HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-08-18T08:01:04.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: From a lion-taming lightweight to the Muscular Maids: 5 Victorian boxing sensations you need to know about
items: Swings and roundabouts: a history of Britain's playgrounds
items: The swordplay’s the thing: Henry VIII's Masters of Defence and the thrilling world of 16th-century fencing
items: A Thousand Blows: the real history behind the Victorian boxing drama
items: Sport's strangest tales
items: Blood, guts and spectacle: 6 shocking events from the history of ancient Roman gladiators
items: Cricket, cocaine and cocoa houses: 5 ways Victorians spent their free time
items: Cocaine: a Victorian sensation
items: War and pieces: 5 games from history that were about much more than fun
items: Fast, dangerous and bloody: inside the Circus Maximus, the home of Roman chariot racing

From a lion-taming lightweight to the Muscular Maids: 5 Victorian boxing sensations you need to know about
type: item
date: 2025-08-18T08:00:53.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Historical people
description: Sarah Elizabeth Cox introduces the pugilists who punched their way into Britons’ affections during the dying days of bare-knuckle prize-fighting
encoded: The lion-taming lightweight How a West Indian warrior became a knock-out success in London’s East End Picture the scene. Two boxers walk out before an uproarious crowd at the Sebright Music Hall in the London district of Hackney and “received a welcome of extraordinary character”. “The house rose en masse when the men appeared on the stage,” declared the Sporting Life of 3 January 1888, “and before they were allowed to place themselves into position, had to bow their acknowledgements over and over again. The place was crammed to suffocation.” The late Victorian era was a boom-time for British boxing. Across London in the 1880s, audiences could watch gloved exhibitions, tournaments and matches every night of the week. And few pugilists drew crowds quite as large as one of the men who stepped onto that Hackney stage back in January 1888: Hezekiah Moscow. Moscow has recently been lapping up the audience’s acclaim once again, in the TV drama A Thousand Blows, inspired in part by his story. So who was this pugilist who made headlines in the 1880s and again in 2025? Instant impact We know that Moscow was born in 1862 in the West Indies – although the 1891 census doesn’t give us any more detail about exactly where – and that he arrived in London at the age of 19. It was then, soon after setting up home in Britain’s capital city, that he began to box. Moscow clearly made quite an impression – so much so that his fellow fighters at the Blue Coat Boy boxing saloon in the impoverished heart of the East End soon started calling him ‘Ching Hook’. This nickname appears to have been inspired both by Moscow’s abilities with his fists and his ethnicity – sporting newspapers from 1882 referred to him as a black Chinese man (we know that east Asian indentured servants were present in Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana in the years before Moscow’s birth). Moscow struck up a close friendship with Jamaican mariner and established boxer Alexander Munroe. The two sparred white opponents – and on…

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Swings and roundabouts: a history of Britain's playgrounds
type: item
date: 2025-07-17T08:00:18.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Children
description: We all have childhood memories of playgrounds. But what does the evolution of outdoor play in Britain tell us about the experience of being young over the past 200 years? Jon Winder serves up a history of sandpits, bombsites and battles with cars
encoded: A pub might seem a strange place to begin a history of Britain’s playgrounds. Yet in June 1858, Charles Dickens delivered a speech at the London Tavern in Bishopsgate Street that, he hoped, would transform the lives of children across the imperial capital. As the guests dined on seasonal delicacies and fine wines, Dickens gave an impassioned plea on behalf of the Playground and Recreation Society, an organisation that had been established just a few months earlier with the express aim of providing “playgrounds for poor children in populous places”. To the accompaniment of music laid on by the band of the 1st Life Guards, the celebrated author extolled the benefits that having a “playground near to their own dwellings where they knew their children would be safe” conferred on parents. “I venture to assert that there can be no physical health without play; and there can be no efficient and satisfactory work without play; that there can be no sound and wholesome thought without play,” he declared. It was a powerful argument, and one to which Dickens’ audience evidently listened – for, by the end of the following year, the Recreation Grounds Act had made its way into law. Henceforth, local authorities across the land would be allowed to create and own playgrounds for children and young people. It marked a turning point in British children’s access to play. Or did it? <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/07/GettyImages-1300568438cmyk-2620726.jpg" width="620" height="413" alt="A black and white photograph showing. group of children playing in a playground on a concrete housing estate" title="Children play in London’s Lisson Green estate in 1973. Since the Victorian era, playgrounds have been seen as vital to young Britons’ physical and moral development (Image by Getty Images)" /> The new legislation – and Dickens’ high-profile support – could have been a Big Bang moment for the playground movement in Britain. But, despite celebrity en…

