WELCOME

JUNE 2022

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Helen Hackett “I’ve found that exploring Elizabethan ideas

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY

NEWS COMMENT ANNIVERSARIES HIDDEN HISTORIES

A noble tradition?

Headlines about the ways in which the UK aids refugees prompted Twitter users to consider the nation’s historical attitudes towards the issue. ANNA WHITELOCK took stock of the debate

Darwin notebooks returned to library

Darwin’s “tree of life” sketch in one of

HISTORY IN THE NEWS

A selection of the stories hitting the history headlines

ANNIVERSARIES

HELEN CARR highlights events that place in June in history

WHY WE SHOULD REMEMBER…

200 YEARS AGO

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HIDDEN HISTORIES

KAVITA PURI explores lesser-known stories from our past

LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH Alternative medicine Napoleon as

Q&A

As election of historical conundrums answered by experts

BOOKS

CHRISTIANITY

“Medieval Christians were capable of imagining goddess-like beings that looked thoroughly pagan”

RONALD HUTTON talks to Rhiannon Davies about his new book exploring four female deities who straddled the pagan and Christian worlds in the Middle Ages

The final slog

TAYLOR DOWNING salutes an account of the often overlooked last days of the Second World War in Europe, when Allied troops faced stubborn resistance from German forces

Generating fear

STEPHEN WALKER gives a nervous welcome to a history of nuclear power, which focuses on the accidents and the disasters that have plagued the sector

Grave insights

BRENNA HASSETT recommends an account of life – and individual deaths – in Britain during the first millennium AD

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

First letters

Inventing the Alphabet: The Origins of Letters from

All at sea

The Ship Asunder: A Maritime History of Britain

ALSO ON THE BOOKSHELF

FICTION Lion by Conn Iggulden (Michael Joseph, 400

ENCOUNTERS

VISIT Here be Vikings This spring, the Jorvik

HISTORY ON THE AIRWAVES

“We’ve been sending vinegar flies into orbit since 1947. I wish they went up in little space suits”

HISTORY COOKBOOK

Creme à la Carême TASTE This jelly-topped French

Romantic fantasy

Medieval stronghold, luxurious Tudor residence, American millionaire’s bolthole: Hever Castle harmoniously recalls a variety of past identities. CHRISTOPHER HARDING explores Anne Boleyn’s childhood home

Adriatic outpost of empires

Reflecting on the past Trieste’s Canal Grande is

PRIZE CROSSWORD

Across 1 Native American people who first

NEXT MONTH

July issue on sale 9 June 2022

MY HISTORY HERO

Local council support officer and podcaster Jackie Weaver chooses

We lament the loss of all the good things that come with city life

MICHAEL WOOD ON… THE RISE AND FALL

THE SIEGE

When some 6,000 parliamentarians tried to prise a few hundred royalists out of Basing House in 1643, they began a brutal siege that would drag on for years – and see thousands slaughtered. Jessie Childs tells the story of a desperate struggle that became a defining episode of the Civil War

The survivor, the “incurable” and the scapegoat

History is too often presented as tales of “great men” – yet the experiences of ordinary women speak eloquently about the reality of lives past. Lucy Worsley introduces three outwardly unremarkable people caught up in pivotal events

WAR WITHOUT END

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 is widely viewed through the prism of the great Cold War confrontation between east and west. Yet, writes Elisabeth Leake, the occupation also ignited a tinderbox of local grievances that continue to torment the country to this day

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, ON THE its lofty aims alienated as much as they allured

“No one ever has met with such an ovation”

George III pardoned PoWs, Victoria dressed down, and George V brought London to a standstill. As Elizabeth II marks 70 years on the throne, Tracy Borman tells the story of three previous monarchs’ jubilee celebrations

George III’s last hurrah

Although his people fully embraced his golden jubilee, the king’s “ulcer’d mind” left him largely unable to celebrate

How Queen Victoria stepped out of mourning… into the modern age

The enormous enthusiasm for the queen’s golden and diamond jubilees proved that she remained in tune with the public mood

When George V turned monarchy into a religion

The silver jubilee of 1935 gave Britons the opportunity to show their affection for a king who had steered them through the war

"When the Black Death arrived in Europe, it was like striking a match in tinder''

The medievalist and historian of medicine Monica H Green tells Ellie Cawthorne how scientific advances have changed our thinking on what caused the Black Death – and why it was so devastating

A journey into the Elizabethan mind

The Elizabethans were desperate to untangle the mystery of their “inward selves”. Helen Hackett reveals how they used ancient teachings, Christian doctrine and new scientific discoveries to make sense of the mind

Raised by wolves

Feral children have fascinated and frightened people for centuries, raising questions about what it means to be human. Richard Sugg shares the stories of some of these wild children – and explains why their return to society was not always a happy one