Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2018 i History Extra

Barely a fortnight apart in the summer of 1948, two events occurred that would have a profound effect on modern Britain. On 22 June, the MV Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury docks, carrying hundreds of people from the Caribbean and symbolising the birth of a multiracial nation. Then, on 5 July, the NHS was created, transforming the provision of healthcare for people of all classes across the country. Over subsequent decades these two moments have become heavily mythologised. Now, on their 70th anniversary, we are revisiting the events of 1948 to understand how they were viewed at the time. Turn to page 20 for David Olusoga’s fresh take on the Windrush story, and read Mathew Thomson’s diagnosis of the birth pains of the National Health Service on page 37. Look…

O17 July 1955 in Anaheim, California, Walt Disney welcomed Americans into his very own Garden of Eden. “To all who come to this happy place, welcome,” he proclaimed. “Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savour the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” Disney had been planning a huge Mickey Mouse Park, as it was originally called, since at least 1948. The park cost in the region of $17 million, and public interest was enormous. Although Disney issued just 11,000 tickets on the first day, it’s been estimated…

“Both the purpose and content of Joan of Arc’s retrial give it lasting historical significance. What Joan believed to be her mission from God was, in fact, a partisan campaign within a brutal civil war, in which the opposing French faction – the Burgundians, enemies of Joan’s Armagnacs – had allied themselves with the English. Although it was the English who executed Joan in 1431, they did so on the judgement of an ecclesiastical court composed almost entirely of French clerics. By 1456, the war was over – and Joan’s king had won. It was necessary, therefore, to declare that the woman who had led him to his coronation back in 1429 was not, after all, a heretic. Not only that, but the divisions of the civil war had to…

Early cave art credited to prehistoric autism Archaeologists and autism experts have proposed that much of the world’s earliest art may have been created by people on the autistic spectrum. The study suggests that the harsh conditions of the Ice Age favoured the natural selection of genes conferring an ability to focus on tasks for long periods, and to develop skills in analysing patterns of movement and geography – skills required for producing such paintings, and often found in people on the autistic spectrum. Forgotten suffragette gets musical tribute The life of a Welsh suffragette who went to prison in 1913 for blowing up a Newport postbox with a homemade device is to be made into a musical that will be performed by the Welsh National Opera. Margaret Haig Thomas…

I enjoyed your review of divisions in modern Italian politics (Backgrounder, June) but thought it lacked the very historical perspective that this magazine promotes. My wife’s grandfather (born near Padua in the 19th century) claimed that Italy stopped at Rome – in other words, that the south was another country. The north-south division is far more deep-rooted than politics; it’s shaped by geography, history and economics reaching back to at least the time of the Roman empire. The south had large estates that survived up to the 20th century, landless workers and no real middle class. In the north, by contrast, smallholdings and the later city states fostered a merchant class and the cultural and economic trappings that initiated the Renaissance. These differences lie at the heart of modern political…

Daughters of the Winter Queen by Nancy Goldstone Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 496 pages, £20 For many of us, there is a bit of a gap in British history. The sexy Stuarts produced – through an obscure route – the horrid Hanoverians, whose line continues to the present monarchy. But how did we get from James I to George I? Nancy Goldstone’s vivid and convincing new book is in some ways a succession story, rewritten to give the distaff line its due. Wisely, perhaps, her pitch passes over the well-worn glamour of the ‘Winter Queen’ herself, Elizabeth Stuart. Nonetheless, almost a third of this text is taken up by recounting that queen’s youth and married life. Daughter of James VI and I – and proposed puppet queen of the Gunpowder Plotters…

Who Do You Think You Are? (July, BBC One) may be 15 series old, but our collective enthusiasm for the format shows no signs of diminishing. That’s perhaps because the idea of historical events touching on the lives of direct forebears is one with which we can all identify. Philosophical musings aside, the new series features Our Girl star Michelle Keegan (in an episode shown ahead of the rest of the series as part of the Hear Her season, marking 100 years since women gained the vote). She’s followed by Olivia Colman, singer Boy George, Strictly head judge Shirley Ballas, comedian Lee Mack, TV presenter Marvin Humes, barrister Robert ‘Judge’ Rinder and Paralympian Jonnie Peacock. On BBC Two and iPlayer, Before Grenfell: A Hidden History (June) is a one-off documentary…