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The swordplay’s the thing: Henry VIII's Masters of Defence and the thrilling world of 16th-century fencing
type: item
date: 2025-03-28T16:54:09.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Tudor
description: Historian Jacob H Deacon explores the thrilling world of 16th-century fencing, where ambition, skill and steel collided
encoded: On 21 April 1578, large crowds of men and women flocked to the Bull Inn, one of London’s most popular inn playhouses. Those in attendance, however, were not there to see actors strut upon the stage, but rather to watch skilled swordsmen prove their prowess with weapons in an event known as a ‘prize’. Upon the scaffold stood two men. Both were expert fencers with years of experience – capable of delivering dexterous strikes and parrying or deflecting each other’s blows – and armed with large two-handed swords. One of these fencers, Isaac Kennard, was a junior fencing teacher of the Masters of Defence, a national organisation of fencers and fencing instructors. Isaac held the rank of provost. The other, Gregory Grene, was his senior and possessed the rank of master. If Isaac fought well against Gregory – and then two other fencing masters with a range of weapons – he would graduate from the rank of provost, which he had had held since 1575, and become a licensed master of the Masters of Defence. This advancement was to be his ‘prize’. The two men turned to face each other, saluted, and advanced. They fought vigorously, with the sound of their steel swords ringing in the air as both men earnestly attempted to strike the other. Isaac’s public testament of his martial ability began well. After he had fought six bouts with the two-handed sword against three masters, the masters in attendance – including Isaac’s own master, Richard Smythe – judged him sufficient to continue and begin the second series of combats, this time with the backsword (a single-edged, single-handed sword). During this second round of combats, Isaac was struck by disaster, or rather by the blade of William Mucklowe, one of his opponents. He was summarily dismissed, unsuccessful in attaining the coveted rank of master. Yet Isaac’s hopes were not dashed, for he returned the following week to try again for his master’s prize, this time demonstrating his mastery of the sword and buckler as well as and th…

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A Thousand Blows: the real history behind the Victorian boxing drama
type: item
date: 2025-02-21T11:46:02.000Z
creator: Ellie Cawthorne
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: From bruisers and cunning thieves to bare-knuckle brawls, the Disney+ show A Thousand Blows offers viewers a ringside seat for the world of Victorian boxing. Ellie Cawthorne speaks to two historical consultants on the show, Hallie Rubenhold and Sarah Elizabeth Cox, to find out more…
encoded: A Thousand Blows, the latest historical drama from the mind of Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, takes place in 1880s London and follows a cast of characters seeking to carve out a name for themselves in the capital – both through boxing and more nefarious means. But how much of what we see on screen is based on real history? How accurate are the boxing scenes? And was there really a gang of female thieves called the Forty Elephants? **Warning, you may find some spoilers ahead** Are the characters in A Thousand Blows based on real people? From Sugar Goodson and Mary Carr to Hezekiah Moscow, several of the central characters are inspired and named after real people – although, in most cases, the resemblance is pretty loose and the character arcs are largely fictional. On the podcast | Bruisers and bare knuckles: the brutal world of Victorian boxing Was Hezekiah Moscow a real boxer? In A Thousand Blows, Hezekiah Moscow (played by Malachi Kirby) is fresh off the boat from Jamaica with his friend Alec Monroe (Francis Lovehall). And according to the show’s historical consultant on Victorian boxing, Sarah Elizabeth Cox, both Moscow and Monroe were real boxers in this period. The real Hezekiah Moscow arrived in London in the early 1880s, and the 1891 census reveals he was from the Caribbean. However, since his country of origin was simply listed as ‘West Indies’, we don't know if he was definitely Jamaican, as portrayed in the show. In the opening episode, a promise of work as a lion tamer doesn’t turn out as Moscow imagined, and he is forced to turn to boxing to make money. However, the real Hezekiah did in fact have a career as a bear tamer and a lion tamer at the East London Aquarium, while also boxing at night. Kirby’s Moscow speaks Chinese and is described as having a Chinese grandmother. Again, the show’s creators are drawing on aspects of the real Moscow here, who boxed under the name ‘Ching Hook’. “It’s unclear where he got that name, but in the early days of h…

