A song to Drella

WELCOME JANUARY 2022

The Romans ruled Britain for nearly four centuries,

1912 TEA AND SKATES

GETTY IMAGES SNAPSHOTS In a much-needed break from

THINGS WE LEARNED THIS MONTH...

RECENT HISTORY HEADLINES THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE

Artillery gun captain in the Sealed Knot

MEET THE PEOPLE BRINGING THE PAST TO LIFE

The first crossing of the English Channel by air

ANNIVERSARIES THAT HAVE MADE HISTORY

BBC100

EVERY MONTH THROUGHOUT 2022, WE’LL BE COMMEMORATING THE BBC’S 100TH BIRTHDAY WITH A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

JANUARY ANNIVERSARIES

A LOOK BACK AT OTHER EVENTS THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN JANUARY THROUGHOUT HISTORY

PARANORMAL COLD CASE

INVESTIGATING HISTORY’S MOST SPINE-CHILLING ENCOUNTERS

The Seven Years’ War

YOUR BRIEF EXPLAINER TO HISTORY’S HOT TOPICS

Catherine de Medici:the ‘serpent queen’

THE LIVES OF HISTORY’S MOST FAMOUS FIGURES

ROMAN BRITAIN

GETTY IMAGES X5, ALAMY X1, ARCANGEL X1 PODCAST

What is the National Day of Mourning?

HISTORY’S GREATEST CONUNDRUMS AND MYSTERIES SOLVED

What was the ship of Theseus?

FLOATING AN IDEA A 15th-century depiction of Theseus’

Who was Pierre Brassau?

SHORT ANSWER An upcoming artist in the 1960s

Did Commodus fight a gladiator?

SHORT ANSWER The movie Gladiator got it wrong:

How did auto polo work?

BUMPER CARS, A pair of vehicles collide during

When was the first mobile call?

SHORT ANSWER The inaugural call in 1973 was

DID YOU KNOW?

DEATHLY DIAGNOSIS The English surgeon Joseph Henry Green

Where does ‘quarantine’ come from?

SHORT ANSWER People were advised to self-isolate to

What happened when Europeans first met the Māori?

55,573 The number of RAF Bomber Command personnel

What powers did the Witan have?

SHORT ANSWER The Anglo-Saxon advisory council had the

What made Suleiman ‘magnificent’?

SHORT ANSWER The long-reigning Sultan brought wealth and

Who discovered Troy?

BURIED SECRETS, Businessman Heinrich Schliemann (inset) took the

What happened to Anne Boleyn’s body?

SHORT ANSWER If you ever needed proof that

Why was there a riot over watermelons?

SHORT ANSWER A slice of watermelon in Panama

HISTORICAL FICTION...

MARTIN BOND A Terrible Kindness By Jo Browning

•••• Excerpt ••••

Our central character, William Lavery, is celebrating his qualification as an embalmer, not knowing that he will soon be driving through the night to a village in south Wales in desperate need of his help

Q&A

Jo grew up in a crematorium in Birmingham. She holds an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia and is now a creative writing supervisor at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. A Terrible Kindness, inspired by the events of the 1966 Aberfan disaster, is her debut novel

CROSSWORD

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR HISTORICAL PUZZLE EVERY ISSUE

LETTERS

A 19th-century depiction of the battle of Bosworth

PHOTO FINISH

ARRESTING IMAGES FROM THE ANNALS OF THE PAST

THE RISE AND FALL OF ROMAN BRITAIN

In the first century AD, the Romans founded a new province at the very edge of their empire: Britannia. We look back at the key events in its storied history...

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ROMAN BRITAIN

Dr Miles Russell answers key questions about everyday life in Britain following the invasion of AD 43

CARVING OUT NEW TERRITORY

Caesar may have laid the foundations for the Roman invasion of Britain, but it was Claudius who came, saw and conquered

BRITANNIA STRIKES BACK

Guy de la Bédoyère explores five stories of men and women who rebelled against Roman rule in Britain

WHAT DID THE ROMANS DO FOR BRITAIN?

