December 2015

Articles from the December 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine

Britain’s first self-service supermarket, Sainsbury’s in Croydon, opened in 1950. (Sainsbury’s)

A brief history of shopping

DD77M2 Sir Oswald Mosley at Black Shirt Rally, London, Sept. 14, 1934. As leader of the British Union of Fascists, he takes salute

The Library Britain’s tearoom fascists

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General ancient history

The six ages of China

John F Kennedy pictured in 1957

My history hero: John F Kennedy (1917–63)

B6X917 Big Pit National Mining Museum of Wales, Blaenafon, Torfaen, South Wales. Image shot 2008. Exact date unknown.

History explorer: Britain’s coal industry

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My favourite place: Venice, Italy

Idyllic Shot Of Loch Ness By Mountain Range Against Sunset Sky

The Library The quest for the Loch Ness Monster

A 1628 engraving of the Spanish siege of the Dutch city of Breda

Was James I murdered?

The overthrow of the statue of Napoleon I which was on top of the Colomne Vendome, during the civil war between the Third Republic and the Paris Commune, following the Franco-Prussian war. The painter Gustave Courbet is ninth from the right (with large beard). From the Marguerite Millan Collection. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

La débâcle! The aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War

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The Library Who hijacked Henry VIII’s will?

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In pictures: treasures of the Al Thani Collection

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Sam’s historical recipe corner: A delicate chewit

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Books interview with Mary Beard

Illustration by Sarah Young for BBC History Magazine

The Library Richard III: A hostage to fortune