Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2019 i History Extra

“England expects that every man will do his duty.” That was the signal sent by Horatio Nelson as the British fleet prepared to meet its French and Spanish foes off the coast of Spain in October 1805. Though he didn’t live to see the final outcome, Nelson would surely have felt that his sailors did indeed do their duty at the Battle of Trafalgar. It was a decisive victory that remains a landmark in British history more than 200 years later. But, though the Royal Navy’s triumph was clear, how much did Trafalgar really affect the wider war against Napoleon? In this month’s cover feature, on page 40, Sam Willis offers a provocative new take on one of the Royal Navy’s finest hours. Another key moment – this time in…

First there was Jacob Rees-Mogg and AN Wilson squaring up on Radio 4’s Today programme over the MP’s new book, The Victorians, and then Matthew Sweet, presenter of Radio 3’s Free Thinking, demolished the central thesis of Naomi Wolf’s latest work, Outrages. Wolf had argued that executions for sodomy increased in the second half of the 19th century, but as Sweet – a Victorian specialist – pointed out, she had critically misinterpreted Old Bailey trial evidence: the term ‘death recorded’ meant that a judge actually abstained from handing down a death sentence. Historians everywhere performed a sharp intake of breath; the tension was palpable and tweets erupted. For some, like Helen McCarthy (@HistorianHelen), the broadcast was an excruciating experience: “I actually can’t bear to listen,” she wrote. For braver sorts…

We welcome your letters, while reserving the right to edit them. We may publish your letters on our website. Please include a daytime phone number and, if emailing, a postal address (not for publication). Letters should be no longer than 250 words. email: letters@historyextra.com Post: Letters, BBC History Magazine, Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol BS1 4ST The opinions expressed by our commentators are their own and may not represent the views of BBC History Magazine or the Immediate Media Company…

1 He hoovered up England’s titles On 18 June 1525, a six-year-old boy made a dazzling entrance onto England’s public stage. In a ceremony at London’s grand Bridewell Palace, the boy was made Earl of Nottingham and then Duke of both Richmond and Somerset. The “right high and noble prince”, as the youngster was now styled, had become the highest ranking member of the English nobility. The boy’s name was Henry Fitzroy and the doting father who had bestowed the titles upon him was none other than King Henry VIII. This seems to have been a proud moment for both monarch and offspring. But there was a problem: Fitzroy was illegitimate – and that raised all kinds of awkward questions for the succession and the king’s relationship with his wife.…

SOLDIERS’ LOVERS The unmasking of a “poore loving wench” During the 1640s England was torn apart by a terrible Civil War fought between the reigning monarch, Charles I, and his enemies in parliament. The conflict saw thousands of lives turned upside down, and one of the most intriguing consequences of this social dislocation was that a number of women ven- tured into the field alongside the soldiers of king and parliament while cross-dressed as men – despite the fact that transvestitism is explicitly condemned in the Bible. Some women donned mascu- line attire not to fight but in order to accompany their male partners while they were away at war. This was true of a certain Nan Ball, “a poore loving wench” who was “taken in man’s cloathes” in the…

Charlemagne (748–814) was one of the towering figures of the medieval world. Hailing from the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, he was king of the Franks and Lombards (Germanic peoples of western Europe) and went on to greatly expand the Carolingian empire. At its peak, Charlemagne’s domain stretched from modern-day Spain to Hungary. His reign is remembered as an era of cultural renaissance, the legacy of which left a lasting impression on Europe. Ellie Cawthorne: You begin your biography by rejecting the popular title ‘Charlemagne', instead choosing to simply call your subject ‘Charles’. Why? Janet L Nelson: At my mother’s knee, I was taught to be very sceptical about the idea of ‘great men’, so I didn’t want to begin with the notion that Charles I’s ‘greatness’ – as the French title…

Why and how can hair be political? “It’s only hair” is a statement often repeated to black women and girls. Yet delve into Emma Dabiri’s Don’t  Touch My Hair, and it quickly becomes clear that black hair has been – and remains – embroiled in an ambiguous array of stigmatisation, exploitation and appropriation. This inspiring text moves between memoir and history to look at black hair and its associated identity politics. The identities of many people located in black diasporic communities – who can trace movements from the African continent to the Americas, Caribbean, Europe and the UK – are a source of contention, particularly around legacies of enslavement and colonialism. Hair, as a part of one’s identity, is located in a context of racism, sexism, colourism and several other…

