Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i History Extra

In one of the most famous passages of Shakespeare’s Richard II , the title character declares: “For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground / And tell sad stories of the death of kings.” Richard’s mournful words reflect his own fraught situation during the rebellion of his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, who would replace him on the throne as Henry IV. After deposing and, almost certainly, murdering Richard, Henry’s 14-year reign would prove to be a perilous one, haunted by the ghost of his predecessor. Writing in this month’s cover feature, Henry’s latest biographer, Chris Given-Wilson, shows how the king’s enemies at home and abroad used the death of Richard to continually undermine his successor’s legitimacy. Turn to page 22 to read the full story. We are now approaching a…

A single act of personal violence can have huge consequences. The killing of John Comyn by Robert Bruce and his friends was fuelled by personal antagonism and political rivalry. Whether planned or not, the deed placed Bruce on a path that led to his seizure of the throne of Scotland six weeks later. Comyn’s death divided Scotland between warring factions and reignited resistance to the authority of Edward I and the English crown. Though he was defeated at the battle of Methven in 1306, Robert’s fortunes revived the following year and, after the death of Edward I, he was gradually able to win recognition as king. The events at Dumfries would start the transformation of Robert Bruce from a slippery aristocrat to a king whose rule would embody Scotland’s independence…

“We constantly need to update antivirus software – and it was the same with lock-picking” Online security is big news in the 21st century, as computer hackers take down prominent websites and work to devise – and crack – ever more nefarious software viruses. Yet, as a new study reveals, the race to develop and defeat these techniques may have a surprising historical precedent: Victorian ‘lock-picking’ competitions. Such contests pitted manufacturers or workmen from rival brands of lock-makers against each other in a public bid to break one another’s security devices. One of the first examples was at London’s Great Exhibition in 1851, and subsequent bouts were avidly covered in the press. Scenarios often simulated risks faced by users of the product, such as an attack by skilled burglars. Financial…

There was a highly unusual scene in the Court of the Exchequer late one Friday afternoon, when a young elephant was introduced as a witness in an action for damages against the circus of Bertram and Roberts. The plaintiff, a Miss Thurman, had been standing up in an open-top carriage at the Alexandra Place, a well-known and fashionable entertainment venue, when the sudden appearance of this elephant had frightened the horse. The carriage had suffered a violent jerk and Miss Thurman had been thrown out, landing on the road between the elephant and the horse and leaving her with the painful injury of a broken collar-bone. Unable, for some reason, to call the horse as a witness, Miss Thurman had settled for the elephant, which, meanwhile, “amused itself by seizing…

I read your article on phrenology with some interest (All in the Head, Christmas). Not all phrenology for assessing criminals was used for reform purposes. Your readers may like to know the story of Lamartine Griffin Hardman who was the governor of Georgia, 1927–31. Hardman believed in phrenology to the point that he visited a condemned man to ‘read his bumps’ before providing a fatal decision on his final appeal to the governor. In another case, Hardman denied an appeal after viewing the photographs of two men awaiting electrocution. Robert N Smith, author of An Evil Day in Georgia, Tyne & Wear • We reward the letter of the month writer with our ‘History Choice’ book of the month. This issue it is Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews,…

On the evening of Tuesday 5 November 1872, the first female candidate for president of the United States was not waiting at party headquarters for the election results, she was in prison in New York City on obscenity charges. Victoria Woodhull – clairvoyant, entrepreneur, women’s rights campaigner and free-love advocate – experienced plenty of ups and downs in her long life. But the few weeks she spent languishing in Ludlow Street Jail as America went to the polls almost certainly counts as the nadir. Six months earlier, when Woodhull had taken the stage at a gathering of the Equal Rights Party – a radical organisation she had herself founded – it was political power not imprisonment that beckoned. “A revolution shall sweep over the whole country, to purge it of…

1706 Benjamin Franklin is born the son of a tallow chandler (candlemaker). At age 12, he is apprenticed to his printer brother, before moving to Philadelphia in 1723. 1724-26 Franklin becomes a printer in London before returning to Philadelphia as a fierce Anglophile. 1726-57 He enjoys great success as a printer, newspaper owner and journalist and then turns to science, winning the 18th-century equivalent of the Nobel Prize. 1757-62 Franklin returns to London as the first great transatlantic celebrity on a mission to make the Penn proprietors of Pennsylvania pay taxes. After the accession of George III, he builds links with Prime Minister Bute (pictured). 1762-64 After a spell in Philadelphia, he returns to London to make Pennsylvania a British Royal Colony. This is rejected in 1768. 1766 Following Franklin’s…

