Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i History Extra

“Imagine the scene. You’re watching the World Snooker Championship on TV when the picture cuts away to live footage of heavily armed men in black balaclavas abseiling down the side of a central London building. This is how Ben Macintyre recalls the 1980 Iranian embassy siege, and more than 40 years on, Ben has revisited the episode for his new book. I caught up with him to get his insights into the siege’s consequences for the Middle East, the SAS, and government policies on terrorism. You can read the interview on page 33. For our cover feature this month we’re exploring the mummification processes of ancient Egypt. There can be few topics in history as suffused in myth as Egyptian mummies, but if we peel away the legend, what can…

“The making of our new world began in China just over 40 years ago” Michael Wood is professor of public history at the University of Manchester. He has presented numerous BBC series. His latest book is In the Footsteps of Du Fu (Simon & Schuster, 2023). You’ll find him on X at MichaelWoodMV I’M LOOKING OUT OVER THE EASTERN Mediterranean amid heat waves, migrant crises and the atrocious wars in Gaza and Ukraine. One hundred years ago the British empire was at its height. Fifty years ago we were living under the American hegemony. Now the world order that emerged after the Second World War – economic, political and cultural – is shifting, dissolving like a giant kaleidoscope, and a new picture is taking shape. It’s ‘the great global rebalancing’,…

What inspired George Orwell’s Room 101? In Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, the feared room in the basement of the Ministry of Love contained “the worst thing in the world”. That thing “varie[d] from individual to individual. It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning, or by impalement, or 50 other deaths.” For Winston Smith, it was being eaten alive by rats - a fear that finally compels Winston to betray his lover, Julia, breaking his one real connection to a person other than Big Brother. Along with ‘doublespeak’ and Big Brother, the concept of Room 101 has a firm foothold in popular culture. The BBC recently reprised its long-running eponymous programme, in which contestants consign their least favourite people, places and things to the dreaded…

Hammered on three fronts on land, and also from the air, by September 1944 Nazi Germany was facing certain defeat. While the Red Army advanced in the east, and the Anglo-Americans painfully crawled up Italy, in the west the Allies had broken out from their Normandy bridgehead, liberated France and Belgium, and were poised to cross the Rhine and move into Germany itself. Field Marshal Montgomery then proposed a bold plan to use airborne forces to seize bridges across the Rhine around the Dutch town of Arnhem. They would hold these bridges until ground forces advanced and, outflanking the Germans, invaded the Reich’s industrial heart of the Ruhr. Monty hoped that his Operation Market Garden might end the war by Christmas. Infamously, though, the ambitious plan went wrong. The lightly…

In 1953, stories about John Christie-who murdered several women, including his wife, Ethel - dominated the press. As Kate Summerscale explains in her absorbing new book, his murder trial became a spectator sport. The public who could get into court watched eagerly, and the press reported on events for those who couldn’t. Reporters even put words into Christie’s mouth to move their narrative forward The Peepshow tells the tale of Christie’s dark deeds from the perspectives of two writers involved with the case: tabloid reporter Harry Procter and the well-connected crime writer F Tennyson Jesse. Each had their own reasons for writing about the murders, and their own take on events. By viewing the story through the eyes of both a male and a female writer, Summerscale questions the impact…

Victorian Radicals Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery / Until Christmas / birminghammuseums.org.uk This celebration of Birmingham’s collection of artworks from the PreRaphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements showcases more than 160 pieces by the likes of William Morris and Elizabeth Siddall, among others. Discover how such British trailblazers revolutionised art and design between 1840 and 1910, incorporating elements from nature and industry in paintings, exquisite textiles and intricate metalwork held in the city’s world-renowned collection. Silk Roads The British Museum, London / 26 September-23 February 2025 / britishmuseum.org This major exhibition roams the Silk Road, a network of interconnected trade routes linking places as far-flung as Japan, Madagascar and Scandinavia. Spanning AD 500-1000, displays feature more than 300 artefacts, including the oldest known chess pieces, a sixth-century Italian glass drinking…

TECHNOLOGY Engineering innovator There was no challenge too ambitious for Isambard Kingdom Brunei. The impressive creations of this cigar-chomping polymath changed the face of Britain, but, as Tim Bryan explains, some of his ideas proved to be too far ahead of their time. WW2 War on trial In 1946, a mammoth international trial was launched in Tokyo, with top Japanese leaders accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace. As Gary Bass explains, it wasn’t just the fates of the defendants on the line, but Japan’s reputation on the global stage. NATIVE AMERICANS The forgotten founders The story of Native American societies decimated by European arrival is a familiar one. But, while undoubtedly important, that’s only one part of the story. Kathleen DuVal looks back at 1,000…