Eclectic taste EXHIBITION / FREE ENTRY Sir Richard Wallace: The Collector The Wallace Collection, London 20 June–6 January 2019 - 020 7563 9500 • wallacecollection.org The Wallace Museum is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Sir Richard Wallace, with the opening of its brand new £1.2m exhibition galleries – a development that has tripled the size of the museum’s existing display space. The first exhibition in the new galleries explores Sir Richard’s life and interests, from his inheritance of a huge collection of art in 1870 to his eclectic taste in objects and artworks. Sir Richard’s collection was bequeathed to the nation by his widow in 1897 and opened as a museum in June 1900. The inaugural exhibition will feature a number of treasures from Sir…

ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL Less than 40 minutes by train from London and free to visit. Rochester Cathedral is England’s second oldest cathedral and was founded in AD 604. The present building dates back to 1080. Rochester Cathedral is home to Textus Roffensis, a 12th century manuscript which contains the only existing copy of the first code of English law. info@rochestercathedral.org  rochestercathedral.org COVENTRY CATHEDRAL Coventry Cathedral is a place where splendid medieval history meets modern architecture to stunning and poignant effect. Come and explore our Ruined Cathedral, destroyed in WW2, standing proudly alongside our magnificent ‘New’ Cathedral, featuring works by some of the greatest artists of the 1950s and 60s. Hear our story of peace and reconciliation in a truly breath-taking setting. 02476 521234 coventrycathedral.org.uk THE TEMPLE CHURCH This is…

1. What did Christian I, king of Denmark and Norway, cede to Scotland after failing to pay his daughter’s marriage dowry? 2. Who was forced to take a ‘walk of shame’ through the streets of London in 1483? 3. What is the name of this form of tin-glazed ceramic (left), and after which island is it thought to be named? 4. “Be jabers, boys, I have the cuckoo!” What had Sergeant Patrick Masterson of the 87th Regiment of Foot just done? 5. What was Scotland’s ‘Cleanse the Causeway’ of 1520? 6. What links the Bell Rock lighthouse (below) with Treasure Island ? QUIZ ANSWERS 1. Orkney and the Shetlands. 2. Jane Shore, the former mistress of, among others, Edward IV and William Hastings. 3. Majolica, Majorca. 4. He had captured…

Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts was a philanthropist. The granddaughter of Thomas Coutts, who founded the banking house Coutts & Co, on inheriting his fortune she became one of the wealthiest women in the country. Among her charitable acts was co-founding a home for women who had turned to “a life of immorality”. She was also co-founder of the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In 1871 she was the first woman to be created a baroness in her own right. When did you first hear about Angela Burdett-Coutts? A while ago I went to a charity event at Coutts Bank in London, where I saw a picture of her and was told she had been a friend of Charles Dickens and had funded some of his charitable projects.…

Shirley Ann Brown Historical monuments and cultural icons are often appropriated for nationalistic purposes long after their creation – witness the Nazis’ interest in the Bayeux Tapestry, which involved the use of archaeology in the service of ideology. • Shirley Ann explores Nazi efforts to appropriate and research the historic embroidery on page 46 Keith Thomas In the early modern era, ideas about civility were central to English people’s lives. Books about manners were very popular, and schools gave an enormous amount of attention to teaching polite behaviour. • Keith delves into English ideas of what it meant to be civilised on page 63 Eleanor Parker Medieval writers were just as interested as we are today in tales of fearsome Viking warriors. The stories about Ragnar Lothbrok are a great…

What have you learned from your analysis of the Roman stones? Using non-destructive techniques I analysed the surface of these exquisitely crafted sculptures (called distance stones), and detected the elements and mineral compounds present in small traces of original pigments applied by Roman artisans during the second century AD. This allowed me to reconstruct the authentic colours used and to re-imagine how these sculptures would have looked in vibrant and life-like colours. What messages were the stones designed to convey? They would have had an incredibly powerful impact on the viewers – both Roman and non-Roman alike. The stones feature inscriptions in abbreviated Latin, and were dedicated by the legions who constructed the Antonine Wall to Emperor Antoninus Pius, who commissioned its construction in c142 AD. This lettering was depicted…

“I’m often asked: if you could travel in time, to what period in history would you go? My answer is always: the late 16th century. It was an incredibly dynamic time in world history: the new world just discovered, the European conquests in the Americas had begun. In Europe, it was the time of the Renaissance. In the heartland of civilisation, Eurasia, several great multiracial, multicultural empires coexisted: the Ottomans, the Savafids in Persia, and Mughal India. Farther east, Ming China was enjoying a fabulous flowering. What a time to set out – as the eccentric traveller Thomas Coryate did, in 1614 walking from Jerusalem to India. Take me with you, Tom! In India, the emperor Akbar (r1556–1605) was one of the greatest figures in world history. Ruler, administrator, war…