Siface (1653-97) The doomed lover Giovanni Francesco Grossi, known as Siface, was born in Tuscany. He was a fiery individual, who on one occasion offended the French ambassador to Rome by refusing to perform without payment. Siface spent some time in London, where he performed at the home of Samuel Pepys, before leaving as he could not tolerate the climate. He was murdered on the road to Ferrara in 1697, purportedly on the orders of a nobleman with whose wife Siface had enjoyed a sexual liaison. Senesino (1686-1758) The socialite Senesino, whose real name was Francesco Bernardi, was the son of a barber from Siena. He was castrated at the relatively late age of 13. After making his debut in Venice in 1707, he quickly gained a European reputation. He…

What not to miss on a visit to Verdun The prime stop of a visit must be Douaumont where the National Cemetery and the Ossuary – a bizarre combination of art deco and pseudo Romanesque, built to house the hundreds of thousands of bones that littered the battlefield – vividly convey the sacred place of Verdun in French memory in the 1920s and 1930s. The best-preserved forts are Douaumont and Fort Vaux – both offer good vantage points to grasp the contours of this now wooded battlefield. Nine villages détruits were never rebuilt. Cleared of the rubble, with the 1914 street plans neatly marked out, they serve as mute but eloquent reminders of the carnage and chaos. Like the soldiers in the cemeteries, each village is deemed to have ‘died…

The Wars of the Roses by John Ashdown-Hill Amberley, 336 pages, £20 John Ashdown-Hill is well known for his role in helping to uncover Richard III’s remains in 2012. Since then, he has already managed to produce four books exploring the period. This fast-paced overview of the Wars of the Roses intends to peel back the “traditional mythology” of the Tudor take on events. Indeed, the book’s overriding theme is to challenge the view of the dynastic civil wars as simply a conflict between the houses of York and Lancaster. This is well done, with useful chapters on the private conflicts that scarred the 15th century, and an intriguing discussion of how the Lancastrian red rose emblem adopted by the Tudors could have been influenced by Henry VII’s Beaufort ancestry.…

Escape the Rock TV Yesterday, scheduled for Tuesday 9 February On 11 June 1962, a trio of bank robbers, Frank Morris and Clarence and John Anglin, launched a raft made of patched-up raincoats in a bid to escape from the notorious Alcatraz prison. They’ve never been seen since. Could they have survived the chilly waters of San Francisco Bay to find freedom? Dutch scientists Oliver Hoes, Rolf Hut and Fedor Baart reinvestigate the case. Over on History, Alcatraz: The Search for the Truth (Friday 19 February) covers similar ground and features contributions from the family of the Anglin brothers.…

EXHIBITION Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Genius Science Museum, London 10 February–4 September • 020 7942 4000 • sciencemuseum.org.uk/leonardo A man often remembered as one of history’s greatest painters, Leonardo da Vinci’s talents as an inventor and draughtsman are often overlooked in favour of masterpieces such as TheLastSupperand the MonaLisa. This month, however, London’s Science Museum is launching an exhibition that focuses on the mechanical drawings that demonstrated da Vinci’s radical approach to the challenges of flight, manufacturing and war. It was during a period of employment in a workshop on the site of Florence Cathedral that da Vinci is thought to have seriously started making drawings of cranes and machinery, often as a way of trying to improve on the efficiency of existing designs and processes. The interactive…

1. CHIRK CASTLE Chirk Castle was completed in 1310 during the reign of Edward I as part of his ring of fortifications in North Wales. Visitors can experience 700 years of history from dank dungeons to lavish interiors, an eclectic collection, award winning gardens and over 480 acres of landscaped parkland. 01691 777701 chirkcastle@nationaltrust.org.uk www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chirk-castle 2. ARUNDEL CASTLE Steeped in 1,000 years of history, Arundel Castle offers a full day out with guided and free-flow tours of the finely preserved castle rooms including the Baron’s Hall, Chapel, Library and bedrooms alongside the opportunity to ascend the Norman Motte and Keep. The Castle also offers an action packed calendar of historical events throughout the year including a jousting tournament in July. 01903 882173 www.arundelcastle.org 3. SUDELEY CASTLE Located in the heart…

