Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i History Extra

In early March, Gary Lineker sparked a political and media storm. The former footballer, now the BBC’s best-paid presenter, said that the Illegal Migration Bill introduced by UK home secretary Suella Braverman “is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people [presented] in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the [19]30s”. Lineker’s comments were made not on a BBC channel but on Twitter, in a personal capacity. Nevertheless, the BBC suspended him from his presenting role on Match of the Day for breaching its impartiality guidelines. After other commentators and pundits declined to appear on the show without Lineker, he was reinstated a few days later. Lineker’s suggestion that Braverman’s language was “not dissimilar” to that used in Germany during Nazi rule…

GENDER HISTORY THE CONVERSATION June Purvis: What are the historical origins of patriarchy? Angela Saini: That’s exactly the question that set my book in motion. We know from anthropological evidence that human societies haven’t always been male-dominated in the way that we are today - and that’s a finding that is now quite widely accepted. These ideas and ideologies [of the roles and status of different genders in society] vary culturally and through time. The question I was constantly asked by readers of my previous books was: if we haven’t always been this way, then how did we get here? How did patriarchy become so widespread? And I didn’t really have a good answer, because there’s so little literature on the subject. Back in the 19th century this was a big…

Life in East Germany The warm summer air hummed with music and energy. Drums sent rhythmic undercurrents through the streets as young people danced, debated, sang and kissed. Alcohol flowed freely. Ideas were exchanged in dozens of languages as concerts, marches, floats, talks and spontaneous jam sessions combined to give the sense of a bustling festival. This gathering of idealists and dreamers was held not at Woodstock or Glastonbury but in East Berlin, where 8 million people flocked between 28 July and 5 August 1973 to attend the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students. Its tagline: For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship. More than two decades had passed since East Germany, formally known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), had been established on 7 October 1949 as a socialist…

Tudor London: a global city Accompanies Jerry Brotton's 10-part BBC Radio 3 series We Other Tudors, which is due to air from 1 May On 2 October 1586, a rather unusual baptism took place at St Katharine’s Church next to the Tower of London. The person being baptised, known as “Chinano the Turk”, was a 40-year-old native of the Mediterranean island of Euboea - and the first known male Muslim convert to Protestantism. The celebrant at the conversion of Chinano - probably a clumsy Anglicisation of the Turkish name Sinan - was Welsh minister Meredith Hanmer. Earlier that day, he had preached a sermon entitled “The Baptising of a Turke”, informing the congregation that Chinano had been taken captive as a galley slave by the Spanish, then shipped to Cartagena…

What is the world's oldest continuous democracy? The word “democracy” is the English form of an originally ancient Greek coinage, a compound of demos (meaning people or masses) and kratos (power). The oldest democracy, literally speaking, was that of the fifth-century BC Athenians in ancient Greece. However, claims are made that weaker forms and types of something vaguely democratic, at least in terms of public discussion, were around earlier than that - in ancient India, for instance. But if we understand democracy to be power in the form of majority decisionmaking by an empowered electorate, then classical Athens wins the prize for being first - although of course the Athenian electorate was made up only of free and legitimate adult men. But democracy was only practised at Athens for a…

TASTE Coronation chicken Ah, coronation chicken - the mainstay of many a dodgy 1970s buffet, all dry fowl caked in mayonnaise and curry paste with a token scattering of sultanas, its overwhelming feature an alarming yellowness. In its original form it has only the merest hint of curry, being instead - in the words of its co-creator, Constance Spry - “distinguished mainly by a delicate and nut-like flavour in the sauce”. Coronation chicken, originally named Poulet Reine Elizabeth, was devised by society cook Rosemary Hume, who was one of many chefs employed to work on events celebrating the coronation of Elizabeth II, and Constance Spry, who was her friend and business partner, as well as a celebrity florist and events organiser. The women were working together to cater for a…

As soon as you alight at Liverpool’s Lime Street station, step outside and hear the seagulls squawking, you know you’re near the sea - a reminder that for all its footballing and musical links, this is a port city. And it’s the waterfront where you should head first on your visit - for it was the explosion in maritime trade from the 18th century onwards that turned this once insignificant spot on the river Mersey into a mighty northern city. The city’s Maritime Museum is at the Royal Albert Dock, which dates back to the mid-19th century, but is now home to restaurants, bars and other attractions. The museum tells how - in its heyday as a port - Liverpool boasted a huge, inter-connected 7.5 mile dock system which, it…