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Sport's strangest tales
type: item
date: 2024-11-25T07:00:42.000Z
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski delve into strange but true stories from the world of sport, covering Tudor football, Soviet fencing scandals and much more
encoded: Humans have been infatuated with sport for thousands of years. But what drove this obsession in the first place? And how did ancient pursuits evolve into the games we know and love today? Jon Bauckham speaks to QI researchers and hosts of the podcast No Such Thing as a Fish James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski about their new book on sporting history, discussing everything from doping to David Attenborough’s impact on snooker. James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski are the authors of A Load of Old Balls: The QI History of Sport (Faber & Faber, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon

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Blood, guts and spectacle: 6 shocking events from the history of ancient Roman gladiators
type: item
date: 2024-11-14T17:12:59.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Gladiators
subject: Life in ancient Rome
description: How did gladiators supercharge the rise of Julius Caesar? And why were they seen as sex symbols? As Gladiator II arrives in cinemas, Guy de la Bédoyère tells the story of this brutal form of mass entertainment through six of its most significant (and surprising) moments
encoded: Julius Caesar turns death into mass entertainment Of all Roman pastimes, gladiators excite the most fascination and horror to this day – not least because of the sneaking suspicion that, if revived, they would rapidly pick up a fervent following. Yet, ironically, this most Roman of entertainments wasn’t the brainchild of the Romans. That dubious honour goes to the Etruscans, an ancient Italian people that emerged near the beginning of the first millennium BC. Gladiators used to fight in bouts to the death at Etruscan funerals – in short, they served as a form of human sacrifice. The Romans derived many of their customs from the Etruscans. And so it was perhaps inevitable that, as they grew into the dominant force on the Italian peninsula, they would adopt gladiatorial combat with gusto. Decimus Junius Brutus, later a consul, was said to have been the first to lay on a gladiatorial show – in honour of his deceased father, in c264–262 BC. Yet, as was the case with so many aspects of ancient Roman history, the concept of fighting to the death as mass entertainment was profoundly shaped by one Julius Caesar. In 65 BC, Caesar used his position as aedile (junior magistrate) to initiate a programme of public shows to secure, in the words of the historian Suetonius, “the good will of the masses”. He laid on 320 gladiatorial bouts and animal fights – and did so both in his name and in association with the other aedile, Marcus Bibulus, but in a way that ensured it was widely assumed the occasions were all his work. That, of course, was precisely his intention. Curiously, the 320 gladiatorial bouts represented a reduction of Caesar’s intentions. He had organised such a large number that his political opponents in the senate were terrified by the thought of so many armed men in Rome on Caesar’s payroll. And so they passed a law putting a cap on the numbers. The fears were well-grounded. Gladiators supplied muscle for thug politicians in the late Republic. By the 50s BC, when Ro…

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Cricket, cocaine and cocoa houses: 5 ways Victorians spent their free time
type: item
date: 2024-11-11T15:50:46.000Z
creator: Rachel Dinning
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Life in Victorian Britain
description: The Victorian working day was, in general, extraordinarily long, but people valued their leisure activities just as much as we do today. Here are five Victorian pastimes worth knowing about…
encoded: Gardening: a new pastime thanks to the railway boom The expansion of railways in Victorian Britain transformed coal and iron production – but they also had an unintended knock-on effect on how people lived. This mode of travel revolutionised how far the average person could travel, and how frequently. As a consequence, more rural locations were suddenly within commuting distance of workplaces and factories, leading to a rise in suburban living. In these more open areas, houses were more spaced out, and often included patches of land that could be cultivated into gardens and vegetable patches. While gardening was previously a pastime of the elite, these suburban spaces made the hobby more accessible to working-class Victorians. Read more | History explorer: Victorian gardens In wealthier households, a notable trend in private gardening during the Victorian period was carpet bedding (arranging low growing plants into brightly coloured patterns). Patterns were available for households to copy, and there was a preference for using hardy plants with a one-year life cycle. “In urban areas, by the mid-19th century, trying to grow perennial plants (those that should last several years) meant you were on a hiding to nothing,” explains garden historian Twigs Way. As pollution increased, only the hardiest plants could survive. “Better to plant annuals and then just re-plant.” Cricket: a favourite sport among Victorian men Working conditions in Victorian Britain were notoriously long and gruelling, but there were several significant developments in worker’s rights from the middle of the 19th century onwards. Through acts such as the Factory Act of 1847, the Master and Servant Act of 1867 and the 1875 Employers and Workmen Act, it was increasingly recognised that greater protection was needed to promote wellbeing and more manageable working conditions. One of the first groups of people to benefit from improved working hours in the Victorian people were male white-collar workers …

