December 2017 cover

December 2017

Articles from the December 2017 issue of BBC History Magazine

The surgeon Robert Liston prepares to cut open a patient in the first half of the 19th century. Known as the “fastest knife in the west end”, Liston could remove a leg in less than 30 seconds. For most patients, however, the agony was more prolonged. (Wellcome Library, London)

An appointment at the house of death: the horror of the early Victorian hospital. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of fossil hunter Dorothea Bate

Dorothea Bate: A fearless fossil hunter. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Caroline of Ansbach

Caroline of Ansbach: why George II's remarkable queen was the first iron lady of British politics

Lettice Knollys

A Tudor love triangle: Elizabeth I, Lettice Knollys and Robert Dudley

Illustation by Femke de Jong.

Michael Wood on Anglo-Saxon Christianity. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

History heroJeremy Corbyn chooses Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Carbonniere Tower

My favourite place: the Camargue, France

The Charles II Royal Oak

ExploreCharles II's great escape. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian Simon Schama.

Books interview: Simon Schama. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Blitz

Second World War

The cruel cost of the Blitz: how did everyday Britons rebuild their lives?

Black faces of Tudor England

General Edmund Allenby walks into Jerusalem on 11 December 1917

The Balfour Declaration: Britain’s unholy mess

My favourite place: the Camargue, France