February 2015

Articles from the February 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine

Pancake day celebrations

The history of Shrove Tuesday

The Victorians' grisly fascination with murder. (Illustration by Ben Jones for BBC History Magazine)

The Victorians’ grisly fascination with murder

From The Library

The medieval city of Carcassonne

My favourite place: Languedoc, France

From The Library

William Hogarth

My history hero: William Hogarth (1697–1764)

From The Library

A British major pictured in German captivity

First World War

“How I fell captive to the Germans”: the experience of First World War PoWs

From The Library

Parts of the Magna Carta

The amazing legacy of Magna Carta

A scene from the Queen Mary Psalter (c1310-20)

What did Magna Carta mean to the English in 1215?

From The Library

A demonstrator vents his spleen at police officers during an anti-Vietnam War rally in London's Grosvenor Square

Britain at war over Vietnam

From The Library

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh

Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary

From The Library

Dinner at a Victorian workhouse

History explorer: Life in the Victorian workhouse

From The Library

A statue of Aphrodite

Christianity’s rocky relationship with sex

From The Library

Textiles. Shoes/pumps. Silk taffeta, bound with ribbon; floss silk embroidery in French knots, long and short, satin and split stitches; tied with ribbon. Ground covered by a pattern of trailing and scrolling stems with leaves and flowers, carnation, rose, etc., so arranged that there is a carnation on each toe and a rose on each heel with a five petalled blue flower above it. The left shoe has a rose, the right a carnation at each side of the seam. Silk, length, whole, 7 in, height, back, 5.25 in, height, heel, 3 in, circa 1700-circa 1749. English.

In pictures: Treasured Possessions from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

1906-Conservative-Throw-Out-Liberal-Postcard-©-Peoples-History-Museum-9e97f6a

In pictures: a history of British elections

LMG876025 Peggy Jean Laughing, 1921 (bronze) (see also 876023-6) by Epstein, Jacob (1880-1959); 23.5x21x23 cm; © Leeds Museums and Art Galleries (City Museum) UK; English, in copyright

PLEASE NOTE: This image is protected by the artist's copyright which needs to be cleared by you. If you require assistance in clearing permission we will be pleased to help you.

In pictures: Sir Jacob Epstein – Babies and Bloomsbury