CATEGORIES

A cultural institution
BBC History Magazine

A cultural institution

Mixing music with drama and the ancient with the cutting-edge, the BBC's Third Programme set out to scale the shining peaks of "high culture". But, says DAVID HENDY, its lofty aims alienated as much as they allured

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9 mins  |
June 2022
 A congregation of voices
BBC History Magazine

A congregation of voices

SARAH FOOT enjoys a new history of the Church of England, a book that finds space for the reflections of ordinary parishioners as well charting the deeds of the great and the good

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3 mins  |
June 2022
All at sea
BBC History Magazine

All at sea

Maritime

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2 mins  |
June 2022
EILEEN COLLINS: “IT WAS A DIFFICULT MISSION… WE WERE THE FIRST TO SEE MIR”
All About Space

EILEEN COLLINS: “IT WAS A DIFFICULT MISSION… WE WERE THE FIRST TO SEE MIR”

Having served as both the first female pilot and first female commander of NASA’s Space Shuttle, Eileen Collins boosted the involvement of women in space exploration to a whole new level

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10 mins  |
Issue 129
EUROPE'S MARS ROVER IS NOW UNLIKELY TO LAUNCH BEFORE 2026 AFTER RUSSIA'S WAR ON UKRAINE
All About Space

EUROPE'S MARS ROVER IS NOW UNLIKELY TO LAUNCH BEFORE 2026 AFTER RUSSIA'S WAR ON UKRAINE

Europe's beleaguered ExoMars rover is unlikely to launch before 2026 as the European Space Agency (ESA) ponders a path forward for the mission, including finding a new rocket, replacing Russian-built parts in cooperation with NASA or restarting its partnership with Russia in case the country's war in Ukraine ends soon.

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1 min  |
Issue 129
WHERE HAVE THESE GIANT FILAMENTS COME FROM?
All About Space

WHERE HAVE THESE GIANT FILAMENTS COME FROM?

Mysterious magnetic filaments have been found at the heart of the Milky Way, but astronomers are still trying to discover their origin

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10 mins  |
Issue 129
25 UNBELIEVABLE FACTS ABOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM
All About Space

25 UNBELIEVABLE FACTS ABOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM

WHY OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD COULD BE THE STRANGEST PLACE IN THE COSMOS

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10+ mins  |
Issue 129
VIRGIN ORBIT TARGETS SUMMER FOR ITS FIRST ORBITAL LAUNCH
All About Space

VIRGIN ORBIT TARGETS SUMMER FOR ITS FIRST ORBITAL LAUNCH

The California-based company has three straight successful orbital missions under its belt

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2 mins  |
Issue 129
WELCOME TO THE STELLAR AFTERLIFE
All About Space

WELCOME TO THE STELLAR AFTERLIFE

They’re hot, they’re small and technically they’re dead. Meet the stellar remnants that have a multimillion-year-long tale to tell

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10+ mins  |
Issue 129
BLACK HOLE BILLIARDS
All About Space

BLACK HOLE BILLIARDS

Around these behemoths, smaller black holes weirdly collide

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3 mins  |
Issue 129
PLANET PROFILE VENUS
All About Space

PLANET PROFILE VENUS

Earth’s sister planet is a harsh, deadly world, making it an interesting one to observe

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7 mins  |
Issue 129
CANON EOS 6D MARK II
All About Space

CANON EOS 6D MARK II

Is this the perfect companion for enthusiast photographers looking to make their first break into the full-frame world?

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8 mins  |
Issue 129
12 ASTRONOMY TUTORIALS TO MASTER
All About Space

12 ASTRONOMY TUTORIALS TO MASTER

For the very best views of the night sky

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10+ mins  |
Issue 129
Feather beds, cockfights and midnight flights to the moon
BBC History Magazine

Feather beds, cockfights and midnight flights to the moon

From seeing feathers as omens of death to saving soldiers with homing pigeons, our interactions with birds have always been contradictory. Roy and Lesley Adkins select five chapters from avian history to illuminate this complex relationship

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5 mins  |
May 2022
Gods among men
BBC History Magazine