“It’s cold, grey and wet outside so this can only mean the return of our annual travel supplement, bursting with ideas for fantastic historical escapes. This year we’ve adopted a new format, selecting one exciting visit for each of the next 12 months: everything from a wintry trip to Istanbul to a summer jaunt around America’s national parks. The destinations have been selected and described by Tom Hall, editorial director at Lonely Planet. Many of them, such as the Somme, Venice’s Jewish ghetto and Cnut’s Denmark, are marking major anniversaries, while others are simply fascinating places to visit at these times of the year. I hope you find this supplement inspiring and that you enjoy exploring the past in 2016. A Year of Travel Inspirations is a free supplement presented…

There is always a good reason to go back to Venice or, if you are lucky enough to not yet have visited, see this beautiful city for the first time. There are few places that offer such an arresting first impression, and that on closer inspection have so many more fascinating stories to tell. In 2016, Venice’s ghetto, the area of the city where Jewish residents were compelled to live, marks its 500th anniversary, and it remains as vital and fascinating an area of the city as ever. Venice’s Jewish history goes back much further towards the murky, marshy origins of the Most Serene Republic, but it was in 1516 that the city’s Jews were confined to Ghetto Nuova, a small island in a distant corner of Cannaregio. Further immigration…

The eight points of the Maltese Cross denote the eight obligations of the Knights of St. John Collectively, Malta and its sister islands, Gozo and Comino, are smaller than the Isle of Wight – but their size belies their history. Travel around Malta, and its rich past becomes evident – traces of prehistoric man, Neolithic burial sites, Bronze Age dolmens and Roman villas. And Gozo has the oldest known free-standing temple in the world. Visit Malta’s beautiful capital city, Valletta, and another key part of the island’s history is revealed. After the Great Siege of 1565, the city was built by the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller. Embellished at the height of the baroque period, it grew into an economic,…

The centenary of the United States National Parks Service and the collection of extraordinary protected areas under its auspices, provides a fantastic excuse for a themed visit to America. While the notion of an American national park doubtless delivers images of the billowing geysers of Yellowstone or the mammoth vistas of the Grand Canyon, the NPS also has in its care some of America’s greatest historical heritage. In Philadelphia, whose downtown hums with historical significance, Independence National Historical Park is home to the Liberty Bell and many other sites and memorials associated with the events that gave birth to the country. There are dozens of other historic parks and sites maintained by the service that can take the visitor into unexpected territory. One example is at Natchez, Mississippi which preserves…

David Reynolds For the British, 2016 will be the centenary of the battle of the Somme. My article, and two related BBC Radio 4 programmes, highlight France’s great battle of 1916 – Verdun – still a sacred name in French memory. • David Reynolds writes about Verdun on page 56 Stephanie Barczewski The British love of failed heroes is often linked to postwar national decline. But in reality, it was a product of the era in which Britannia ruled the waves and a means for mitigating the uncomfortable realities of imperial power. • Stephanie considers British failure on page 45 Simon Sebag Montefiore The court was incredibly important in Romanov Russia, both as a spectacle to project majesty and as a place to keep factions happy. If you didn’t handle…

Advertising images of ‘ideal’ bodies sometimes seem to be everywhere – all featuring the requisite flat stomachs and toned muscles. Yet, if you were to travel back to the Georgian era, one part of the body would seem more important – and more idealised – than any other: the leg. That’s the conclusion of Karen Harvey from the University of Sheffield, who studied a range of sources – from letters and receipts to satire and erotica – to explore the ways in which men’s bodies were viewed in the period. “Men’s legs had been on show in various guises for a long time: we are all familiar with the ‘men in tights’ look of the Tudors,” she says. “But in those outfits only the lower leg was on display: the…

@HistoryExtra: Hitler’s Mein Kampf is on sale in Germany for the first time in 70 years. What’s your reaction? @chrisasabutton Good move. Banning these books just makes them more appealing to some @glintingframe Important to demystify such a text by actually reading it, and thus revealing it as drivel. Should help to lance the boil Aris Panagiotopoulos Banning books is what totalitarian regimes do. In a democracy every opinion, however extreme it may seem, must and should be heard. This book is part of history and history should not be tampered with Philip L Meers By publishing Mein Kampf the majority will see it for what it is: a badly written rant. On the whole I expect most people will find it boring and not as…