Sam Willis on the death of Nelson at Trafalgar “I think there were clouds of smoke. I think the ships were rolling around. I think it was complete chaos, but I reckon that just for one brief  moment the clouds cleared and there was this French marksman, weirdly with a ball in the musket ready to go. He didn’t misfire. He managed to get the shot away and it hit him.” Emma Dabiri on the history of black hair “Because the power dynamic was so in favour of white European norms – and because these norms were extracted from  Africa to other parts of the world – the idea developed that Afro-textured hair was inadequate, inferior, and associated with a kind of non-humanity. These ideas were internalised, and hair began…

Published five years before Tony Judt’s death, this formidable and wise book reveals him at the height of his powers: a true citizen of the world, who put narrow nationalisms to shame with his talent. I devoured Postwar when it appeared, all the more because I had lived through nearly all of the years it covers, and could now see a wider canvas than that of the Nine o’Clock News . But most compelling was the book’s message of hope. In 1945, Europe was a continent in ruins. As Judt observes: “World War Two and its uncertain aftermath might well have precipitated Europe’s terminal decline.” Instead came painful rebuilding, an embrace of democracy where democracies had recently failed dismally, and the creation of an institution that became the European Union.…

Katharine Graham was the scion of a wealthy New York family who bought The Washington Post in the 1930s. She became de facto publisher of the newspaper in 1963 following the suicide of her husband, and later chairwoman of the board. The mother of four presided over the newspaper (now owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos) in the early 1970s when it played a pivotal role in uncover- ing the Watergate conspiracy, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. She died in 2001, aged 84.…

Janet Nelson It was far from being a foregone conclusion how Charlemagne’s dynasty would work out. There were all kinds of tensions and unforeseen events, which meant that it was anything but plain sailing. Janet discusses her new book on Charlemagne, on page 70 Kendrick Oliver It is important to remember the complex roots of the space race – and to recognise that not every American agreed that lunar landings were a national priority. Kendrick traces the 25-year scramble to be first to the moon, on page 22 Lucy Bland Through various means, including radio talks, I managed to find many mixed-race GI war ‘babies’, now in their 70s. I interviewed them around the country, from south Wales to Scotland. Lucy tells the story of babies born to black American…

Watching the Indian elections this summer has been an astounding spectacle. More than 600 million voters going to the polls; 29 states, seven of them with populations of more than 70 million each; 22 official languages. The sheer scale is incredible. And for the winning Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), victory came out of an idea of the past, the product of a deep fissure in Indian history going back even before partition just over 70 years ago. It set me thinking once more about the power of myth in modern politics, made even more potent by the ability of social media to reach hundreds of millions in a click. These days the myth is often dominant because it offers a clear narrative rather than the ifs…

It was five o’clock on the afternoon of 26 August 1970: rush hour in New York City. But on Fifth Avenue, nothing was moving. The street was impassable, blocked by thousands – tens of thousands, some said – of women. On the news, there were already reports of similar demonstrations elsewhere. In Boston, thousands of women had gathered on the common. In Washington, they marched down Connecticut Avenue, holding a banner reading: “We Demand Equal Rights Now.” And in Detroit they even invaded a men’s toilet, staging a sit-in to demand equal facilities. Organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which had given women the right to vote, the Women’s Strike for Equality was a landmark in feminist history. Its prime mover was the…

One of the most famous photographs of Winston Churchill is also one of the more controversial. It was taken in July 1940, while Churchill was on a visit to a coastal defence position near Hartlepool. Recently appointed to the post of prime minister, Churchill already looks the part. He stares straight down the camera lens. He is wearing a dark pinstripe suit, the obligatory cigar is lodged in one corner of his mouth and in his hands is a weapon that, although part of the official armoury of the British forces, was infamous: associated not with military service but with crime and vice. The weapon in question was the Thompson submachine gun – the Tommy gun. Already two decades old in 1940, it had been invented during the First World…

