FROM FACT TO FICTION

THE ROYAL MINT

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WELCOME

MARCH 2022

THREE THINGS I’VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

1. Secret poets Of all the activities we

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Rana Mitter “It’s half a century since Richard

Miniature marvels

EYE-OPENER ALAMY/UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX If historical films are

Courting controversy

The acquittal of four people charged with criminal damage, after removing a statue of a slave trader, reignited discussions on how we commemorate the past. ANNA WHITELOCK charted the debate

Scotland may pardon historical “witches”

A Scottish monument to a woman executed as

HISTORY IN THE NEWS

A selection of the stories hitting the history headlines

MICHAEL WOOD ON… REAL VOICES FROM HITLER’S GERMANY

"It is unsurpassed among the books that came

King Edward is murdered at Corfe

The teenage monarch is viciously stabbed in the back

The first case of “Spanish flu” is recorded

Patient Zero falls ill at a military base in Kansas

Pocahontas is buried, far from home

The young Native American woman is interred on the banks of the Thames

The slave trade is abolished in the British empire

After years of campaigning, the abolitionist movement celebrates a landmark win

WHY WE SHOULD REMEMBER…

The first final of the FA Cup, the oldest competition in world football

LETTERS

An illustration of Hereward the Wake. Reader Kees

Q&A

As election of historical conundrums answered by experts

“We have believed the Normans’ view of themselves for too long”

JUDITH A GREEN talks to David Musgrove about her new book, which takes readers far beyond the familiar story of 1066, and provides a richer understanding of the Normans’ complex place in the wider history of Europe

In search of unity

EUROPE

AUTHORS ON THE PODCAST

Kathryn Harkup on Shakespeare’s death scenes “Strangely, people

The good fight

WOMEN

Sonnets and savagery

HESTER VAIZEY recommends an erudite investigation into the East German secret police’s fascination with poetry

Resisting the Raj

INDIA

Teacher of war

Hannibal: Rome’s Greatest Enemy by Philip Freeman

Family futures

Conquered by Eleanor Parker Bloomsbury, 272 pages, £20

ALSO ON THE BOOKSHELF

SOCIAL Waterloo Sunrise by John Davis (Princeton University

ENCOUNTERS

Disappearing duke Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, as

Moral crusader

LISTEN

Overlooked links

Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade is

Feet of imagination

A 1997 stage performance of Lord of the

Vikings on the move

Frida Gustavsson joins the new generation of Vikings

HISTORY ON THE AIRWAVES

“On the face of it the Bayeux Tapestry

HISTORY COOKBOOK

TASTE Woolton pie This vegetarian dish was served

A Welsh wonderland

EXPLORE… LLANDUDNO, CONWY

PRIZE CROSSWORD

Across 1 Early 17th-century Mughal emperor, whose name

Women’s history week

Here’s a selection of the exciting content that’s

NEXT MONTH

April issue on sale 17 March 2022

MY HISTORY HERO

Actor, comedian and BBC DJ Craig Charles chooses

What drove the witch- hunters’ cruel crusade?

They tortured, tricked and terrorised suspects into confessions – often with undisguised relish. So, asks Marion Gibson, should the witchfinders of 16th and 17th-century Europe be dismissed as sadists and charlatans?

“THE WEEK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD”

Following years of icy silence between the US and China, on 21 February 1972 president Richard Nixon arrived in Beijing for an unprecedented diplomatic mission. Rana Mitter explores how the two sides viewed an encounter that augured China’s entrance onto the global stage

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

DIGGING FOR VICTORY

When war broke out in 1939, food shortages posed just as grave a threat to Britons as a German invasion. From Dig for Victory to the land girls, JOHN MARTIN charts a nation’s battle with star vation

The secrets of the stones

Where did Stonehenge’s megaliths come from? Were they transported to Wiltshire by glacier or human hand? And how long did this Neolithic building project take? As a major exhibition on Stonehenge opens at the British Museum, Mike Pitts uses the latest research to answer the big questions about the construction of this ancient wonder

Captivating little citizens

The BBC has always been eager to create shows for children, but at first their programmes were often more preachy than actionpacked. DAVID HENDY explores how Blue Peter transformed the corporation’s child-friendly offering

A SPACE MENAGE RIE

During the space race, animals paved the way for humans to travel beyond Earth. Stephen Walker shines a light on these largely forgotten creatures and their often fatal journeys

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