15 April 1367 Henry is born at Bolingbroke Castle, in Lincolnshire (pictured), son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Duchess Blanche. 1387-88 Henry is one of the five ‘Appellants’ who oppose Richard II. They defeat a royalist force at the battle of Radcot Bridge and purge the court in the Merciless Parliament. 1390-93 Henry goes on crusade to Prussia and on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, thereby winning a reputation for chivalry and militant piety. October 1398 Richard II exiles Henry and the Duke of Norfolk following accusations of treason. Henry spends the next nine months in Paris. 1399 Henry returns to England, captures and deposes Richard II, and is crowned king on 13 October. 21 July 1403 Henry defeats an army led by Harry Hotspur and the…

Gabrielle ‘Bobby’ West Gabrielle West was born in 1890. At the start of the war she lived with her parents at Selsley, Gloucestershire. A member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the Red Cross, she helped in accommodating refugees and also cooked and cleaned at Standish hospital. ‘Bobby’ was looking for paid employment and in early 1916 she took a position setting up a canteen for the mainly female workers employed at the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, Hampshire. They had to start from scratch, but by dint of hard work they soon got the place up and running. An empty barrack room was swiftly converted into a plausible kitchen and mess room. We found that there was hardly any gas pressure, so that it took hours to get the…

“TM Devine aims to understand Scotland in context of its past” Independence or Union: Scotland’s Past and Scotland’s Present by TM Devine Allen Lane, 320 pages, £20 Four centuries ago, when James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth I to become James I of England, France and Ireland, modern unitary states barely existed in Europe. Instead, most political units were composites of diverse peoples and privileges, held together by loyalty to a monarch. The loose British association created in 1603 was made only a little tighter by the Union of Parliaments in 1707, which preserved Scotland’s separate systems of private law, religion, education and local government. Since then, Scotland and England have drawn closer while remaining different, bound in a sometimes ambivalent relationship that nevertheless worked well. Unlike Wales and Ireland,…

A Discovery of Strangers Rudy Wiebe (1994) Winner of the Governor-General’s award, Canada’s most prestigious prize for fiction, this novel is based on events during John Franklin’s 1819–22 expedition to the Arctic. As European explorers and indigenous peoples meet for the first time, a story of love, greed and murder plays out against the unforgiving backdrop of the ice and snow-filled landscape. Wiebe’s novel, written in the different voices of several of its characters, is a powerful and poetic work of historical reconstruction. The Solitude of Thomas Cave Georgina Harding (2007) This strange and lyrical debut novel unfolds the story of its eponymous central character, a 17th-century whaler who accepts a bet from a shipmate that he cannot survive a winter alone in the Arctic wilderness. During his self-imposed exile…

“I wandered alone over the earth base of the palace where Marco Polo met Kublai Khan” Most people, surely, have heard the name Xanadu: the 1980 film starring Olivia Newton John; the acclaimed Broadway musical (also in London last year); a night club; a hotel; the mansion in Citizen Kane; or perhaps a school memory of Coleridge’s 1797 poem Kubla Khan: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure dome-decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. It all sounds very surreal, very magical. And that’s precisely why Xanadu appeals: magic, the magic being that Xanadu is a real place. I fell in love with the idea of it, then with the place itself, when researching Genghis Khan and his grandson…

A dysschefull of snowe Ending a banquet with a sweet course, which was often flavoured with exotic spices and syrups, became popular in the 16th century among the social elite. This month I’ve chosen the Tudor favourite ‘A dysschefull of snowe’ (also known as strawberries on snow, although other fruits were often used), a dessert that could be an unusual yet delicious treat to complete your Valentine’s Day menu. INGREDIENTS Strawberries: • 1 pint strawberries, halved• ½ cup red wine• ¼ cup caster sugar• ¼ tsp cinnamon• ¼ tsp ginger Cream: • ½ pint whipping cream• ¼ cup caster sugar• 1 tbsp rose water• 1 egg white• A few amaretti biscuits METHOD Strawberries: Mix together the red wine, sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Add strawberries and marinate in the fridge for 1–2 hours. Cream: In a bowl whip the cream until…

