A mind like no other

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Mary Beard “People sometimes think that the Roman

WELCOME

NOVEMBER 2023

ANNIVERSARIES

HELEN CARR highlights events that took place in November in history

THE CONVERSATION

BIG QUESTIONS Are black histories still being overlooked?

MICHAEL WOOD ON… THE ACCELERATING PACE OF CHANGE

“In sun-beaten Greece, I learned that the past

HIDDEN HISTORIES

KAVITA PURI explores lesser-known stories from our past

LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Q&A

A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

BOOKS

SOCIETY “The author is miningng an era filled

“The Roman empire cannot have been governed by a series of psychopaths. It would not have survived”

MARY BEARD tells Matt Elton what life would have been like for Rome’s emperors – from the path to the top to the almost inevitable sticky end

A passport to survival

DANIEL LEE explores the story of a group of exiled Poles who, by providing forged documents, enabled thousands of Jews to escape the Nazis

Spooks, spirits and psychiatry

ANNA MARIA BARRY recommends a new exploration of the interplay between science, faith and superstition in 19th-century attitudes to mental health

Forgotten heroes

PATRICIA FARA reviews a history of black TB nurses in the United States during the first half of the 20th century

Britain gets swinging

ALWYN TURNER investigates the latest volume in David Kynaston’s epic history of modern Britain, as the author turns his attention to the heady days of the early 1960s

A fool’s errand

Fool: In Search of Henry VIII’s Closest Man

Island life

The Britannias: An Island Quest Alice Albinia Allen

ENCOUNTERS

WATCH Flawed genius Pablo Picasso with his second wife

HISTORY ON THE AIRWAVES

“You can trace the rise of neoliberalism to the oil embargo imposed during the war”

HISTORY COOKBOOK

TASTE

Athens in five places

HISTORIC CITIES

PRIZE CROSSWORD

Across 1 Anthony ____, who painted the famous

NEXT MONTH

December issue on sale 26 October 2023

MY HISTORY HERO

Broadcaster Dermot O’Leary chooses

Anne Boleyn’s fatal French connection

John Guy and Julia Fox reveal how international diplomacy supercharged the rise of Henry’s VIII’s second wife – and hastened her fall

HELL IN ITALY

The Allied invasion of Italy in 1943 was envisaged as a swift push on Rome. Yet, as James Holland explains, by the end of the year, the campaign was stymied by German defences far from the capital

An Anglo-Saxon detective story

Why do the bones of luminaries such as King Cnut, Emma of Normandy and William II lie mixed up in six chests in Winchester Cathedral? And what do these remains tell us about the evolution of early England?

EMPIRE ON THE BRINK

In September 1923, the British empire reached its maximum territorial extent. A staggering 460 million people lived within its borders. Yet just as the imperial project reached its apex, writes Matthew Parker, cracks were widening…

A WORLD OF TROUBLE

The challenges facing eight British colonies in 1923

The medieval Stalingrad

Edward III’s siege of Calais was a pivotal moment in the Hundred Years’ War. Here Dan Jones argues that it bears comparison with one of the most brutal clashes of the modern era

Broadcast views: Radio Times at 100

Since its launch in 1923 as the BBC’s official listings guide, the magazine has charted enormous shifts in media and society alike. David Hendy explores how its pages reflected changes across Britain

THE ROYAL MINT

royalmint.com

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PODCAST

historyextra.com/great-reputations

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BBC HiSTORY MAGAZINE

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Stroke Association

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PETER SOMMER TRAVELS

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Now’s the time to tackle your smartphone

Gx Pillows

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HISTORY EXTRA

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HURTIGRUTEN

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British Heart Foundation