1. Lovers of Lady Chatterley In this month’s Anniversaries, I was intrigued to discover that following Penguin’s victory in the 1960 obscenity trial around Lady Chatterley’s Lover, they sold more than 3 million copies of the novel in just three months (page 9). 2. A kingly tragedy Because their reigns began 22 years apart, I hadn’t realised before quite how close in age Richard II and his cousin and successor Henry IV were. As Helen Castor reveals, there were just three months between them (page 26). 3. Prickly when sickly Hedgehogs are one of modern Britain’s most beloved animals, but it transpires they fared less well in medieval times when they were regularly eaten, as well as having their guts ground up for medicinal purposes (page 86).…

“Many are turning against prejudice. But we cannot be complacent” Kavita Puri is a journalist and broadcaster for BBC Radio 4. Her latest BBC Sounds podcast, Three Million, charts the 1943 Bengal Famine. She is also author of Partition Voices: Untold British Stories (Bloomsbury, 2019) FAR-RIGHT VIOLENCE ERUPTED ACROSS BRITAIN following the horrific mass stabbing of children in Southport on 29 July. Attacks in towns and cities were driven by anti-immigrant sentiment, racism and Islamophobia, and fuelled by misinformation on social media about the Southport murderer. As I watched news reports, I heard words being said out loud that many of us had not heard for years. I saw shops vandalised, mosques attacked. And I thought of the people I have interviewed, and the memories that these scenes would have…

1367 Richard is born in Bordeaux in the duchy of Aquitaine. 1377 Richard inherits the throne from their grandfather Edward III, and is crowned king in Westminster Abbey. 1381 The rebels of the Peasants’ Revolt declare their loyalty to Richard as king. 1386-87 Richard ignores the threat of a French invasion and declares that the lords in parliament who have taken control of his government should be punished as traitors. 1388 At the ’Merciless Parliament’, Richard’s favourites are condemned as traitors… 1389-96 Richard takes back control of government, and agrees a 28-year truce with France when he marries the French king’s six-year-old daughter. 1397-98 Richard condemns Woodstock, Arundel and Warwick as traitors and begins to rule through fear and coercion. 1399 When Henry’s father, John of Gaunt dies, Richard takes…

Domesday data Long before the internet and artificial intelligence, there was Domesday Book. That 11thcentury survey set out to capture the ways in which much of the land of England and Wales was owned and used - and, historian Stephen Baxter argues in an interview from 2021, it was much more successful than we often give it credit for. historyextra.com/domesday-pod Innovation iterations The idea of a social network, with its attendant flow of information (and misinformation), might seem like a very 21st-century phenomenon. Yet, as Niall Ferguson suggests in a 2017 conversation, it’s an idea that can help us make sense of the technological leaps of past centuries. Do Silicon Valley entrepreneurs owe a debt to Reformation printers and preachers? historyextra.com/networks-pod Machine minds From Frankenstein to The Terminator, there are…

Who’s the king and who’s the mother in your new book? As the novel opens, Edward IV is about to be crowned - and Cecily Neville is the mother of the new king. Over the course of my story, three other women compete to supplant her and bring their own boys to the throne. Together, these are the four great female power brokers of the Wars of the Roses: Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Cecily. Their actions shaped the wars - and England’s future. Why is the theme of historical mothers and sons so central to the book? This novel begs a question as compelling today as it was in the 15th century: what will a mother do for her sons? These women share bonds of family,…

In this new popular history of Britain, Terry Deary brings to an adult audience the brilliance of his Horrible Histories series, which made history exciting for millions of schoolchildren. A History of Britain in Ten Enemies paints a masterful, wry and panoramic picture of some 2,000 years, viewed through the lens of Britain’s main ’enemies’, arguing that the nation was forged through opposition to common foes. A tremendous rollercoaster ride, the narrative spans eras stretching from the Roman occupation to the Second World War. Much of this is familiar terrain, but Deary has a remarkable ability to render historical complexities accessible and endlessly fascinating, as well as a probing humour and an inclination to burst pomposity. These pages are stuffed with stories and characters from the quirkier side of history. Among…

Sex and spying: it’s hardly surprising that the Profumo affair, involving the war secretary’s liaison with a young model, continues to fascinate us. Archive on 4: The Mandy Rice-Davies Tapes (BBC Radio 4, Saturday 19 October) offers fresh access to audio diaries and other material from one of the young models involved in the scandal (right). Other Archive on 4 episodes to listen out for this month include Lobster Telephone (Saturday 28 September), in which critic Matthew Sweet looks back on a century of surrealism, including the work of Salvador Dali (pictured below). And in Bombers (Saturday 5 October), former MP Chris Mullin recalls his days as a journalist leading the campaign for the release of the Birmingham Six, who were unjustly convicted of two notorious pub bombings in that…

