Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i History Extra

“If I were to ask you when the British empire reached its greatest extent, what would you say? Before I worked on this issue, I'd have probably plumped for the late Victorian or Edwardian eras, which so often seem suffused with imperial pomp and pageantry. But, as Matthew Parker explains in his article this month, it was exactly 100 years ago, on 29 September 1923, when the Palestine mandate became law. In his thought-provoking piece (page 46), he surveys the empire at that precise moment, revealing how even then the cracks were beginning to show in Britain's imperial edifice. Just one day before this imperial milestone, something seismic occurred in the British media landscape: the first issue of Radio Times was published. Since its launch by the BBC, the title…

THE CONVERSATION “The India Club briefly transported new arrivals back to their homeland“ BY THE TIME THIS ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED, London's India Club will have closed. It's been a well-kept secret for years. On the Strand, squeezed between a cafe and a newsagent, is a small door bearing the sign of the Hotel Strand Continental. If you walked up two flights of narrow stairs, you entered another world. The decor was frozen in time in the 1950s. On the sunflower-yellow walls hung black-and-white photographs of prominent pro-independence Indian politicians. The Indian food tasted like it was home-cooked. You ate on Formica tables placed so close together that you could overhear conversations – perhaps between employees at India House, maybe a university student meeting their parents, a visiting tourist from India…

The Winchester mystery It's the morning of 14 December 1642, and the city of Winchester is quiet. Inside the cathedral, the clergy are painfully aware of a looming threat outside. Two days earlier, parliamentarian soldiers had entered the city, snatching horses and looting the town. In the midst of a civil war dividing the country into those who support the king and those who are for parliament, religious institutions are especially at risk, because power and religion lie at the heart of the conflict. So when, on that December morning, soldiers smash through the cathedral's great west door, the clergy are appalled but not surprised. They watch in terror as the troops storm the nave with colours flying, drums beating and torches lit, some even riding on horseback. Over the…

When Radio Times first hit newsstands, on Friday 28 September 1923, few predicted that a printed schedule of programmes would become what one of its editors proclaimed “the most prosperous and successful timetable in the world”. It was initially described somewhat ponderously as “The Official Organ of the BBC”. Broadcasting, and broadcasting alone, was to be its subject matter. Yet broadcasting would soon bring the entire world into our sitting rooms, and broadcasting's ‘shop-window' would become a vivid running commentary on British life. The magazine was launched in response to a temporary newspaper boycott of broadcast listings. In January 1923, the proprietors of Fleet Street – perceiving radio to be a threat to their business – had refused to publish details of the BBC's upcoming programmes unless it paid a…

Tuberculosis was often referred to as the ‘Great White Plague' – but 100 years ago, in New York, the nurses who cared for its victims were predominantly black. Recruited from all over the country but often lured from southern states with the promise of a better life in the north, professionally trained women left their families to work in a purpose-built hospital on Staten Island, only to find themselves ostracised both for the colour of their skin and for the germs it supposedly carried. One senior hospital administrator dismissed concerns about “the colored problem” by declaring that soon “they'll all be dead of tuberculosis”. After stumbling upon their existence accidentally, journalist Maria Smilios felt compelled to write The Black Angels. Before effective antibiotics were widely available after the Second World…

The play Henry VIII, written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, opens with a warning. Those who have made their way to the Globe Theatre expecting to “hear a merry bawdy play” can expect disappointment, for they, the prologue puns, “Will be deceived”. This play is serious, even tragic, portraying how “mightiness meets misery” where there is no room for merriness – and thus no room for the king's fool himself, Will Somer. Peter K Andersson's Fool attempts a recovery of the shadowy, elusive figure of William Somer. There he is, staring out at us in a series of portraits of Henry VIII and his family, and yet little is known about him. Andersson's book is written as a detective story, peeling back the layers of legend and theory, to…

You argue that the Yom Kippur War changed the world profoundly. Why? If it was simply an Arab–Israeli war [pitting Israel against Egypt and Syria, 6–26 October 1973], we'd pay attention to it – but it wouldn't have the same kind of global importance. However, during the course of the war, OAPEC [the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries] imposed an oil embargo. Arab oilproducing countries decided essentially to put their thumb on the scale to tip the outcome. The embargo [on countries that supported Israel] and the inflation it caused pretty much undid what was left of the postwar economic order in the UK, the US and the ‘first world'. Broadly, you can trace the rise of neoliberalism to this conflict. What effects did it have in the region?…