This year marks 80 years since the start of the Spanish Civil War, a bitter conflict which rocked the Iberian peninsula for three years. Tourism highlighting this conflict is still in its infancy, especially compared to the focus on sites relating to the two world wars elsewhere in Europe. However, there is plenty to see around Spain relating to the civil war. Arguably the best place to start is in Barcelona, where there are well-regarded walking tours focusing on the city’s fascinating role in the war, including the location of the opening salvos in the conflict and the pock-marked walls of Plaça Sant Felip Neri. The longest battle of the war, the battle of the Ebro, also took place in Catalonia. It lasted almost four months, and resulted in a…

“What better way to spend autumn than by exploring sites on both sides of the channel linked with William, Harold and 1066?” The Norman Conquest, marking its 950th anniversary this October, pivotally shaped the destiny of England and France for centuries. What better way to spend autumn than by exploring sites on both sides of the channel associated with William, Harold, 1066 and all that? The English side of things is well known, from Battle Abbey, scene of the decisive victory for the Normans on 14 October, to Westminster Abbey, where William was crowned on Christmas Day 1066. Also of interest may be visits to Stamford Bridge and Fulford in East Yorkshire, scenes of crucial clashes between English and Viking forces the preceding month. Of course, remains of Conquest-era Norman…

15 February 1971 Britain switches to decimal currency It’s out with the old and in with the new as Britain dumps ‘pounds, shillings and pence’ to go decimal For Edward Heath, 15 February 1971 was a glorious day. This was the day when, after years of preparation, Britain’s old pounds, shillings and pence would be consigned to history, definitively replaced with a new decimal currency. Although the foundations had been laid well before Heath became prime minister, there was no better symbol of his ambitions to lead Britain into a shiny new European future. In the run-up to Decimal Day, Edward Heath’s ministers spared no effort to preach the virtues of the new currency, even commissioning a song by Max Bygraves. The BBC organised a series of information shows called…

Major discoveries have been made in Leicester Artefacts and remains from the Roman and medieval eras have been found in major archaeological digs in Leicester. Experts describe the discovery of 23 Roman skeletons as “one of the most significant finds” made in the city in recent years, while other objects – unearthed in the Newland and Southgates areas – include tableware, coins, bone hairpins and a decorated comb. Experts can’t find Poland’s Nazi gold train There is no evidence that a Second World War-era train rumoured to be laden with gold and gems has been found in Poland, experts say. Although Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter told local authorities of the supposed location of the train in August 2015, researchers exploring the site say that there may be a tunnel…

“States have all too often presented terrorists with gifts through their overbearing responses to acts of violence – from Northern Ireland in the 1970s to Al-Qaeda in the 2000s”PROFESSOR RICHARD ENGLISH Terrorism and counter-terrorism existed long before anyone reading this article was born. But the terrorism of contemporary headlines can often eclipse longer memories and deeper understanding, as we focus too narrowly on today’s, yesterday’s or tomorrow’s likely atrocities. This condemns us to learning afresh things that we should have absorbed long ago. For example, the pattern of misdiagnosing and exaggerating the terrorist threat is often followed by more accurate diagnosis and more effective and proportionate response. One example of this is the UK’s experience of the Provisional IRA. The tendency in the early 1970s to dismiss their acts as…

A note on notation I was interested in Dr William Flynn’s introduction to the origins of musical notation (Miscellany, Christmas). He devoted less attention to the second part of the question: why notation as we know it was developed. Fortunately, we know the answer, because the man credited with inventing stave notation, Guido d’Arezzo, explained his motivations in writings that still survive. Guido was a monk. As a child, he had memorised the repertoire of melodies that medieval clerics needed for the divine office with only basic notation to help, and he knew first-hand how difficult this process was. He wrote that monks were wasting time – which could be better spent on prayer – memorising music, or, worse still, arguing about whose version of each melody was better. Guido’s…

“So the BBC is to go ahead with a remake of Civilisation, the landmark 1969 arts series written and presented by Lord Clark. I have always believed in the corporation’s public service mission to “inform, educate and entertain”, and with the current threats to the BBC’s budget, and even to its ethos, it is vital that such projects – serious explorations of ideas in the humanities – are still undertaken. Commissioned by the then controller of BBC Two, David Attenborough (who came up with the title, about which Clark himself had misgivings), the series was one of the first to be shot in 35mm colour and had an impact out of all proportion to its audience size. Clark’s voice, I have to say, was too patrician to my student generation…

