May 2012 cover

May 2012

Articles from the May 2012 issue of BBC History Magazine

English prime minister Spencer Perceval being assassinated by bankrupt businessman John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons

Georgian

Why was Spencer Perceval assassinated? Inside the killing of a Georgian prime minister

Thomas Blood stealing the Crown Jewels

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The day Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Major Roy Farran (seated, centre) at a press conference on his return from Palestine, 1947. (Bentley Archive/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

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Trouble in Palestine. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Members of the royal family on board the royal barge 'Spirit of Chartwell'. (Rota/Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)

General Modern

The LibraryThe Thames triumphant: royal parties on London's grandest street

A cartoon depiction of mythical Luddite leader Ned Ludd. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

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Where history happened: Luddites. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A contemporary view of the river Seine and Notre-Dame de Paris. (Getty Images)

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Ye Olde Travel Guide: Paris 1802. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Landscape gardener, architect and writer John Loudon. "I just wish I had a fraction of his vision," says Mark Easton of one of the first people to champion green space in Britain's cities. (Public Domain)

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My history hero: John Loudon (1783–1843). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two medieval men thresh a sheaf of wheat in this 14th century illustration. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

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Michael Wood on the history of you and me. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jerusalem's magnificent Dome of the Rock was deliberately designed to put a Muslim stamp on what had previously been a Christian city. (Getty Images)

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The midwife of Islam. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An American privateer is shown repelling a British attack during the War of 1812. Despite some notable successes, the British regarded the entire conflict as a sideshow and quickly forgot it. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

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When Washington burned. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Laurence Olivier plays Richard III in the 1955 film adaptation of Shakespeare's play. In it, the controversial monarch is damned as everything from a "bottled spider" and "lump of foul deformity" to a "poisonous bunch-backed toad". (Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Why did Shakespeare revile Richard III?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.