An era ablaze The 17th century was a turbulent one, overshadowed by a civil war, a coup and a regicide, not to mention the looming threats of terrorism, plague and witch panics. Earlier this year the historian Jonathan Healey joined us on the podcast to discuss one of the most dramatic eras in British history. Called The Blazing World, Healey's book on the 17th century shares a title (not coincidentally) with the visionary work of Cavendish herself. historyextra.com/1600s-chaos Royal reputation revisited As an aristocratic woman who stuck her head over the parapet, Margaret Cavendish had her detractors. Another prominent female figure of the time who found herself in the firing line was Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. Leanda de Lisle appeared on the HistoryExtra podcast to revisit the…

22 Diana 24 Solferino 26 Interdict 27 China 28 Aachen 29 Mandated Across 1 Richard I 5 Athens 10 Ghent 11/21 Catherine Howard 12 Serengeti 13 Dutch 14 Census 16 Saracen 18 Juliana 20 Mycale Down 1 Ragusa 2 Clearwell 3 Alton 4 Dickens 6 Theodoric 7 Edict 8 Stephen 9 Atkins 15 Skara Brae 17 Calvinist 18 Jadwiga 19 Austin 20 Militia 23 Aztec 25 El Cid Four winners of Forgotten Warriors: RG Sheldon, East Sussex; E Maple, Wareham; RW Knox, Tyne and Wear; CJ Deacy, Greater Manchester CROSSWORD COMPETITION TERMS & CONDITIONS ● The crossword competition is open to all residents of the UK (& Channel Islands), aged 18 or over, except Immediate Media Company London Limited employees or contractors, and anyone connected with the competition or their…

The First Crusade Emily Briffett considers how the 11th-century expedition to Jerusalem managed to succeed against the odds Unruly rulers David Mitchell joins us to discuss his first foray into history writing: a chronicle of monarchy, from King Arthur to Elizabeth I Hitler's bungled power play Frank McDonough explains why the 1923 Munich Putsch ended in abject failure House of Mouse John Wills explores how the Walt Disney Company reflected a changing America over the course of the 20th century…

1. It was hammer time In our Anniversaries piece on the Roman Hoxne Hoard, I was interested to read that a missing originally looking for also ended up on display in the British Museum (page 7). 2. An early start I'd always thought the first Viking raid on Britain happened at Lindisfarne in AD 793, but I discovered from Cat Jarman's feature (page 40) that another attack took place in Dorset a few years earlier. 3. The fab five I'd not realised that sandwiched between Beatle and Take That-mania, a similar episode of teen hysteria accompanied the arrival of the Osmonds for a UK tour i n 1973 (page 80).…

Is it true that the English won at Agincourt because their longbows were better than French crossbows? The longbow is often given credit for Henry V's success at Agincourt (1415), as for earlier English victories over larger French armies at Crécy (1346) and Poitiers (1356). It is sometimes thought that it was superior to the crossbow more frequently used by England's opponents, but in reality both were powerful ranged weapons. Crossbows fired bolts that were heavier than longbow arrows but took longer to reload. A crossbowman could shoot perhaps two or three times each minute, compared with around 12 for a well-trained longbowman. At Agincourt itself, longbows certainly appeared to have had the greater impact. According to the Gesta Henrici Quinti, the French crossbowmen only shot one over-hasty volley by…

FIRST ‘TELEVISION NUMBER' 25–31 OCTOBER 1936 The striking, surrealism-influenced cover shows the transmitter mast at Alexandra Palace, anticipating the launch on 2 November of what the BBC described as the world's first regular ‘high-definition' television service. CHRISTMAS EDITION 19–25 DECEMBER 1943 The tide had turned in the war, and Britons awaited news of the opening of a second front in western Europe. But paper rationing persisted, and even now the Radio Times could not avoid its cover retaining a rather sombre feel. TELEVISION EDITION 2–8 JANUARY 1955 This momentous year for the BBC saw the launch of commercial television in September. Radio Times was starting to use more full-page images on its cover, and its choice of the hugely popular celebrity Eamonn Andrews is telling. DALEKS DOMINATE 5–11 NOVEMBER 1966…