Leon was initially put into a children’s home in East Anglia. The British government had forbidden most attempted adoptions by “putative” fathers, so it was with great difficulty that Leon’s black ex-GI father managed to have his son flown out to the USA, in January 1949. The African-American newspaper Pittsburgh Courier called his arrival “the story of the year!” But Leon had a difficult childhood: his stepmother was hard on him for his father’s philandering. Annwas the daughter of a married mother and a black GI. Born in Somerset in February 1945, she was put into Holnicote House children’s home. When she was five she was happily adopted by a Welsh family. When she married she lived with her husband’s parents, but her mother-in-law told her that “she didn’t want…

One reason the Viking age is such a compelling period in history is that different peoples and regions had diverse experiences of contact with the Vikings. In different parts of Britain, visiting Scandinavians were encountered as violent raiders, welcome traders, peaceful settlers or any combination of the three. After exploring Britain’s Viking history more widely in his 2017 book Viking Britain, Thomas Williams follows up with this short study focusing specifically on London during the Viking age. The book tells the story of early medieval London from the pre-Viking period up to 1066, but along the way there are excursions into many other aspects of London’s long history, taking in Dickens as well as Danes, Moby-Dick as well as medieval moneyers. Williams, a historian and archaeologist, is a knowledgeable guide,…

John Woolf has chosen a good time to release The Wonders , a book probing the lives of Victorian ‘freak show’ performers. The recent phenomenal success of the film The Greatest Showman – an uplifting depiction of the life of the charismatic impresario PT Barnum, whose “Greatest Show on Earth” featured ‘freak performers’ – will surely have left viewers eager to learn more. However, those hoping for more of the sentimentality seen in the film, which positions Barnum as a saviour figure empowering those who have been forced to hide away from society, will be disappointed. Instead, we meet a cruel, exploitative businessman. His first ‘exhibit’, Joice Heth, was a slave. She was marketed as being 161 years old; Barnum claimed that she had cared for George Washington when he…

RELIGION The Lost Art of Scripture by Karen Armstrong (Bodley Head, 560 pages, £25) The Good Book? War, terrorism, hatred and division have all been laid at the feet of religious scriptures down the centuries. But is it fair to hold the Bible, Qur’an or other holy texts responsible for so much conflict? Leading religious thinker (and former nun) Karen Armstrong makes an intriguing argument that, for much of history, approaches to reading holy scriptures were less narrow and more nuanced. FICTION The Turn of Midnight by Minette Walters (Allen and Unwin, 464 pages, £8.99) NOW IN PAPERBACK Journal of the plague year Back in 2017, bestselling contemporary crime writer Minette Walters surprised her readers by embarking on a mammoth tale of life in Dorset during the Black Death epidemic…

An ongoing programme of talks, exhibitions and events is set to continue across Greater Manchester this summer to commemorate the bicentenary of the Peterloo Massacre. The 1819 atrocity – in which at least 11 civilians were killed after cavalrymen charged into a peaceful political rally – is often viewed as a catalyst that led to the region becoming a centre of radical activity. Key dates in the calendar include the unveiling of a new memorial at the site of the massacre on 16 August. Details of the full programme are available at peterloo1819.co.uk.…

The format may be familiar, but genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? appears to have an appeal every bit as enduring as the most precious family heirloom. That’s perhaps because, even as the show returns for a 16th series, it consistently attracts A-list celebrities. This time round, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet are among those taking part. Comedian Jack Whitehall, meanwhile, will appear in an episode alongside his father, theatrical agent Michael. Other big names featured in the series include Sharon Osbourne – TV presenter, X Factor judge and wife of Black Sabbath’s Ozzy – as well as James Bond star Naomie Harris, Have I Got News for You regular Paul Merton and comic Katherine Ryan. And if the idea of following Mark…

Created to coincide with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a free photographic exhibition investigates the treatment of ‘prisoner-patients’ at Perth Prison’s Criminal Lunatic Department (CLD), which was the Scottish equivalent of Broadmoor. Curated by Rab Houston, professor of modern history at the University of St Andrews, the thought-provoking display includes mugshots of men and women admitted to the CLD in the 19th century, accompanied by archival material that sheds further light on their experiences. As well as documenting past stories of crime, recovery and release, the exhibition looks at how the history of mental health can be used to raise awareness of similar issues today, both inside and outside prison. Prisoners or Patients? Criminal Insanity in Victorian Scotland General Register House, Edinburgh / 1–30 August / Free…