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Cocaine: a Victorian sensation
type: item
date: 2024-10-31T18:22:11.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
description: Douglas Small reveals how cocaine was widely used in all manner of 19th-century products, and explores why it became a fixture of society, sport, culture and literature
encoded: In a much-publicised race in the 1870s, the most celebrated athlete of his day, the long-distance pedestrian Edward P Weston, admitted that he had chewed coca leaves, sparking a frenzy of interest in the substance and its derivative, cocaine. For the next few decades, cocaine became a household ingredient in many products, and was perfectly legal. It wasn't until the early years of the 20th century that concerns began to be voiced about its dangerous addictiveness. Dr Douglas Small explains how cocaine won over the Victorians in this conversation with David Musgrove. View Green Video on the source website

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War and pieces: 5 games from history that were about much more than fun
type: item
date: 2024-08-30T11:49:01.000Z
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Education
description: Far from idle pursuits, games have transformed the way societies have made sense of life and death, order and conflict for centuries. Kelly Clancy picks five examples that reveal how playtime has often been a serious business
encoded: Games are among our most enduring cultural technologies. They persist, in part, because they’re a way for our brains to serve themselves pleasure for free. The Greek historian Herodotus, for instance, wrote about the Lydian people, who reportedly suffered an 18-year famine. He claimed they alternated between eating food one day and playing games the next – play, in other words, lessened the sting of hunger. But games aren’t just fun: they are also essential education. Animals play to practise for the serious demands of adulthood: kittens chase yarn to drill hunting skills, and young kangaroos rough-house to prepare to box their way up the social hierarchy as adults. Read more | Ancient board games: which ones did people play for fun in the past? With the invention of games, humans brought play into the realm of thought, because games exercise various mental functions. Games are especially crucial for developing social skills. Plato believed they were the foundation of civic education, arguing that children who learned to follow game rules would grow up to be law-abiding citizens. And Plato wasn’t alone: scholars across history have lauded games for a range of educational virtues. As a result, people often endowed games with cultural principles they hoped to transmit to future generations. Games are messages from the past, and can reveal the values and beliefs of the people who play them. Senet, ancient Egypt The ancient board game that served as a map for players to pass to the afterlife Senet – likely the ancestor of backgammon – is one of the world’s oldest known board games. It originated in ancient Egypt in around 3100 BC as mammoths still roamed Siberia’s Wrangel Island, hieroglyphic writing was just emerging, and camels were first being domesticated. Senet means ‘passing’, possibly referring to the game’s race-like mechanic: players vied to be the first to move all their pieces across the board by casting sticks or knuckle bones. In the earliest known record o…

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Fast, dangerous and bloody: inside the Circus Maximus, the home of Roman chariot racing
type: item
date: 2024-08-13T12:48:15.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: High speeds, violent crashes and a good chance of blood and gore: that sounds like Roman entertainment. Jonny Wilkes explores the largest chariot racing venue in the Roman world and why people were so eager to spend a day at the races
encoded: From Rome’s earliest days until after the fall of the Roman empire, there was one place that could truly be described as the crucible of chariot racing: the Circo Massimo, or Circus Maximus. The Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus called it “one of the most beautiful” structures in Rome, but that was not the word for what happened within its horseshoe-shaped walls. Chariot racing was fast, dangerous and bloody. It was exhilarating for the crowds and could make superstars out of racers. Best visualised in the 1959 Hollywood epic Ben Hur, the sport has been given thrilling new life in the Prime Video series Those About to Die, with the Circus Maximus taking centre stage once again. When was the Circus Maximus built? The first iteration of the Circus Maximus appeared before the Roman empire; before the Roman republic even. According to the historian Livy, the inaugural events and wooden seating were instituted by one of the fabled kings, Tarquinius Priscus, in the sixth century BC. Located in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills, the arena had numerous additions over the years as well as major rebuilds. Julius Caesar gave the Circus Maximus its iconic shape in the first century BC by greatly extending the racing track and seating capacity. Arcades of shops emerged beneath the stands, which enjoyed booming trades on race days. But when a fire started in those shops in AD 64, during the reign of Nero, and spread to destroy much of the city – the Great Fire of Rome – the Circus Maximus had to be rebuilt again. This time, in stone. Read more | The worst Roman emperors: 8 of the bloodiest from ancient Rome's history Caesar: Death of a Dictator Member exclusive | On the Ides of March 44 BC, the most famous Roman in history was murdered. Julius Caesar's assassination transformed Rome forever, and the image of his bloody toga has haunted monarchs and tyrants ever since. Listen to all episodes now How big was the Circus Maximus? At its largest, the Circus M…

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