Ludgate Circus, London, 1938. In the wake of the Munich agreement, the prime minister was understood to be a hero of women everywhere. (Photo by Harry Todd/Getty Images)

Second World War

Guilty women?

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The Tower of London. More than 30 inmates successfully broke out of the royal fortress between the 12th and 18th centuries. (Photo by Tetra Images/Getty Images)

The men who escaped the tower

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American golfer Bobby Jones practising his swing on the roof of the Savoy Hotel in London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

My history hero: Robert Tyre Jones (1902–71)

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A Japanese photograph shows Mitsubishi dive bombers warming up on the deck of a carrier in the Pacific before their attack on Pearl Harbor in the early hours of 7 December 1941. (Photo by Corbis via Getty Images)

Second World War

Britain’s Pearl Harbor

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