Perhaps because we are all fascinated to know more about who lived in our homes in the past, A House Through Time, presented by David Olusoga, has been a huge hit for BBC Two. It’s no surprise, then, to find it has been recommissioned and will return next year. Following series set in Liverpool and Newcastle, the third outing will feature a house in Bristol, a port city with a rich maritime and industrial heritage – as well as deep connections to the transatlantic slave trade.…

A world-famous medieval chess piece has been rediscovered in an Edinburgh family home. The figure, measuring 8.8cm tall and carved from walrus ivory, was one of five missing pieces from a collection of four sets known as the Lewis chessmen, found on the Isle of Lewis in 1831. The object’s owners, who purchased it for £5 in 1964, were unaware of its importance until it was valued at Sotheby’s in London. At the time of going to press, the artefact was expected to fetch up to £1 million at auction on 2 July. Have a story? Please email Jon Bauckham at jon.bauckham@immediate.co.uk…

Some of the pop music, at least, seemed in tune with its times, hinting at the momentous events unfolding a quarter-of-a-million miles above. As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the moon in July 1969, one-hit wonders Zager and Evans sat atop the American charts with ‘In the Year 2525’, an apocalyptic warning of humanity’s over-reliance on science. Soon to be number 1 in Britain was Thunderclap Newman’s ‘Something in the Air’, the title of which – if nothing else – was appropriate. And the BBC television coverage of the moon landings did feature ‘space rock’ band Pink Floyd, performing a piece called ‘Moonhead’. Over on ITV, however, they were less fastidious and went with the safer option, with a bill of light entertainment stars: Lulu,…

In December 1945, Somerset County Council approached home secretary James Chuter Ede about having the ‘brown babies’ in their children’s homes adopted by the children’s putative fathers, near-relatives or other ‘coloured’ families in the US. Chuter Ede pointed out that, as the 1939 Adoption Act only allowed children to be sent abroad to live with British subjects or relatives, African-American couples who came forward to adopt were thus excluded, and as putative (literally ‘reputed to be’) fathers only (DNA testing was not introduced until the 1960s) the black GIs were not legally deemed to be relatives. In the US, however, a group of upper-middle-class black women in Chicago had formed a Brown Babies Organizing Committee, which had compiled a list of more than 500 couples wishing to adopt. On 5…

What were the historical sources that first inspired your novel? In the small Provençal village where I live, elder villagers have long told stories about a medieval pogrom and a vanished Jewish cemetery. Then I learnt about a 1,000-year-old Hebrew manuscript found in Cairo, in which a rabbi relates the story of a young Christian woman who fell in love with the son of a rabbi, ran away to be with him and converted to Judaism. I grew fascinated by this young woman who was so adventurous – reckless even – in times of such religious fanaticism. Your lead character embarks on an epic journey across the medieval world. What does that involve? It was a journey full of hardships. I decided that I not only wanted to describe her…

In 1773, fresh from the success of the first Pacific voyage, Joseph Banks – botanist and travelling companion of Captain Cook – persuaded the British state to send an expedition to the north pole. This was a veritable mission impossible. The two ships, HMS Racehorse and HMS Carcass, were reinforced against the ice and manned with high-quality crews. Their aim was to improve charts, check magnetic readings, undertake scientific research and seek out a northerly sea passage to the far east. The expedition lasted little more than three months and found nothing of lasting interest. However, sailing on the Carcass, aged only 14, was a man who would go on to make maritime history: Horatio Nelson. His official biography detailed a story in which he left the ship to shoot…

From the 13th-century Hereford Mappa Mundi (featured on the cover of Chaucer: A European Life), to digital maps on smartphones, humans have a long history of orientating themselves in the world through spatial representations. Geoffrey Chaucer, best known for his vivid fictional group of tale-telling pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, persistently used places, spaces and journeys to investigate what it meant to be a person in the medieval world. Marion Turner’s exciting new biography explores in breathtaking detail the spaces and places that shaped the imaginative world of this great Anglo-European poet. Chaucer: A European Life recreates 14th-century Europe’s rapidly developing trade networks, newly minted monetary economies, plagues, political uprisings and military confrontations. The book captures a new sense of the poet embedded in his world. Turner guides us from…