Kate Bush has revealed that she is writing a new tribute to Emily Brontë. To which historical figure would you write a tribute, and why? Andrew Ellis Ptolemy I Soter, who founded the Library at Alexandria – a place where knowledge could be gathered and available for research @meganymeg Anne Boleyn, who sparked my interest in history and was one of the first feminists @ruthjoyceart Marianne North, the Victorian botanical artist. She travelled the world creating beautiful landscape and plant-focused paintings. She was independent and passionate, and should be more well-known @Secoco75 Bess of Hardwick, a clever woman who was truly ahead of her time. Bess helped modernise the medieval castle through her ambitious building projects, and was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in England during the…

Best of all is to make a black joke about your own death Laughing Shall I Die by Tom Shippey Reaktion, 368 pages, £20 What gave the Vikings their edge? Was there something unique about the culture of early medieval Scandinavia that allowed the Vikings to have such a far-ranging and profound impact over the course of three centuries? This fascinating book by distinguished medievalist Tom Shippey sets out to answer these questions by exploring what he calls the ‘Viking mindset’, as described in medieval sagas, poems and histories. What he identifies is a particular set of values – a code of behaviour based on a characteristic Viking view of the world: fatalistic, ironic and marked by a grim, often brutal sense of humour. In this mindset, the supreme virtue…

The French Revolution and What Went Wrong by Stephen Clarke Century, 592 pages, £25 Stephen Clarke’s previous books have offered humorous insights into the French psyche from a self-consciously English perspective, with titles such as 1000 Years of Annoying the French and A Year in the Merde. In his latest, he turns his attention to the French Revolution of 1789, the event that transformed France from old regime to modern country and the seismic impact of which was felt globally. Early chapters draw upon memoirs of courtiers at Versailles to show us the world that the revolution would sweep away. Stories of arrogant, power-hungry kings, ambitious mistresses and fatuous, decadent nobles are told with relish. The last king, Louis XVI, was well-intentioned, and far from the fool often portrayed in…

The Other Boleyn Girl Philippa Gregory (2001) Mary Boleyn, sister of the more famous Anne, is at the heart of Philippa Gregory’s well-known novel, made into a 2008 film with Scarlett Johansson in the title role. This tale of the Boleyns’ ambitions combines the page-turning qualities of the blockbusting bestseller with genuinely deep and wide-ranging historical research. Gregory uses convincing detail and dialogue to take readers into the heart of the claustrophobic Tudor court and its endless intrigues. Innocent Traitor Alison Weir (2006) Historian Alison Weir has recently embarked on a series of a novels about Henry VIII’s six queens. But she first turned to fiction over a decade ago with this re-telling of the tragic tale of Lady Jane Grey, the young girl who was propelled by the scheming…

“When Goethe paid Bern a fleeting visit, he declared it the most beautiful city he had seen” Bern is a capital city with a small-town feel. The Bundeshaus, or ‘Federal House’, stands on a hill looking out across the old town in stately fashion, onto the Alps in the distance. Parliament Square is flanked by national and regional banks, though there are rarely financiers or politicians rushing about. In summer, the real crowds are down by the River Aare. Bern has been Switzerland’s political centre since the formation of the Swiss Confederation in 1848. Even back then, Bern couldn’t match the size, infrastructure or flair of Zurich, but Swiss federalist culture was against having a ‘main’ city. Bern sits in the middle of the country, between German- and French-speaking Switzerland.…

1. BENTLEY PRIORY MUSEUM Join us for RAF centenary commemorative events throughout 2018 including a series of public talks and a special Afternoon Tea on 14th July. Please visit our website to find out more. bentleypriorymuseum.org.uk | 020 8950 5526 2. THE MERCHANTS HOUSE Rare example of a seventeenth century merchant’s house on Marlborough High Street. Open for guided tours from April to October. themerchantshouse.co.uk | 01672 511 491 3. DE HAVILLAND MUSEUM The UK’s oldest aviation museum, dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the de Havilland Heritage. We are a working museum where you can get close up and into many of our exhibits. dehavillandmuseum.co.uk | 01727 826 400 4. READING ABBEY QUARTER Visit Reading Museum to discover the story of Reading Abbey and then explore the Abbey Ruins to uncover…

Fish house punch This refreshing punch was first concocted at a gentlemen’s fishing club on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill river. Some say it was enjoyed by the anglers as early as 1732, but others claim it was first brewed up in 1848 for a party to mark the moment that women were first allowed to set foot on club premises. A note from 1744 records a group of gentlemen tucking into “a bowl of fine lemon punch big enough to have swimmed half a dozen of young geese”. But if you don’t own a punch bowl large enough to hold six birds and a very large block of ice, a pitcher filled with ice cubes would also work nicely. According to legend, the punch was once sampled by George Washington, perhaps too…

