Christmas 2016

Articles from the Christmas 2016 issue of BBC History Magazine

John Profumo in October 1962

Sex, lies and spies: the real history of the Profumo Affair

Captain Lewis Edward Nolan, 15th Hussars, the Crimean War, 1854. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

The Charge of the Light Brigade: who blundered in the Valley of Death?

Portrait of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII, 1536. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

Henry VIII’s six wives in a different light

Illustration by Femke De Jong

The medieval longing for the good old days

Roman amphitheatre in Caerleon, Wales. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

History Explorer: The Roman army in Britain

Martin Luther King (centre) rides the Montgomery bus with Rev Glenn Smiley of Texas. (Getty Images)

The Library What was history’s most dramatic year?

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200-metre run at the 1968 Olympic Games, engage in a victory stand protest against unfair treatment of blacks in the United States. They refuse to recognise the American flag and national anthem. (Getty Images)

The fight for Black America

Photo of Woody Guthrie c1970. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

My history hero: Woody Guthrie

Bethlehem. (Getty Images)

My favourite place: Bethlehem, West Bank

Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum Tristram Hunt. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

History-loving politicians

The USS Arizona burning in Pearl Harbor following the Japanese attack. To the left of her are USS Tennessee and the sunken USS West Virginia. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The shock of Pearl Harbor

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My favourite place: Bethlehem