Across 6 See 26 down 8 Name of the family who formed the first professional theatre company in the early 1750s in North America (6) 10 Name of an old German large silver coin, from which the word ‘dollar’ is derived (5) 11 Paul —, president of France in the early 20th century, forced by mental health problems to resign after only 8 months (9) 13 First man in space in 1961 (7) 15 Leader assassinated in 1961, shortly after becoming first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (7) 17/18 across Palaeolithic paintings, such as those made c17,000-15,000 BC at Lascaux, France (4,3) 19 —Street, Roman road running from York to the Firth of Forth (4) 21 Hardline champion of a Protestant and Unionist Northern Ireland who…

Ben Macintyre “The siege is one of the most heavily mythologised events in modern history. Many see it as an example of great SAS derring-do, which it was, but it’s actually much more complicated and more interesting than that.” Ben tells the story of the 1980 Iranian embassy siege on page 33 Helen Castor “Richard II was born to be king, but had none of the qualities of a leader; his cousin Henry was a born leader, but had no right to rule. Their story is a psychological study of tyranny and usurpation.” Helen compares the reigns of royal medieval cousins Richard II and Henry IV on page 26 Hakim Adi “Racism in Britain has a long history, closely connected with colonial conquest and enslavement – but so, too, does…

David Musgrove’s observations on Romans using sponges on sticks as lavatory wipes (October) provoke an even more intriguing piece of speculation. The authors of all four of the New Testament gospels include short passages about Christ on the cross having his thirst quenched by an onlooker applying a vinegar-soaked sponge on a rush or stick to his face. The Greek word for vinegar - oxos - has led on to the suggestion that this could be the Latin posca, the cheap wine that was a common drink for the lower classes and soldiery. In Matthew, Mark and John the implication is that the action of the onlooker is one of compassion. But not so in Luke (23.36), where it comes across as yet another piece of mockery. It surely seems…

Danny Bird: Your new book, The Golden Road, addresses the influence of ancient India on the myriad cultures and civilisations of Eurasia. What was it that attracted you to this topic? William Dalrymple: When I first arrived in India, aged 18, I visited the early Buddhist sites at Sanchi and Ajanta [which were at their peak in the first and fifth centuries AD, respectively], and was astonished by them. They were so sophisticated, yet created at a time when in Britain - including Scotland, where I’m from - there were Picts scratching symbols, and an Anglo-Saxon putting up a wobbly church tower. During the same period in India, beautiful murals were being painted in cave temples, and profound philosophies developed. As a teenager, I spent a lot of time on…

“There is a new war. We should open fire on nature,” proclaimed Mao Zedong in 1958, expounding a policy he saw as integral to the Great Leap Forward - his campaign to transform China’s economy and society in an effort to catch up with the capitalist west. Mao’s pronouncement, however extreme, typifies a much broader sentiment that, Sunil Amrith suggests in his new book, encompasses the whole world, spans centuries and transcends concepts such as capitalism and socialism. Global environmental history books are appearing thick and fast at the moment. Peter Frankopan’s 2023 blockbuster The Earth Transformed explored the exhaustion of nature’s wealth and how we got into our planetary predicament. Now, its title inspired by links between tropical deforestation and global warming, The Burning Earth ranges across West Indian…

Relaxing at his club in 1918, chief justice Lord Albemarle asked fellow members: “Who is this Greek chap Clitoris they’re all talking about?” The word had been mentioned in court, while he was hearing a defamation case about a scantily clad dancer alleged to be in a lesbian relationship with the prime minister’s wife. This is one of several enlightening stories recounted by Helen King in her new book about the body parts that supposedly distinguish a woman from a man. Or do they? Albemarle wasn’t alone. Through history, many men have ‘discovered’ the clitoris (cue snickering from women) - from Renaissance anatomist Realdo Colombo to a Victorian surgeon who compared it to an electric button, much like that used to summon a servant. At a deeper level, the organ…

Despite their prickly spines and rather cute appearance, hedgehogs were eaten in past centuries. In fact, evidence discovered by researchers in Wales suggests that hedgehog wrapped in grass or leaves and roasted was enjoyed by people living in Britain during the Neolithic period. The ancient Egyptians ate hedgehog, too, covering the body in clay and baking it in a fire; the spines fell off in the process. Hedgehogs were still being eaten in medieval Europe. One 14th-century recipe calls for the animal to be gutted, trussed and dried with a towel before being roasted. The meat was then eaten with cameline sauce (a sweet liquid made with wine, vinegar and spices, and thickened with bread) or in a pastry served with a sauce more typically poured over wild duck. Like…

IN PROFILE Thomas Paine was an Englishborn political philosopher and author. He emigrated to Britain’s American colonies in 1774, and in 1776 published Common Sense, advocating American independence. His other best-known work was Rights of Man (published 1791-92), in which he presented a powerful defence of the French Revolution. His last great essay was The Age of Reason, a controversial critique of Christian theology and organised religion. He died in New York City at the age of 72. “His desire to rid the American colonies of slavery incurred the wrath of enslavers, and he even took aim at organised religion” When did you first hear about Paine? In my thirties, I chanced on a book of quotations featuring some of his sayings - such as “The world is my country,…