Henry IV suffered from at least three medical conditions. In 1387, aged 20, he was afflicted by the pox, the first evidence of the skin condition – perhaps psoriasis – that would resurface in 1399 and 1405 and later severely disfigure him. Some contemporaries wrongly attributed this to leprosy as a punishment for the execution of Archbishop Scrope. In April 1406 he wrote from Windsor informing the council that “an illness has suddenly affected us in our leg”, causing him such pain that his physicians had advised him not to travel. This was probably a euphemism for the prolapsed rectum of which he was cured with a treatment devised by the physician John of Arderne. This involved applying an ointment called unguentum apostolorum to the rectum, whereupon, it was claimed,…

When the 84-year-old Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia in 1790, he was revered as an American founding father and patriot. He had been the man responsible for bringing France into the War of Independence and for keeping it there. Franklin was, as the later US president John Adams reluctantly admitted, second only to George Washington in his importance in securing the victory of the United States. Yet for more than four-fifths of his long life, Benjamin Franklin had considered himself to be a British royalist. For the best part of two decades he had enjoyed the life of an English gentleman in London – right up to 1775, when he was forced to flee. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on 6 January 1706. He was the 16th child and…

“Castrati were seen as a sexual threat. Historians have described the ‘groupies’ who lavished them with gifts and affections” It is the autumn of 1734 and the King’s Theatre on London’s Haymarket is packed to the rafters. As the last notes of the opera fade away, the fashionable audience erupts into frantic applause. The star singer steps forward to take a bow, when from the pit a well-heeled woman screams out: “One God! One Farinelli!” Farinelli was the stage name of Carlo Broschi (1705–82), the most famous opera singer of the 18th century. He was something akin to a modern-day rock star. He commanded huge fees, audiences reacted hysterically to his performances, women lusted after him and he was seen as a threat to the establishment. But there was something…

Human Race: 10 Centuries of Change on Earth by Ian Mortimer Vintage, 416 pages, £9.99 This is an excellent romp through the past millennium of British (and particularly English) history. As with all of Ian Mortimer’s books, it is highly entertaining, well written and packed with lively characters and surprising facts. Mortimer opens by asking which of the past 10 centuries saw most change in the ways people lived. The commonsense answer, he observes, is the 20th century; in fact, he adds that “some people laugh at the very idea that I could even consider it to be another”. And yet, he wonders, how do we really know which century really changed humanity most? Each of the 10 chapters that follow takes us through one century, vividly describing what changed…

David Baddiel on the Silk Road TV Discovery, scheduled for Sunday 21 February In a four-part series, David Baddiel travels 4,000 miles from Xi’an, China, via Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia, to Istanbul, Turkey. It’s a journey along the the world’s most famous trade route, which has a history dating back more than 2,000 years, and which finds Baddiel walking in the steps of merchants, warriors and pilgrims. Along the way, he uncovers the secrets of a technique that baffled the Romans, how to make silk; sees archaeological treasures that will be unfamiliar to many in the west; and, of course, encounters the ghost of Marco Polo.…

Ration Books and Rabbit Pies: Films from the Home Front DVD (BFI, £19.99) As social historian Juliet Gardiner notes in her essay to accompany this BFI archive collection of public information films from 1940–44, the Second World War affected day-today life so profoundly that, until 1942, more civilians “had been killed on the home front, than troops in battle”. This meant the government “had in effect to conscript the civilian population into the war effort”. One of the ways it did this was via films made by the Ministry of Information (MOI). Much of its output consisted of instructional shorts. Today, we often lampoon such propaganda pieces, yet they take us back to a world of austerity, where ordinary Brits had to make a little go a long way. ‘Cookery…

1 Cadbury Castle SOMERSET Where an ancient fort was upgraded This Iron Age fortress was first linked with Arthur in 1542, when the antiquary John Leland claimed that Cadbury had been ‘Camelot’. Excavations here in the late 1960s demonstrated that there was indeed significant remodification of the prehistoric fort in the post Roman period, but whether this was the headquarters of a monarch who inspired the myth of Arthur is unknown. visitsomerset.co.uk 2 Glastonbury Abbey SOMERSET Where ‘Arthur’ was reburied Glastonbury today has strong popular associations with King Arthur. This is in part due to the romantic setting of both the ruined abbey and the Tor, but also because it was here, in 1191, that monks disturbed two graves, supposedly those of Arthur and Guinevere, establishing Glastonbury as ‘Avalon’. The…