As Mount Vesuvius unleashed its fury and clouds of ash descended on Pompeii in AD 79, the city was frozen in time – and the final, frantic moments of its residents provided future historians with a snapshot of ancient Roman life. Featuring more than 300 rare artefacts – the majority of which have never previously been on display outside Italy – this new exhibition at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum focuses its attentions on the crucial role that food and drink played in the culture of Pompeii, and the wealth of gastronomic delights enjoyed by locals prior to the eruption. From carbonised edibles left on tables to the elaborate mosaics that decorated the villas of the elite, the exhibition suggests it was a city with a surprisingly adventurous palate. Not only did…

What is the main premise of Classified Britain? You choose a local paper on a particular day, from a particular era and a particular place and look at the front page; it should be from a time when local and even some national newspapers had only classified adverts on the front pages. Like all really good ideas of this kind, when people hear about it, they think: “Why hasn’t this been done before?” Why is this such an emotive concept? I think that, without wanting to make a pompous statement about it, so often we all get trapped in our own time. It’s inevitable that we get obsessed by the politics of the moment, by Brexit and so on. And it’s just so lovely to say: forget everything, look at…

Among the numerous UK exhibitions commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission this summer, the National Maritime Museum’s latest endeavour, simply entitled The Moon, is the biggest of the bunch. Featuring more than 180 artefacts, many on loan from fellow museums and private collections, the exhibition reveals how Earth’s closest celestial neighbour has been a source of both scientific intrigue and cultural inspiration since the beginnings of human civilisation. Key items on display include a Mesopotamian tablet dating from 172 BC, revealing how ancient societies considered lunar eclipses to be bad omens, as well as examples of historic Chinese and Islamic calendars, showing the importance of the moon in setting the dates for festivals such as New Year and Ramadan. Elsewhere in the exhibition, visitors can enjoy a…

It’s the show that made scything sexy and prompted Brits to rent holiday cottages in some of Cornwall’s most windswept environs. Nevertheless, all good things must come to an end and, while writer Debbie Horsfield has hinted at heading west again in the future, the upcoming fifth season of Poldark is scheduled to be the last. The drama picks up again at the beginning of the 19th century. Following the death of Elizabeth, Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) has decided to turn his back on life in Westminster in favour of spending more time with those he loves. But complications arise when an old friend needs help, and Ross is forced to question where his loyalties lie. Whereas previous series were based closely on the novels of Winston Graham, the episodes…

1 . LEIGHTON HOUSE MUSEUM Leighton House Museum is the former studio-house of Victorian artist Frederic Leighton, featuring the magnificent Arab Hall and its extraordinary display of Islamic tiles and handcrafted mosaics. Also not to be missed is Leighton’s grand studio. leightonhouse.co.uk | museums@rbkc.gov.uk 2 . DERBY MUSEUMS Visit our beautiful World Collections gallery, featuring over 1400 objects.Co-produced with thousands of people, this vibrant space is designed to encourage interesting encounters and new perspectives. derbymuseums.org | 01332 641 901 3 . NEWARK TOWN HALL MUSEUM & ART GALLERY Fascinating architectural gem designed in 1774 by John Carr. A working Town Hall that also contains a museum within its beautiful Georgian rooms. Please contact by phone on 01636 680333. newarktownhallmuseum.co.uk 4. KELMSCOTT MANOR The inspirational country home of William Morris: designer, craftsman and…

“Graham was often the only woman in the room for high-powered meetings at the Post – they would say ‘Lady and gentlemen’!” When did you first hear about Graham? Probably around the time of the Watergate scandal, because it was such a massive story. I was a student at the London School of Economics (LSE) in the 1960s and had been involved in anti-Vietnam [War] politics, so naturally took great interest in The Washington Post’s investigation into Richard Nixon [who was president for much of the conflict and approved the secret carpet bombing of the North Vietnamese]. What kind of person was she? There may have been a bit of the little rich girl about her – she was all over the political spectrum and friendly with everyone from the…