A quarter of a century after she had been burned at the stake for heresy, Joan of Arc was back in court. It was the summer of 1456, and Pope Callixtus III had authorised a retrial to investigate whether the saviour of Orléans had been unjustly convicted. This was not much good for Joan, of course, since she had long been reduced to ashes, but it went down well with her supporters. On 7 July, the various judges, clerks and priests filed into the Great Hall of the Archbishop’s Palace in Rouen, where Joan’s aged mother and brothers were waiting to hear the verdict. The court had decided, said the archbishop of Reims, that the original “trial and sentence, being filled with fraud, false charges, injustice, contradiction, and manifest errors…

On the weekend of 22–24 June, thousands of history lovers will flock to Cambridgeshire for the second Wimpole History Festival – the product of a unique partnership between Cambridge Literary Festival and the National Trust. BBC History Magazine is one of the event sponsors. Set in the beautiful grounds of the Wimpole Estate, home to Cambridgeshire’s largest country house, the festival will welcome a host of expert historians and writers who will be talking on topics ranging from the Vikings to the First World War. Speakers include Mary Beard, Charles Spencer, Dan Jones, David Olusoga, Alice Roberts, Gordon Corera and BBC Radio 4’s Jenni Murray, plus many more. As well as talks and debates, visitors can enjoy falconry displays, history demonstrations and workshops including some with a Roman kitchen and…

It wasn’t easy to be the prime minster while women were fighting for their right to the vote, and none was more henpecked (or rightfully picked upon) than that vehement anti-suffragist PM, Mr Herbert Henry Asquith. Although the war for suffrage had been raging with a growing intensity since the middle of the last century, from 1907 onwards the Women’s Social and Political Union and its members – known as suffragettes – committed to a far more violent course of action. When Asquith visited Dublin in 1912, they threw a hatchet at his supporters and tried to set fire to a theatre he was scheduled to attend. Wherever he went, different feminist groups were determined to have their say. Earlier in the evening, despite elaborate police precautions against “a suffragette…

The Templars: The Rise and Fall of God’s Holy Warriors by Dan Jones Head of Zeus, 512 pages, £9.99 Dan Jones’s latest blockbuster vividly relates a story always worth the retelling: the glittering, blood-won ascendancy of the Knights Templar as the holiest of God’s warriors, followed by their ignominious and spectacular fall as alleged heretics and thus enemies of the same God. The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, to give them their original name (taken from their base at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem after the First Crusade), were the earliest of the religious military orders. Knightly monks who followed monastic vows in their fight against the infidels, their initial role was to protect pilgrims heading for Jerusalem. However, their local experience and growing wealth soon…

The NHS has so often been at the forefront of medical advances NHS at 70 TV & RADIO BBC networks From Friday 25 June The National Health Service turns 70 this year. It’s an anniversary marked with a season of shows across the BBC. The centrepiece of the season is an as-yet untitled live 90-minute show hosted by Nick Robinson and Anita Rani (BBC Two) that draws on research from four think tanks to debate the future of the service. There’s plenty of programming to add context to such discussions. Hospitals that Changed the World (BBC Two) looks at five institutions, each in a different region, that demonstrate how the NHS has so often been at the forefront of medical advances. Made in conjunction with the University of Warwick’s history…

1 Forest of Arden WARWICKSHIRE Where Shakespeare set a comedy Stretching from Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire to Tamworth in Staffordshire, and enveloping the cities of Birmingham and Coventry, the Forest of Arden was the setting for Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. Today, only scattered small patches of the once great forest remain, including Smith’s Wood. woodlandtrust.org.uk 2 Savernake Forest WILTSHIRE Where Henry VIII met his third wife The first mention of ‘Safernoc’ appears in the records of Anglo-Saxon king Æthelstan in AD 934. Part of it was designated a royal forest in the 12th century. It is home to the Big Belly Oak, believed to be over 1,000 years old, and is said to have been the site of the first meeting of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane…

BEST TIME TO GO Bern is best in the late spring and summer, though it was allegedly the world’s most Instagrammed city last winter. I have swum until early October, but by then did not swim very far! Swiss National Day falls on 1 August; note that in Switzerland, shops are closed from early the night before a public holiday, as well as on the day itself. GETTING THERE Bern airport is small. You can fly direct from London City with Skywork. Otherwise, fly to Zürich or Basel then take the train (about an hour). In winter, a Bernese city break is best combined with Alpine hiking or skiing. WHAT TO TAKE Swimmers should pack a ‘dry bag’ if you have one – or buy one from the tourist information…