CATEGORIES
DOWNFALL - THE INVASION OF JAPAN
Without a swift end to the war in sight, the Allies planned a gruelling campaign on the Japanese home islands – a potentially costly operation avoided only by the use of nuclear weapons and Japan’s surrender
AMERICA'S FIRST COMMANDER IN CHIEF
A Founding Father, military hero of the revolution and the nation’s first president – but how much of his story is fact, and how much fiction?
Lodging with Mozart (and Shelley, Franklin and Byron)
It may seem strange in our home-owning obsessed times, but thousands of Georgians – from modest milliners to world-famous poets – chose renting a room over gaining a toehold on the property ladder. Gillian Williamson explains why
In Search of Unity
Richard Jevans is unconvinced by a new study that is focused on the idea of finishing the “European project” and based on the testimonies of esteemed thinkers over the centuries
The Good Fight
Diane Atkinson applauds an insightful and inspiring history of political and social action by women around the turn of the 19th century
Discover Slate Country
The epic ruins of North Wales’ once-great slate industry are now a Unesco World Heritage Site. Julie Brominicks marvels at the spectacle
Alfred Fagon - A Unique Caribbean Voice
Having migrated from Jamaica as a teenager, Alfred Fagon emerged as a powerful playwright who created African-Caribbean characters to speak truths about the challenges facing black people in Britain. Stephen Bourne introduces a writer who helped transform black British theatre in the 1970s and 80s
What Makes a Greek?
Michael Scott enjoys an informed and entertaining journey through the history of Greek-speaking people, but takes issue with the framing of the book
A National Institution
As it approached its second decade, the BBC's happy-go-lucky attitude was fading fast. And, as David Hendy reveals in the second instalment of our 13-part series tracing the corporation's cultural impact, the government was now taking a keen interest
The Tower of London in Bloom
If you're able to get to London this year then why not come and celebrate the space and Queen at the Tower of London, where a spectacular, colourful, vibrant field of flowers will fill and transform the Tower's moat.
Fight for a Nation
Costas Douzinas on a study of the revolution by which Greece freed itself from the Ottoman empire and was transformed into a self-ruling nation-state
Battle of Wills
Mark White commends a wide-ranging investigation into the psychological dimensions of the Cold War and the crucial role fear played in shaping American and Soviet strategies
Emily Soldene - Actress, writer, rebel
As the darling of London’s opera scene, and then as a journalist printing scandalous revelations about the cream of society, Emily Soldene thrived in the limelight. HELEN BATTEN explains why this trendsetting, rule-breaking, genre-hopping Victorian celebrity deserves to take centre stage once more
Meet the boss
Ever wondered who is behind the scenes, bringing the nation’s most popular factual programme to our screens every week? Annabel Ross meets Countryfile’s series editor Jane Lomas
Sara Maitland
Snobby social attitudes undervalue manual labour – especially in the countryside
God Save The Queen
It will be a mess when she’s gone
Books That Changed My Life
Candice Carty-Williams’ Sunday Times Bestseller Queenie was one of the best-loved books of last year’s lockdown. Her new novel, Empress & Aniya is available in paperback and on Audible (published by Knights Of)
Windows Onto History
From the glittering stained glass in medieval cathedrals to modernist high-rises, windows have illuminated our buildings for centuries. But, argues Rachel Hurdley, the presenter of a new BBC Radio 4 documentary on the history of windows, they can also shed light on the past
INSIDE THE STEP PYRAMID OF DJOSER
Sean McLachlan explores the recently reopened interior of this iconic Third Dynasty Saqqara monument.
PER MESUT: for younger readers
She Who Loves Silence
Highlights of the Manchester Museum 29: An Offering by Queen Tiye for her Husband
Campbell Price describes an offering table with a touching significance.
What is... a nail house?
Don’t confuse a nail house with a nail parlour. A nail house is an old house that survives as new building development goes on all around it.
Kent's stairway to heaven
Walter Barton May’s Hadlow Castle is the ultimate Gothic folly
Pursuits
Pursuits
The book that changed the world
On Marcel Proust’s 150th anniversary, A N Wilson praises his masterpiece, an exquisite comedy with no parallel
RIP the playboys of the western world
Charlie Methven mourns his dashing former father-in-law, Luis ‘the Bounder’ Basualdo, last of a dying breed
Arts
Arts
My film family's greatest hits
Downton Abbey producer Gareth Neame follows in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandmother, a silent-movie star
Books
Books
A lifetime of pin-ups
Barry Humphries still has nightmares about going on stage. He’s always admired the stars who kept battling on