How did your family history inspire you when writing Adama? My mother was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany after the war – both her parents lived through Auschwitz and met in the DP camp. They emigrated to then-Palestine on a ship when she was two years old. I never knew anything about that part of her life, and it was a shock when I started researching it. The people in the DP camps were so desperate for life, there were constant weddings and, of course, babies. My grandparents named my mother Chaya, which means ‘alive'. How did you research what life was like in the displaced persons camps in post-Second World War Europe? A lot of my research involves historical newspaper archives. Conditions in the camps were…

Dorris Alexander ‘Dee' Brown was a novelist and writer of historical non-fiction whose worldwide reputation was cemented in 1970 with the bestselling Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Detailing the US government's destruction of Native American peoples in the western states towards the end of the 19th century, it has never gone out of print and was translated into 17 languages. In 1977, he published what is, in my opinion, his finest work, Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: the story of the construction of a myriad of railway lines that would ultimately criss-cross the United States and provide transport right across the continent. Brown takes us from when the first railroad reached the mighty Mississippi in 1854, and through the construction of five major transcontinental railroads linking the east coast…

Like a character from one of the many myths and songs woven into her narrative, Alice Albinia (her surname resonant of the ancient name for Britain, ‘Albion') spends seven years on her quest. Looking at British history from the perspective of the islands that surround ‘the mainland', she is searching for forgotten or suppressed stories, especially about women. Her book's title is taken from Pliny the Elder who related how all the islands surrounding Britain were once known collectively as the Britanniae, or ‘the Britains' – a name, she suggests, that would be a fairer reflection of their significance in our history. Part history, part personal quest, part travelogue, part reverie, Albinia has structured her book by taking a chronological approach: it starts in Orkney in the Neolithic period and…

Mary Beard “People sometimes think that the Roman empire was acquired and governed by Roman emperors. But it was absolutely the reverse: Roman emperors inherited an empire.” Mary considers the statesmen who ruled Rome's empire on page 66 Dan Jones “Researching the siege of Calais was jaw-dropping: a journey into a world of knights, archers, pirates and the medieval ‘deep state'.” Dan delves into a bloodthirsty episode in the Hundred Years' War on page 54 Hannah Cusworth “The knowledge that there have been black people living in Britain for thousands of years is starting to filter down: people are becoming more familiar with the idea of African Tudors and of black Georgians.” Hannah discusses the importance of Black History Month on page 11 David Hendy “I'd go as far as…

“In sun-beaten Greece, I learned that the past is receding faster than ever“ ITS OBVIOUS, I KNOW, BUT CHANGE IN HISTORY moves at a different pace at different times and in different places. Whenever I visit the Greek islands – with novelist Lawrence Durrell, French historian Fernand Braudel and Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis in mind – I find myself thinking of this. Behind the facade of the modern world, and the mass tourism that has boomed since the late 1960s, an older world remains just below the surface. You can glimpse it when the summer timetable for the boats ends, the package tours stop jetting in to Santorini and Mykonos, and the beach bars close. I'm sitting in the little kafenion by the Church of the Anargyri in Tholaria on…

“Our cause,” concluded US general Mark Clark at a pre-invasion conference, “is a righteous one.” Yet that ‘righteous cause' came at a terrible cost for Italy. Already, much of Sicily lay in ruins, as did many towns and cities in mainland Italy. And the situation was only going to get worse. “Today every step reveals to me a show of misery and devastation,” wrote Filippo Caracciolo in his diary a couple of weeks later, on 16 September, following his return to Naples. “Collapsed houses, cluttered streets of rubble, piles of garbage.” A few weeks more down the line, the British 56th Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery, was just south of the Volturno river. “We are at present shelling villages by the river,” noted RSM Jack Ward. All of the towns and…

1350 FRENCH PLOT FOILED A French force, led by the experienced knight Geoffrey de Charny and abetted by an Italian spy within the garrison, planned to recapture Calais from the English on New Year's Day. The plot was betrayed. Edward III and the Black Prince rushed to Calais, fought in disguise alongside the English defenders, and captured or killed all of the attackers. 1459 YORKIST REFUGE During the Wars of the Roses, Calais served as a Yorkist centre of power, overseen by the family's sometime ally Richard Neville, known as Warwick the Kingmaker, who was captain of the town. When Edward, Earl of March fled England in 1459 he took refuge in Calais, and began plotting his return, which saw him seize the crown as King Edward IV (left). 1520…