Roman "shrine" found near Leicester Cathedral The broken base of an altar discovered by archaeologists beneath a former graveyard near Leicester Cathedral is believed to suggest the presence of a Roman shrine or cult room that may have been built in the second century AD. The excavations, undertaken by a team from University of Leicester Archaeological Services in preparation for the construction of a new visitor centre, also yielded Roman coins and fragments of Gaulish pottery. Experts confirm presence of hidden pyramid corridor Footage captured by an endoscope inserted into stone joints in the Great Pyramid of Giza confirms the existence of a previously hidden 9-metre-long vaulted corridor within the structure, Egyptian antiquities officials say. The funerary monument, located just outside Cairo, was constructed for Khufu, a king of the…

A number of decisions taken by our longest-reigning Queen - not least about her own funeral - reveal intriguing nods to the 17th century, a period that was hardly a golden age for the crown. Even her choice of name for her firstborn son, Charles, could be seen as surprising - ill-advised, even. The public execution of Charles I in January 1649 remains the most shattering event for the monarchy. And the reign of Charles II - a king whose reputation for merriness and laziness has stuck - didn't wipe the slate clean. In the words of the diarist John Evelyn, he was a man of many virtues, but also of "many great imperfections". Yet the Queen reclaimed the name Charles - rather like royalists making the parliamentarian insult "cavalier"…

7 October 1949 East Germany is born The German Democratic Republic is founded. Wilheim Pieck becomes its president, Otto Grotewohl its minister-president. Real power lies with Walter Ulbricht (left), one of Grotewohl's deputies and, from 1950, general secretary of the ruling party. 8 February 1950 State surveillance begins The Ministry for State Security, known as the Stasi, is established. Acting as "Sword and Shield of the Party", under long-term leader Erich Mielke it becomes one of the most comprehensive state security organisations ever. 17 June 1953 A nation explodes A general strike against work conditions erupts into a national uprising involving around 1 million people. It is brutally crushed by Soviet forces. In the immediate aftermath, the government is forced to improve living standards. 14 May 1955 The east strikes…

Smithfield: tournaments and traitors Smithfield is the site of London's oldest market, which has operated here since the Middle Ages and is still trading today. During Tudor times the area was home to St Bartholomew's Hospital and key livery companies including the Haberdashers. It was a venue for popular festivals and tournaments including the annual St Bartholomew's Day celebrations, but also for the public executions of heretics and traitors. The area attracted a diverse variety of residents, including Jewish physicians. Clerkenwell: ale and ill repute The Knights Hospitallers of St John originally had their headquarters at Clerkenwell Priory. This area lay outside the City walls, and became notorious for its alehouses, bowling alleys and dicing houses. Turnbull Street (now Turnmill Street near Farringdon Station) was regarded as one of the…

Where can we find Boudica today? Listen to our interview with Duncan Mackay on our podcast soon: historyextra.com/podcast Though known to us only by a few paragraphs in incomplete classical texts, Boudica has, at least since the 16th century, exerted a powerful hold on the British imagination and identity. The defiant and vengeful queen of the Iceni - who led a revolt of such ferocity that the Romans feared they would lose the province of Britain - is celebrated in literature, art, film and fancy dress. Even now, more than 19 centuries after the alleged date of her rebellion in AD 60, she remains a figure of fascination. I say alleged, because nothing about her is certain - not her name, nor the site of her last battle, nor the…

ENCOUNTERS PODCASTS H PODCASTS Every issue we highlight a recent edition of our podcast. You can find it along with more than 1,500 previous episodes at our website: historyextra.com/podcast In Mesopotamia, the lion-headed monster Lamashtu stalked pregnant women from the shadows, waiting to prey on their unborn babies. The Greeks had to watch out for the serpent-tailed Lamia, who seduced passing sailors before devouring them alive. And in the Middle Ages, the demoness Lilith would steal sperm, creating a horde of illegitimate offspring to embarrass a man at his funeral, and even to contest his will. From sirens and succubi to mermaids, vampires and tormented virginal ghosts, Sarah Clegg’s new book, Woman’s Lore, explores how - and why - horrifying female monsters have been a staple of myths and legends across…

1 Berlin Wall Memorial The long division One of the great mistakes of Die Wende (the turning point) - the reunification of Germany-was the removal of almost all of the Berlin Wall, erasing a powerful reminder of mankind's inhumanity. Today only one important kilometre-long stretch of it remains, on Bernauer Strasse, where the border ran between the districts of Wedding and Mitte. The houses along its north-eastern side were in East Berlin while those literally across the street were in West Berlin. When the Wall went up in 1961 - initially, not a solid barrier but a barbed-wire fence - East Berliners escaped by jumping out of Bernauer Strasse's windows. Some broke their legs; others were rescued by firemen, sliding down ropes to reach the democratic west. Many of the…