BEST TIME TO GO Summer (May–September) is the best time to visit but remember, this is the Mongolian Plateau. Be prepared for heat, cold, rain, wind, and even snow if you go in May or September. GETTING THERE The closest international airport to Xanadu is Beijing Capital International Airport, about 153 miles away. The site itself is a six-hour journey from Beijing by road, via Zhangjiakou. There was once an overnight bus service to Xanadu but now visitors need to hire a car or share a minibus. There is currently nowhere to stay on site, but there are a couple of good hotels in fast-developing Duolun, 15 miles away. WHAT TO TAKE Sturdy walking gear and a good camera. WHAT TO BRING BACK Cashmere and leather goods. FURTHER INFO Tourists…

1. Which title was first officially used by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (pictured left)? 2. What links Robert Barlow, William Cavendish, William St Loe and George Talbot? 3. Which English artist was killed in July 1944 while serving with the Welsh Guards in Normandy? 4. How did Halifax-born Percy Shaw make a major contribution to road safety in 1934? 5. Which Venetian-born 15th-century writer’s last known work was a poem eulogising Joan of Arc? 6. This statue of a Lincolnshire poet is among the last works of one of Victorian England’s best-known artists. Who was the poet and who was the artist? QUIZ ANSWERS 1. Prime minister 2. They were all – at some point – married to Bess of Hardwick 3. Rex Whistler 4. He invented cat’s eyes 5. Christine…

“In Berlin, Reagan called upon President Gorbachev to ‘Tear down this wall!’ It’s easy to forget how awful the Cold War was, and the way it condemned millions of Europeans to servitude” Ronald Reagan, politician and actor, was the 40th president of the US (1981–89). He also served two terms as a Republican governor of California (1967–75). A radio sports announcer-turned-actor, he starred in films such as Bedtime for Bonzo. He won the Republican presidential nomination at the third attempt, and beat Jimmy Carter to become president in 1980. The economic policies he pursued – after surviving an assassination attempt in 1981–were dubbed ‘Reaganomics’. He oversaw an arms build-up, credited by some with helping the west win the Cold War. He married twice, to actresses Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis.…

“This historic route offers a wonderful window on Russia, through both the people and the view unfolding before you” The mighty Trans-Siberian Railway has been rumbling across the Amur bridge – the longest on its path, and the crossing that completed its modern route – for 100 years this year. The first continuous Moscow to Vladivostok line was completed in 1904, but this included a section passing through Manchuria in China. Twelve years on, with the completion of the bridge, the line was completely running through Russian territory. The now familiar and very popular rail services to Beijing, via Manchuria and Mongolia, came a while later. The Trans-Siberian offers a wonderful window on Russia, both through the people you meet en route and the view unfolding slowly before you. To…

If you watched the opening sequence of James Bond’s latest adventure Spectre, open-mouthed at the stunning architecture of Mexico City, then you may be intrigued to learn that it is a wonderful place to explore both pre-Hispanic and colonial history. This city of over 20 million people is quickly growing as a tourist destination, and there are months of things to see from museums to murals, galleries to ancient sites. Over 1,500 buildings in the Unesco World Heritage-listed Centro Histórico alone are classified as monuments. After exploring the Palacio Nacional’s Diego Rivera murals, iconic, vast Catedral Metropolitana and the fascinating excavations at the nearby Templo Mayor, you should head for Xochimilco, a tranquil canal system that can give you some idea of the pre-colonial makeup of the city. And a…

“Istanbul offers a short break almost without equal. Historical interest is found in every corner of what was Byzantium” Rapidly emerging as a year-round city destination, Istanbul offers a short break almost without equal. Historical interest is found in every corner of what was Byzantium, then Constantinople but it’s worth looking beyond big-hitters to escape the crowds, even if the city welcomes fewer visitors at this time of year. So, do go and see Hagia Sophia (preferably first thing in the morning), the Basilica Cistern, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum’s incredible Alexander Sarcophagus and the giant chains once used to block entry into the Golden Horn... but then explore a little wider. A particular highlight is the less well-known group of former churches housing Byzantine-era mosaics. The Chora Church (Kariye Müsezi)…