WELCOME MAY 2022

This month’s Essential Guide traces the battles, bloodshed

c1920 SKILLS FOR LIFE

Cookery was just one of the many skills

1919 FINDING PEACE?

In an image taken on the day the

c1912 HIGH SOCIETY

GETTY IMAGES As skyscrapers began to dominate urban

THINGS WE LEARNED THIS MONTH...

RECENT HISTORY HEADLINES THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE

Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company

MEET THE PEOPLE BRINGING THE PAST TO LIFE

Oscar Wilde is released from prison

ANNIVERSARIES THAT HAVE MADE HISTORY

PARANORMAL COLD CASE

INVESTIGATING HISTORY’S MOST SPINE-CHILLING ENCOUNTERS

The Evil May Day Riots

YOUR BRIEF EXPLAINER TO HISTORY’S HOT TOPICS

Al Capone’s rise to infamy

THE LIVES OF HISTORY’S MOST FAMOUS FIGURES

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

In 1776, as the conflict heated up, Britain’s North American colonies announced their independence with a groundbreaking document. Dr Tom Cutterham explores the Declaration’s lasting impact

How did people try to ‘cure’ the Black Death?

SHORT ANSWER On top of the crushed emeralds and poultry accessories were some keepers, like social distancing

Did Merit Ptah exist?

SHORT ANSWER A female doctor from ancient Egypt or a case of mistaken identity?

What is the world’s oldest joke?

SHORT ANSWER Be careful with that joke, it’s an antique

How did Russians react to Stalin’s death?

SHORT ANSWER His propaganda machine and cult of personality ensured that he got a heartfelt send off

What was ‘Black Tot Day’?

SHORT ANSWER Like Captain Jack Sparrow, Royal Navy sailors were left asking: “Why is the rum gone?”

Why were lightning rod umbrellas invented?

SHORT ANSWER Intended to protect the user from rain and lightning, their greatest success was actually in fashion

DID YOU KNOW?

SIZE DOESN’T MATTER? Ancient Greek statues tended to

What was the first 3D movie?

SHORT ANSWER Far from being new, 3D predates cinema’s golden age

Where do the terms ‘left wing’ and ‘right wing’ come from?

SHORT ANSWER Politically charged terms came from a politically charged chapter in history

Who was Sam Hill?

SHORT ANSWER How in the Sam Hill are we to know!?

What was a ‘drunkard’s cloak’?

SHORT ANSWER Once they crawled out of the barrel in the morning, drunks had to get right back into it

Who was the last inmate of the Tower of London?

SHORT ANSWER The Kray twins were no strangers to prison, but perhaps not a medieval fortress

When were the Miranda rights introduced?

SHORT ANSWER Since 1966, police in the US have required reading at every arrest

Who was the ‘greatest German living’?

SHORT ANSWER Overcoming physical disability, Matthias Buchinger was a polymath for the ages

HISTORICAL FICTION

W.A.R. My Name is Yip By Paddy Crewe

Paddy Crewe

Born in Stockton-on-Tees, Paddy Crewe studied at Goldsmiths,

LETTERS

q Elizabeth I is a monarch who inspires

PHOTO FINISH

ARRESTING IMAGES FROM THE ANNALS OF THE PAST

TEA, TAXES AND THE TAKING UP OF ARMS

The seeds of revolution and calls for independence were brewing in Britain’s American colonies many years before a shooting war broke out

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Professor Benjamin Carp answers key questions about the colonies’ 18th-century fight for independence

AMERICA’S ROAD TO REVOLUTION

Professor Benjamin Carp reveals how growing discontent over British taxes led embittered American colonists to rebel against the Crown and embark on a fight for independence

ROYALS, RADICALS AND REVOLUTIONARIES

From the founding fathers to the British general whose surrender brought the fighting to a close, we meet the conflict’s major players

A REVOLUTION IN WOMEN’S LIVES

In the struggle for independence, America’s “ladies” served as medics, cooks, campaigners and even as fighters

A TRIO OF LIVES LESS ORDINARY

A WRITER PHILLIS WHEATLEY Born in west Africa,

THE BATTLES THAT MADE THE UNITED STATES

From the first shots at Lexington and Concord, to the surrender at Yorktown, we explore the most important clashes of the war

REVOLUTIONARY WARFARE

How many people died? What did soldiers wear on the battlefield? We look at the conflict’s key facts and figures

FROM REVOLUTION TO RESOLUTION

After Cornwallis’ dramatic Yorktown surrender, American patriots could finally begin building the independent nation they so craved

HOW AMERICA MANAGED TO DOWN THE LAW

Getting each and every state to back the US Constitution was no mean feat

A MOST UNLIKELY SUSPECT

In May 1922, a respected solicitor was sent to the gallows after being convicted of poisoning his wife. But was he truly guilty? A century on, Stephen Bates asks whether Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong was the victim of a terrible injustice

WHAT GREAT PAINTINGS SAY

A highly unusual painting sheds new light on the experiences of people of colour in 18th-century England

OBSOLETE OBJECTS

Technological advances and scientific discoveries have consigned many inventions of yesteryear to the dustbin of history. A new book of now-defunct objects and ideas takes a trip down memory lane to explore futures that never were. We bring you 10 examples

WHAT IF... EMPRESS MATILDA HAD DEFEATED KING STEPHEN?

In the 1130s, England descended into civil war as two rival cousins vied for the throne. Spencer Mizen asks historian Matt Lewis whether the struggle – known as the Anarchy – could have unfolded differently

Restoration on an epic scale

Rebuilding Notre-Dame II (title TBC) / BBC Two, April

Norsing a grudge

The Northman / In cinemas from Friday 15 April

Footsteps and faith

Pilgrimage: The Road to the Scottish Isles / BBC Two & BBC iPlayer, April

Lost at sea

Belgrano / BBC Radio 4, Monday 2 May

Past lives

Time Travels / BBC Radio Scotland & BBC Sounds, Saturday 16 April

Due south

Downton Abbey: A New Era / In cinemas from Friday 29 April

Abbey of St Edmund: 1000 Years

PAID ENTRY Various venues in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, throughout 2022, visit-burystedmunds.co.uk/abbey-1000

To the Edges of Empire

PAID ENTRY Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, until 12 June, tulliehouse.co.uk

Legacies: London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce

PAID ENTRY London Transport Museum, open now, ltmuseum.co.uk

The Ryedale Hoard: A Roman Mystery

PAID ENTRY Yorkshire Museum, York, open now, yorkshiremuseum.org.uk

Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic

PAID ENTRY British Museum, London, 19 May – 25 September, britishmuseum.org

Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power

BOOK OF THE MONTH THIS MONTH’S BEST HISTORICAL

The Castle: A History

By John Goodall Yale, £18.99, hardback, 400 pages

The Penguin Book of Dragons

Edited by Scott G Bruce Penguin Classics, £12.99,

The Normans: Power, Conquest & Culture in 11th-Century Europe

By Judith A Green Yale, £25, hardback, 368

Persians: The Age of the Great Kings

By Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Wildfire, £25, hardback, 448 pages

Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation

By Kris Manjapra Allen Lane, £20, hardback, 256

WHAT TO LISTEN TO...

Each month we bring you three of our favourite podcast o erings from the BBC and HistoryExtra