Matt Elton: Your new book covers a swathe of the history of ancient Rome, from Julius Caesar to Septimius Severus and beyond, but starts by introducing a less familiar figure. Who is he, and why did you lead with him? Mary Beard: The book kicks off with the story of a teenager from Syria who came to the Roman throne in AD 218 and who was assassinated in 222. Known as Elagabalus [officially Marcus Aurelius Antoninus], he certainly wasn't one of Rome's greatest hits, but he is an emperor around whom the most extravagant stories have collected. If you think Nero or Caligula were over the top, you ain't seen nothing until you've looked at Elagabalus! We're told that when he invited people to dinner, he showered them with rose…

In the 19th century, society was changing at breakneck speed: industrialisation, new technologies, the railway, scientific revolution, new religions and the birth of psychiatry. In Troubled by Faith, social historian Owen Davies explores ideas about the supernatural against this backdrop of innovation and upheaval. He does this through the lens of medical history, drawing on medical literature and – most compellingly – the experiences of patients recorded in asylum records. The book is arranged in two halves. The first concerns what the new science of psychiatry had to say about the supernatural. Which beliefs were healthy, and which were considered to be irrational? Davies reveals how psychiatrists grappled with this question. The first chapter explores psychiatry's long-standing fixation with the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries, showing how…

David Kynaston's history of Britain between 1945 and 1979, Tales of a New Jerusalem, reaches the 1960s in this, the latest volume of the series. The approach remains the same: an epic of the everyday, heaping up news stories, diary extracts, official reports, adverts, TV reviews and more to provide a kaleidoscopic, ever-moving snapshot of the nation. And like previous volumes, it's hypnotically readable. He's mining a particularly rich seam this time, a slither of an era filled with moments that still resonate, from the Great Train Robbery and the Profumo scandal to James Bond movies, the satire boom, pirate radio and mods and rockers. Born in these years were television shows that became institutions – Doctor Who, Match of the Day, Top of the Pops – and shops that…

PODCAST Margaret Cavendish TRAVEL Athens in five places WATCH Flawed genius When he died in 1973, Pablo Picasso was honoured as an art superstar. Subsequently, though his extraordinary work is as highly regarded as ever, questions have been raised about his personal conduct – in particular, around his treatment of his wives and lovers. Over three episodes, a new BBC Two series aims to offer a rounded picture of the maestro. It features testimony from friends and family – including his daughter, the fashion designer and businesswoman Paloma, and grandchildren Diana, Bernard and Olivier – and from artists working today, such as Jeff Koons, Julian Schnabel and Jenny Saville. Underpinning the series is a single and deceptively simple question: at what price great art? Picasso: The Beauty and the Beast…

HE PODCASTS Every issue we highlight a recent edition of our podcast. You can find it along with more than 1,600 previous episodes at our website: historyextra.com/podcast What do you make of this as a plotline? A woman travels through a portal at the north pole to another world, full of antmen, icemen and even licemen, where she becomes revered as empress. Throw in some philosophical endeavours, scientific enquiries, submarines towed by fishmen and thinly veiled lesbian encounters and it's quite the rich mix. This striking vision doesn't come from a modern sci-fi comic, but dates all the way back to a 1666 work of fiction called The Blazing World, from the extraordinary mind of Margaret Cavendish. Cavendish is the subject of a new biography, Pure Wit, and its author,…

Across 1 Anthony ____, who painted the famous triple portrait of Charles I (1635/36) (3,4) 5 The island on which Columbus and his crew were stranded for a year, 1503/04 (7) 9 In Roman terms, the time of the month when Julius Caesar was assassinated (4) 10/27 Originally the boundary between the US's southern slave states and northern ‘free' states, named after its surveyors (5-5,4) 12 Pietro ____, Italian artist who did a number of popular portraits of Elizabeth II (8) 13 Term, named after a biblical character, applied to the selling of (eg) holy orders by the church (6) 14 Region of India that, in part, became part of Pakistan after partition and then, in 1971, Bangladesh (6) 16 Ancient Chinese text, ‘Book of Changes' used for divination (1,5) 19 James ____, an American folk hero, frontiersman…

IN PROFILE Tom Neil served as an RAF flying ace during the Second World War, having joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1938 at the age of 18. He flew in a Hurricane during the 1940 Battle of Britain, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross later that year. He died in 2018 at the age of 97. “He managed to shoot down 14 planes during the war. Do you have any idea how hard it is to shoot down even one?“ When did you first hear about Tom Neil? Several years ago, I was trying to pitch a show about the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. One of my friends is a Spitfire pilot, and he really wanted to get Tom on board, so we…