Gods among men

JANE DRAYCOTT applauds an ambitious journey through the global history of emperors, from the most ancient civilisations to the 20th-century demise of world-spanning realms

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4 mins  |
May 2022
EMPIRE OF THE GREATS
BBC History Magazine

EMPIRE OF THE GREATS

Not even a 2,000-year smear campaign, instigated by the Greeks, can obscure the staggering achievements of the ancient Persians. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the story of the Iranian dynasty that forged the greatest empire the world had ever known

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10+ mins  |
May 2022
Jesse Owens 1913-80
BBC History Magazine

Jesse Owens 1913-80

He was a bit of a showman and even raced against horses for money. When asked why, he said: You can't eat four gold medals'

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2 mins  |
May 2022
Spinning stories
BBC History Magazine

Spinning stories

HELEN CARR assesses a magisterial overview of how people have represented the past, from medieval propaganda to historical fiction

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3 mins  |
May 2022
The family behind the Tudors
BBC History Magazine

The family behind the Tudors

The name Tudor has reverberated down the centuries, but another family lurked in the background, helping the dynasty to greatness - and sometimes seeking to tear it down. Joanne Paul chronicles the meteoric rise and deadly fall of the Dudleys

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10 mins  |
May 2022
Voyage into the unknown
BBC History Magazine

Voyage into the unknown

MARGARET SMALL commends a new biography of Ferdinand Magellan that looks beyond the Portuguese explorer's globe-circling achievements to reveal the man behind the myth

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3 mins  |
May 2022
Victoria Drummond Engineering trailblazer
BBC History Magazine

Victoria Drummond Engineering trailblazer

A century ago, the barriers facing any woman longing for a career in marine engineering seemed almost insurmountable - but not quite. JO STANLEY introduces a woman who had the talent, bravery and determination to make her mark in the male-dominated maritime world

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6 mins  |
May 2022
This will be seen as a hybrid war, in which a key weapon is the deliberate misreading of history
BBC History Magazine

This will be seen as a hybrid war, in which a key weapon is the deliberate misreading of history

In February, following months of escalating tensions, Russia invaded Ukraine. Are parallels with the past useful in making sense of the war, or is history being used for more sinister ends? Four experts have their say

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10+ mins  |
May 2022
A Cruel Renaissance
BBC History Magazine

A Cruel Renaissance

“Wicked, an abomination, and against all humanity.” These words, uttered in 1416, shine a light on a dark truth: that slavery thrived in Renaissance Europe. Hannah Skoda tells the stories of people living in bondage in a period when ideals of liberty and the nobility of human nature didn't apply to all

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9 mins  |
May 2022
Black Communities Have Had to Pay for the Failures of Emancipation
BBC History Magazine

Black Communities Have Had to Pay for the Failures of Emancipation

Kris Manjapra speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about his new book, which explores how emancipations of enslaved people have left troubled legacies that still endure today

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9 mins  |
May 2022
The Determined Will
Philosophy Now

The Determined Will

Stephen Brewer’s couple are determined to argue about free will.

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5 mins  |
April/May 2022
Diogenes the Cynic (c.404-323 BC)
Philosophy Now

Diogenes the Cynic (c.404-323 BC)

Martin Jenkins recalls what we know for sure about the philosopher in the barrel.

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9 mins  |
April/May 2022
Paradox Lost
Philosophy Now

Paradox Lost

Paul Tissier argues that Russell’s Paradox isn’t really a paradox.

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5 mins  |
April/May 2022
The Goodness of Existence
Philosophy Now

The Goodness of Existence

Jarlath Cox says whether life brings pleasure or pain, the value of being born is the ability to experience at all.

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10+ mins  |
April/May 2022
The Lottery' & Locke's Politics
Philosophy Now

The Lottery' & Locke's Politics

John P. Irish considers through an infamous lottery.

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10+ mins  |
April/May 2022
VERY LARGE TELESCOPE FINDS NEW SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE
All About Space

VERY LARGE TELESCOPE FINDS NEW SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE

Scientists spotted the supermassive black hole hiding inside thick cosmic dust

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3 mins  |
Issue 128