BBC History Magazine

The online archive of articles from BBC History Magazine

An edited image of a man with long curly hair and a lacy ruff. The right hand side of his face is colour inverted so it appears black with a red eye

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The sinister secrets of Samuel Pepys. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting showing a black beast biting the leg of an orange man dressed in a loincloth

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What have the Etruscans ever done for us?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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After Hiroshima: the atomic plague. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A montage of images showing a man standing in the ruins of Hiroshima; a man dressed smartly wearing circular glasses; and a Japanese family with two parents sitting down with five children around them

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Senkichi Awaya: the lost mayor of Hiroshima. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of a king dressed in a green and orange robe. He is wearing a crown and holding a sceptre

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King Æthelstan: England's colossus. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A black and white photograph shows a group of Japanese military men on a train, while some young women prepare to get on the carriage. A young woman looks back over her shoulder

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Kavita Puri on VJ Day: "We don't talk about the war in Asia – which was a messy, complicated conflict". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A man in a grey T shirt and blue jeans sits with his arms crossed, facing the camera. He has dark curly hair and wears glasses

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Jonathan Healey: “A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A composite illustration of four contenders for the English throne around the time of the Norman Conquest. From left to right are Harold Godwinson, Edgar Ætheling, Harald Hardrada and William the Conqueror, with Harold shown enthroned and William on horseback.

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1066: who was the rightful king?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dame Stephanie Shirley and Tommy Flowers

20th Century

My history heroDame Stephanie Shirley chooses Tommy Flowers

An illustration of a woman in a gold and red dress walking on a tightrope while balancing a pair of scales on her head. The scales hold an angel on one side and a devil on the other. Behind her on the tightrope, there is a cat. Below her, there is a town and a factory, with some houses submerged in water

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Michael Wood on lessons on good government from medieval Siena. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A dramatic black-and-white close-up of a horse’s face, focusing tightly on one eye. Light catches the eye and surrounding hairs while much of the animal’s face and the background remain in deep shadow.

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Medieval warhorses: 5 moments horsepower changed the course of history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A sketch shows two topless men wearing pale shorts fighting each other in a boxing ring

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From a lion-taming lightweight to the Muscular Maids: 5 Victorian boxing sensations you need to know about. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Many brightly coloured teacups with triangular handles sit on top of a white table. To the left, one of them is being picked up. The person is wearing a green bracelet on the arm they are using to hold the cup

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Designs for life: the lasting impact of Art Deco. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woman dressed in a ruffled dress and spotted robe holds a young child in a white, lacy dress and cap

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Maria of Modena: The queen who started a revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A picture of Freddie Mercury. He is wearing a white vest top with white jeans and he is holding a guitar behind his head. At the top of the guitar, a bright white light shines

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The Age of Spectacle: Live Aid at 40. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A multicoloured photo collage, including an Indian soldier in WW1 military uniform, a woman dressed in dark jacket, cap and tie

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"There's little understanding of the shared history of Britain and the subcontinent" | South Asian Heritage Month. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photo of a group of pyramids against a clear blue sky.

General ancient history

Wanderlust: Bettany Hughes on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

To the left, there is a black and white image of Queen Victoria. She is dressed in dark clothing and has her hair partially pulled back by a black fastening. Facing her, on the right is an image of John Brown, a bearded man wearing military uniform and a hat. Over them, there is a pink treatment with a rip in it

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How I uncovered Victoria's secret love: Historian Fern Riddell explains all. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woman dressed in a grey top and a green and orange bandana holds a black and white photograph of a young man against her chin. She stands in front of a plain, yellow wall

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The Srebrenica massacre: the worst atrocity committed on European soil since the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two women lean over a white table, looking at a pair of wooden shoes with stilt-like soles

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"Museums are magical places": Kavita Puri on a new initiative encouraging close encounters with history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A hand in the top right corner is rubbing out the picture on a scroll of paper. Four historical characters watch on and try to stay out of his way

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Michael Wood on the struggle of memory against forgetting | "Place names are signposts to the past". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two men dressed in military uniform stand behind a barbed wire, looking into the camera. One wears a bandage around his head, covering one eye

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Five things you (probably) didn’t know about the First World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard Coles and Lorenzo Da Ponte

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My history heroRichard Coles chooses Lorenzo Da Ponte. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In a white hexagonal frame, there is a black and white image of a playground, with a young boy on a white rocking horse. The background is green

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Swings and roundabouts: a history of Britain's playgrounds. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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From fatal foliage to the perils of ploughing: the Tudor calendar of death. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Caesar's funeral drama: anger and revenge after death. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A collage of pictures shows a black woman wearing a spotty dress in the foreground to the right. To the left, an image of Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by a police officer, with a bus and several slogans in the background

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Suing for equality: how Sarah Mae Flemming began the legal fight against segregation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two green hearts are sideways, facing each other. In each there is an image: one has a painting of Elizabeth I and the other has a painting of the Duke of Anjou

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The Virgin Queen? Elizabeth I's forbidden love. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two pilots dressed in military uniform sit in the cockpit of a small war plane. Both are looking out the window the right of the picture

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"England is invincible": How the Luftwaffe lost the Battle of Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Kavita Puri's hidden histories: "Samba schools used the carnival to foreground overlooked histories". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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