Not everyone may have welcomed them with open arms, but the Romans certainly left their mark on British culture and society

SPREADING THE WORD OF THE GODS

The Romans were only too happy to share their pantheon of deities with the native Britons – and learn a little themselves, too

ADOPTED DEITIES

Three Celtic figures that turned Roman

A HOME FROM ROME

We explore the secrets of Lullingstone Villa: a classic example of a Roman dwelling enjoyed by Britannia’s elite

MORE VILLAS TO VISIT

A look at three other fascinating slices of the Mediterranean found in Britain

ROME’S NORTHERN FRONTIER

Patricia Southern explores the history of Hadrian’s Wall – the formidable barrier that separated Britannia from the unconquered tribes of Caledonia

THREE OTHER ROMAN FORTIFICATIONS

Hadrian’s Wall wasn’t the only defensive structure the Romans built in Britannia

THE END OF AN ERA

After nearly 400 years in power, the Romans abandoned their British outpost during the fifth century AD. But did their influence truly wane?

GET HOOKED

If we’ve whetted your appetite for Roman Britain, why not explore the topic further with our pick of books, films and podcasts

OPERATION MINCEMEAT AND THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS

As the Allies plotted to invade Sicily in 1943, two British intelligence officers concocted an elaborate deception operation involving a corpse, a submarine, and a briefcase stuffed with documents. What followed would alter the course of World War II – and save thousands of lives. With a major new film about the hoax set to premiere this month, Jonny Wilkes reveals how the events originally unfolded

WHAT GREAT PAINTINGS SAY

Hogarth’s satirical series provided humour with a serious undertone

THE REAL LONE RANGER

Feared by felons and revered by his colleagues, Bass Reeves broke free from slavery to become one of the most successful lawmen in America’s Wild West. Now immortalised as a character in a new BBC One series, Nige Tassell explores Reeves’ incredible life story

Q&A

British actor Gary Beadle plays Bass Reeves in Around the World in 80 Days, which is currently airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer

WHAT IF... BRITAIN HAD REMAINED NEUTRAL IN WWI?

Professor David Stevenson tells Jonny Wilkes how a lack of British involvement during World War I would have led to likely German victory and affected a multitude of issues around the globe – from women’s suffrage to Indian independence

The shock of the new

The Gilded Age / Sky Atlantic, Tuesday 25 January

The way we were

Past Forward / BBC Radio 4, Monday 3 January

What lies beneath

Digging for Britain / BBC Two, January

Changing times

Call the Midwife / BBC One, January

Meet the ancestors

The Essay: Iron Age Britain and its Peoples / BBC Radio 3, January

Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution

WHAT TO SEE AND WHERE TO VISIT IN THE WIDER WORLD OF HISTORY

Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s–Now

PAID ENTRY Tate Britain, London, until 3 April

The 1920s: Beyond the Roar

FREE ENTRY The National Archives, London, opens 21

Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters

PAID ENTRY The Box, Plymouth, until 27 February

Tip Girls

FREE ENTRY Big Pit National Coal Museum, Pontypool,

The Fall of Charles I

THIS MONTH’S BEST HISTORICAL READS AND LISTENS

The Science of Life and Death in Frankenstein

Famously written by 18-year-old Mary Shelley in a

The Oracle of Night: The History and Science of Dreams

What causes dreams? How did people in the

White Debt: The Demerara Uprising and Britain’s Legacy of Slavery

In 1823, more than 10,000 enslaved people in

Worn: A People’s History of Clothing

Opening with a tale of a teenage run-in

Uncontrollable Women: Radicals, Reformers and Revolutionaries

This revealing set of profiles of female pioneers

WHAT TO LISTEN TO...

Each month we bring you three of our favourite podcasts from the BBC and HistoryExtra