Spinning yarns

WELCOME

JANUARY 2024

THREE THINGS I’VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

1. Gaul blimey I loved the Asterix books

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Farah Karim- Cooper ON THE COVER: ATTACK BY

ANNIVERSARIES

DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in January in history

Fidel Castro enters Havana in triumph

The revolutionary heralds a new era for Cuba

Rosa Luxemburg is murdered

The Marxist activist falls victim to a far-right militia in Berlin

Spain’s last Muslim ruler is toppled

The final Islamic kingdom on the Iberian peninsula succumbs to the Catholic monarchs

The ex factor

BEHIND THE NEWS

Behind palace doors

HISTORY ON SCREEN

Little did I suspect that Bede’s story might come to life so vividly

NEW DISCOVERIES FROM ANGLO-SAXON SUFFOLK

HISTORY EXTRA ACADEMY

Become an instant genius with our history short courses

Amid conflict, historians are needed to explain the complex roots of strife

Kavita Puri is a journalist and broadcaster for

Mistaken identity?

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Shakespeare: playing with the past

To mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio compiling Shakespeare’s dramas, we spoke to eight experts about what his plays reveal about themes including love, death, power and money

Titus Andronicus and ideas of racial difference

At the start of Titus Andronicus – one

Romeo and Juliet and the experiences of youth and young love

A scene from the 1961 film adaptation of

The Merchant of Venice and the human cost of capitalism

As Emma Smith notes, Bassanio (right) describes Portia

Macbeth and the challenges of kingship

The ghost of Banquo spooks Macbeth’s court in

Henry V and the swirling currents of nationalism

Although the accuracy of the events depicted in

Hamlet and society’s renewed fears about mortality

Loïc Corbery as Hamlet and Georgia Scalliet as

Julius Caesar and the drama of politics

Shakespeare’s dramatisation of the conspiracy surrounding the grisly

The Tempest and reactionary views of the role of women

The Tempest took the lead slot in the

Labour’s leap to power

A century ago, Ramsay MacDonald entered 10 Downing Street as Britain’s first Labour prime minister. His rapid rise stunned his rivals. Yet it wasn’t long, writes Richard Toye, before they were preparing their revenge

How Asterix conquered the world

Eran Almagor reveals how the indomitable Gaul became a comic strip sensation – and transformed perceptions of ancient history in the process

Gaul Britannia!

Eran Almagor salutes the English version of Asterix which, after a troubled start, grew into a witty, pun-filled triumph

THE NEW RADICALS

The Bloomsbury Group transformed British culture in the early 20th century – and its impact is still felt across the world today. The secret to its success, writes Frances Spalding, lay in the strong bonds between its members

INTELLECTUAL ARISTOCRATS

Five leading lights of the Bloomsbury Group

Nicholas Winton The British Schindler

In 1939, as the Nazis closed in on Czechoslovakia, hundreds of Jewish children were transported to safety in Britain. EDWARD ABEL SMITH tells the story of a young British man at the heart of these rescue efforts

“I loved her so much that I wanted her to die loving me”

Rosalind Crone, historical consultant on the BBC series Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley, reveals what six murder cases tell us about women’s lives in the 19th century

Q & A

A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

BOOKS

SOCIAL “It’s an ambitious book, leaping merrily from

“It was clear we had to consider the possibility that the princes survived”

PHILIPPA LANGLEY speaks to Rebecca Franks about new discoveries made during her investigation into one of history’s most enduring mysteries – the fate of the princes in the Tower

Enabling atrocities

CHRISTINE SCHMIDT is impressed by a study examining the extent to which the actions (and inactions) of German people enabled the Nazis’ murderous campaign

THE CLASSIC BOOK

David Musgrove on a spectacular detailed reproduction of the Bayeux Tapestry

Imperial plight

PETER HEATHER is swept along by a vibrant new biography of the eastern Roman emperor Justinian, whose reign was marked by conquest, conflict and, ultimately, deadly plague

Hot date

1974: Scenes from a Year of Crisis by

Unchained melody

Amazing Grace: A Cultural History of the Beloved

Oral history

ANNIE GRAY is entertained by a look at plenty and poverty in the kitchens of Britain through the ages

“There is still a clear, continuing inequality between female and male writers of non-fiction”

NEW PRIZE FOR WOMEN’S NON-FICTION

Dramatic turn

RADIO

Musical families

The musical Kanneh-Mason clan heads to the Austrian

Asian impact

Driver Abdul Ghani, painted by Henry Lamb in

“They found dozens of tiny gems with engraved figures of Roman gods and goddesses on them”

PROFESSOR ALICE ROBERTS (left) tells us about her returning series that charts the discoveries made over a year in British archaeology

Sugar-free Tudor biscuits

HISTORY COOKBOOK

Ghostly Gothic

Arthur Conan Doyle’s work ethic was formidable. In

Red scare

Charlie Chaplin visits London in 1930. The following

Ceramic chronicles

EXHIBITION

Master mind

TV

Dastardly deeds

Penelope Wilton stars as Lavinia Pinkerton and David

THREE HISTORY EXTRA PODCASTS ON MEDIEVAL LIFE

The travel bug Even in the absence of

Medieval manners

Is it ever polite to wipe your mouth with a tablecloth? Acting podcast editor RHIANNON DAVIES explores the vagaries of social etiquette in the Middle Ages

Shaped by the sea

EXPLORE… MOUNT EDGCUMBE, CORNWALL

Dublin in five places

From its origins as a Viking settlement, Dublin’s history has been rich and turbulent. GILLIAN O’BRIEN highlights five spots to explore in the Irish capital

PRIZE CROSSWORD

Across 1 This Cuban dictator’s rule ended in

NEXT MONTH

February issue on sale 18 January 2024

Was King Arthur real?

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

MY HISTORY HERO

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey chooses

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