8 MAY 1946 Two schoolgirls blow up a Soviet war monument Estonian teenagers destroy a memorial in an explosion of patriotic fervour "We could have just doused the wooden thing with gasoline and set fire to it, but we wanted it to go with a bang!" confessed Aili Jürgenson, a 14-year-old schoolgirl who - along with her friend, 15-year-old Ageeda Paavel - blew up a Soviet war memorial in Tallinn, Estonia in the spring of 1946. Her country's relationship with its neighbour to the east had long been troubled. After centuries in which Russia tussled with Sweden and various German states for control of the Baltic region, Estonia gained its independence after the First World War- only for the Soviet Union to annexe it in 1940. It suffered Nazi occupation…

LETTER OF THE MONTH A man for all seasons Michael Wood’s celebration of the life and work of Ronald Blythe (Comment, March) reminded me what a wonderful treat it is to come upon Blythe’s writing for the first time. His book about the 1920s and 1930s, The Age of Illusion, imaginatively recreates an England that is very different to today but also, in some ways, recognisable from the foibles of celebrities to the desire to follow the latest trends. As Blythe documents, for many at that time, that meant joining the [influential leftwing book group] the Left Book Club. Blythe was also a remarkably good shortstory writer. His 1985 work A Wedding in the Family is a brilliant portrayal of the poignant and sometimes comic readjustments that are made when…

1 Do… Make a plan. And don't forget the sausage rolls Queen Elizabeth II's coronation was held in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. Extensive preparations had been under way for months. The pressure was on: it was the first coronation in British history to be televised, and it attracted an estimated worldwide audience of 277 million. The Duke of Norfolk, who as earl marshal was responsible for the proceedings, had drawn up no fewer than 94 diagrams, "each depicting different parts of the ceremony in which every minute was worked out, and every movement within each minute prescribed". No detail was overlooked: the Royal Mews staff even strapped a hot-water bottle under the seat of the Gold State Coach because it was an unseasonably cold, wet day. It was…

Medieval feasts THE MENU If you've got it… flaunt it In 1491, Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara in northern Italy, threw a feast for his son's wedding. Among the highlights of this culinary extravaganza was a series of elaborately designed sugar sculptures. Yet before the guests could tuck in to them, attendants picked up the sweet artworks and promptly threw them into the diners' laps. Not to worry: another round of similar treats was served immediately. To modern eyes, this may seem like a strange way to treat wedding guests. Yet the duke was making a statement: that he had the wealth to throw away eye-wateringly expensive delicacies and, in the blink of an eye, replace them with more of the same. The duke’s prank may strike us as…

In or just before 1591, in the city of Salisbury, a young, unmarried woman named Alice Shepheard was horrified to discover she was pregnant. If exposed she would be branded as a “bastard bearer”, a “harlot” and a “whore”, who could expect no more than ruination and exile from her community. Like so many women in her situation, she hid her pregnancy and gave birth in secret, with only her grandmother and a sympathetic midwife in attendance. Alice was delivered of a healthy baby boy, and to save herself she killed him and then buried his body in a shallow grave in a nearby churchyard. For a time the infant remained hidden, until a passing dog caught the scent of decay and “with his feete scraped it up out of…

Across 1 Joseph_, US senator notorious for his 1950s anti-communist "witch-hunts" (8) 5 The island awarded the George Cross commemorating the heroism of its people in the Second World War (5) 9 Third-century queen of Palmyra, conqueror of several Roman eastern provinces (7) 10 The name, in its local language, of a remote Pacific island renowned for its giant monolithic moai statues (4,3) 11/26 Henry Longfellow's baiiad immortalised this folk hero of the American Revolution (4,6) 12 Member of a nomadic Turkic people of central Asia that sought asylum in Hungary after the Mongols invaded in 1237 (5) 14 Swedish countess_Ekeblad, agronomist and scientist, first female member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1748 (3) 16 John, 1st Baron_, First Sea Lord who modernised the British Royal Navy in the decade prior to the First…

From the Romans to the Russians, monarchies that once seemed all-powerful have collapsed as a result of violence, political manoeuvring or the will of the people. Danny Bird charts the downfall of 10 kingdoms and empires of the past. historyextra.com/why-monarchies-fail Here's a selection of the exciting content that's available on our website historyextra.com Peter Frankopan on humanity's long relationship with nature In this video podcast, we speak to Peter Frankopan about his new environmental history of the world. Fie explores whether lessons from the past might help us navigate the future. historyextra.com/earth-transformed Medieval masculinity Although English and French kings rarely got along, Richard I enjoyed a close relationship with Philip II of France. Dr Gabrielle Storey uses this example to show how male friendship in the Middle Ages could be…