FUN IN THE SUN

WELCOME 

Fighter pilots bask in the sun, with their

THIS MONTH’S BIG NUMBERS

350 The speed in mph that most Spitfire

TIGER QUEEN

ALAMY Actor and animal rights activist Tippi Hedren

CHORAL SENSATIONS

GETTY IMAGES Dressed in long gowns, female students

THINGS WE LEARNED THIS MONTH....

ANTIQUE AMERICAN FLAG PUZZLES ARLINGTON TIME CAPSULE EXPLORERS

LGBT+ collections curator at Historic Royal Palaces

Matthew Storey HOW MUCH DOES THE HISTORIC ROYAL

Emily Brontë is born

GETTY IMAGES X2, BRIDGEMAN IMAGES X1, ALAMY X1

The Falklands War

WHEN WAS THE CONFLICT, AND WHERE DID IT

Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER

£52,257 The amount bequeathed to the National Gallery

TV, FILM & RADIO

Samira Ahmed reads an epic Persian poem called

EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS

VIRTUAL EXPERIENCES We’ve rounded up five virtual tours

BOOKS & AUDIO BOOKS

BOOK OF THE MONTH Blooming Flowers: A Seasonal

HISTORICAL FICTION

Tsarina Ellen Alpsten Bloomsbury Publishing, £16.99, hardback, 496

LETTERS

RIGHT: After reading our Alexander the Great feature,

NEXT ISSUE 

ALAMY ANCIENT OLYMPICS Head to the Olympiad of

PHOTO FINISH

GETTY IMAGES THE ‘GIANT OF ILLINOIS’ C1931 Thirteen-year-old

THE PRECIOUS FEW

On the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Patrick Bishop reflects on the huge aerial engagement that played out in Britain’s skies – and how the ‘fighter boys’ of the RAF, lionised by Churchill as the Few, did what the British Army couldn’t and stopped Hitler in his tracks

The changing face of marriage

From popping the question to hen and stag celebrations and the big day itself, historian Emily Brand traces how matrimony has evolved through the centuries

THE MYSTERY OF JACK THE RIPPER

No one knows the identity of the killer who butchered five women in 1888 – and that, says Jonny Wilkes, is what keeps the fascination with the unsolved case as strong as ever

ROME'S BLOODIEST EMPERORS

Many Roman emperors were mad, bad and decidedly dangerous. Some, including Nero and Domitian, have been immortalised as erratic, paranoid tyrants. But who were the worst of the bunch? Historian Sean Lang examines eight who are widely seen as the cruellest and shines a spotlight on some of their bizarre – and brutal – behaviour

THE KOREAN WAR

Seventy years on, Charlotte Hodgman explores images of the bloody conflict that engulfed the Korean peninsula

WHAT IF...HENRY VIII’S FIRST SON HAD LIVED?

Jonny Wilkes talks to Tracy Borman about the seismic changes in English history that may not have happened if Catherine of Aragon had given Henry what he most wanted – a living male heir