CATEGORIES

Hard times: what centuries of cost-of-living crises reveal

As prices have soared in recent months, living costs have outstripped many incomes in the UK.

How do intractable conflicts come to an end?

The Israel-Gaza war is dominating the news at the moment, but rather than exploring its roots, I wanted to discuss other examples of seemingly intractable conflicts and how they come to an end. What examples from your research would you like to highlight?

"It was Joan of Arc who persuaded the French that they could win"

Jonathan Sumption speaks to Rob Attar about the final volume in his epic history of the Hundred Years' War, which reveals how the French turned the tide against the English monarchy

Tom Neil 1920-2018

Tom Neil served as an RAF flying ace during the Second World War, having joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1938 at the age of 18. He flew in a Hurricane during the 1940 Battle of Britain, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross later that year. He died in 2018 at the age of 97.

A fool's errand

The play Henry VIII, written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, opens with a warning. Those who have made their way to the Globe Theatre expecting to \"hear a merry bawdy play\" can expect disappointment, for they, the prologue puns, \"Will be deceived\". This play is serious, even tragic, portraying how \"mightiness meets misery\" where there is no room for merriness - and thus no room for the king's fool himself, Will Somer.

Britain gets swinging

ALWYN TURNER investigates the latest volume in David Kynaston's epic history of modern Britain, as the author turns his attention to the heady days of the early 1960s

Forgotten heroes

PATRICIA FARA reviews a history of black TB nurses in the United States during the first half of the 20th century

Spooks, spirits and psychiatry

ANNA MARIA BARRY recommends a new exploration of the interplay between science, faith and superstition in 19th-century attitudes to mental health

"The Roman empire cannot have been governed by a series of psychopaths. It would not have survived"

MARY BEARD tells Matt Elton what life would have been like for Rome's - from the path to the top to the almost inevitable sticky end emperors

Broadcast views: Radio Times at 100

Since its launch in 1923 as the BBC's official listings guide, the magazine has charted enormous shifts in media and society alike. David Hendy explores how its pages reflected changes across Britain

The medieval Stalingrad

Edward III's siege of Calais was a pivotal moment in the Hundred Years' War. Here Dan Jones argues that it bears comparison with one of the most brutal clashes of the modern era

EMPIRE ON THE BRINK

In September 1923, the British empire reached its maximum territorial extent. A staggering 460 million people lived within its borders. Yet just as the imperial project reached its apex, writes Matthew Parker, cracks were widening...

An Anglo-Saxon detective story

Why do the bones of luminaries such as King Cnut, Emma of Normandy and William II lie mixed up in six chests in Winchester Cathedral? And what do these remains tell us about the evolution of early England? Cat Jarman investigates

HELL IN ITALY

The Allied invasion of Italy in 1943 was envisaged as a swift push on Rome. Yet, as James Holland explains, by the end of the year, the campaign was stymied by German defences far from the capital

Anne Boleyn's fatal French connection

John Guy and Julia Fox reveal how international diplomacy supercharged the rise of Henry's VIII's second wife and hastened her fall

"The India Club briefly transported new arrivals back to their homeland"

BY THE TIME THIS ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED, London’s India Club will have closed. It’s been a well-kept secret for years. On the Strand, squeezed between a cafe and a newsagent, is a small door bearing the sign of the Hotel Strand Continental.

"In sun-beaten Greece, I learned that the past is receding faster than ever"

ITS OBVIOUS, I KNOW, BUT CHANGE IN HISTORY moves at a different pace at different times and in different places.

Are black histories still being overlooked?

The global protests of 2020 thrust the importance of understanding black history into the spotlight - but, three years on, has that focus been maintained? As the UK marks Black History Month, MATT ELTON gauges the views of three historians

How Britain Fell In Love With The NHS

Since its faltering launch in 1948, the National Health Service has become a cherished part of British society. Andrew Seaton explains how it attained that status

"Barbie has been both forward-thinking and a behind-the-times image of womanhood"

As the new Barbie film catapults the doll back into the cultural spotlight, Robin Gerber explores the toy's origins - and the sometimes controversial ways in which it has depicted wider social values

Ignatius of Loyola 1491-1556

Children's Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza chooses

Renaissance beauty tips

From snail-slime face cream to poisonous makeup, our podcast editor ELLIE CAWTHORNE discusses a recent episode on creative 16th-century beauty regimes

A woman's world

BRONWEN RILEY appraises an irreverent study that examines the Roman empire through the lives of 21 of its female subjects, from fearsome queens to vestal virgins

Follow the money

JANE HUMPHRIES reviews a wide-ranging but very readable study of the changing tides of global economics from the Great Depression to the present day

Voices from the picket line

LUCY ROBINSON enjoys a new history of the 1984-85 Miners' Strike that puts first-hand accounts from those involved front and centre

"My historical research shows that much higher levels of inclusion are possible for people labelled disabled"

A new study by historian LUCY DELAP suggests we need to rethink the experiences of people with learning disabilities in the 20th century. Here she explains how many thrived in work and wider society

Have nations always used sport to launder their reputations?

As countries with questionable human rights records buy overseas teams and vie to host global tournaments, MATT MCDOWELL speaks to Matt Elton about the rise of 'sportswashing' - and whether sport and power have always gone hand in hand

Eleanor Glanville The butterfly collector

Today, insects are seen as a vital part of our ecosystem, but in the late 17th century, they were often overlooked by science. PATRICIA FARA tells the story of a groundbreaking lepidopterist whose research provided solace from a turbulent personal life

WHEN PIRATES RULED ASIA'S WAVES

Pirates didn't only spread chaos in Caribbean and Atlantic waters. Adam Clulow reveals how east Asian raiders terrorised China's shores from the 16th century

Golden boy

Over the past 200 years, Dick Whittington has become one of Britain's best-loved pantomime heroes. Yet, as Michael McCarthy tells Jon Bauckham, the real-life story that inspired Dick's rags to riches tale is even more remarkable than the fiction