Innholdsfortegnelse for Christmas 2024 i History Extra

THE CONVERSATION “This spot tells a story of Germany's recent past and of global power” IF YOU HIKE THROUGH BERLIN'S GRUNEWALD forest, once the hunting ground of German emperors, in its north-eastern corner you can climb a hill that offers arguably the best views of the city. This spot also tells a story of Germany's recent past and of global power – one that begins with the hill, which is not a natural feature. In 1937, construction began here on a new Nazi technical college to focus on military science, designed by Albert Speer. However, work was halted in 1940 on Hermann Göring's orders, along with other projects not deemed militarily necessary. After the war, the Allies tried to demolish the incomplete structure with explosives, without success. Then, in 1950,…

Cleopatra's father It's one of the most famous episodes in all of ancient history. Cleopatra VII, Egypt's formidable queen, ends her life and creates a legend. Following the suicide of her lover, Mark Antony – and with Octavian's armies closing in – she concludes she has nothing more to give and succumbs to the poison. For all the drama surrounding her final moments, Cleopatra's demise was, in reality, an ignominious one. When she killed herself in 30 BC, Egypt was in dire economic straits, its wealth pillaged, its people shocked and confused. The future of this once extraordinarily powerful kingdom lay in subjugation. So how had it come to this? How did Egypt, with all its material riches and even richer cultural heritage, arrive at a point where it was…

Cover story / Churchill at 150 In a much-publicised poll in 2002, the BBC asked viewers to rank figures from British history, as part of the television series 100 Greatest Britons. The poll was in no way scientific, but simply reflected votes – more than 1.6 million of them – from people who chose to contact the BBC, following presentations championing famous individuals ranging back in time from the 20th century to William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I. As is well known, Winston Churchill came out a clear first, garnering close to 457,000 votes. Two decades later, as we mark 150 years since he was born, it's interesting to revisit that moment, and to reflect on how perceptions of Churchill have changed over time – and also on what is…

Challenging the established order requires courage – and sometimes it's those with the fewest years behind them who do this most effectively. That's one of the key lessons of History's Youngest Heroes (BBC Radio 4, Monday 9 December), a companion show to History's Secret Heroes. Narrator Nicola Coughlan (of Bridgerton fame) introduces episodes looking at the activism of the young Nelson Mandela, the fortitude shown by Lady Jane Grey as she faced execution, and the courage of lighthouse keeper's daughter Grace Darling during the rescue of survivors from the Forfarshire after that ship foundered off the Northumberland coast in 1838. Archive on 4: Prisoners, Saints and Persuaders – The World of ITC (BBC Radio 4, Saturday 7 December) celebrates the 70th anniversary of impresario Lew Grade's Incorporated Television Company, famed…

1. A helping hand for the Beatles I was fascinated to read in this month's Anniversaries that the enormous success of the Fab Four in the US was sparked by a teenager from Maryland writing a letter to a local DJ to request he play their music (page 7). 2. Victorian poop scoopers If I'm ever having a bad day at work in future, I'll take solace in the fact that I'm not a 19th-century ‘pure finder’ – a job that consisted of collecting dog poo from the streets to aid in the production of leather (page 45). 3. Playing with fire I've had some pretty wild Scrabble sessions over the years but nothing to compare to the Victorian parlour game Snapdragon, where competitors had to pluck (and then eat)…

I am writing in response to Mary Nunn's question in your December issue (Letters) about why British sailors are buried on the small island of Hanö, offthe southern coast of Sweden. I grew up close by, and am familiar with the circumstances. During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain and Sweden were among the staunchest opponents of France. Gothenburg, on Sweden's west coast, along with the naval base in the southern city of Karlskrona, was regularly frequented by British trading vessels and the British Royal Navy for operations in the Baltic Sea. France tried to isolate Britain with the blockade known as the Continental System, but Sweden ignored it; British ships used American flags, and Swedish ships sailed in British convoys. The French naturally became somewhat miffed about the situation, and sent…

BBC Television was in buoyant mood in 1964. A purpose-built Television Centre had opened in London; BBC Two launched that April; audiences were booming. In comparison, the corporation's ‘senior service’, Radio, was showing its age – undervalued and under-resourced, losing its audiences and uncertain about its future. Yet even this supposedly dying medium could still pull the occasional rabbit out of a hat. And when it came to covering that November's US presidential election, it would be BBC Radio, not Television, that came up with the year's most original idea: a blockbuster series about the black American civil rights struggle that would expose British listeners to sounds, voices and opinions they were unlikely to have ever heard or seen before. BBC Radio had an uneven history when it came to…

323 BC Alexander the Great (right) dies suddenly in Babylon, sparking a 40-year war for the spoils of his vast empire, including Egypt 305/304 BC The Macedonian Greek general Ptolemy Lagus is crowned king of Egypt, the first monarch of the Ptolemaic Dynasty 88 BC During a civil war with his brother, Ptolemy X takes out a large loan from Rome and promises Egypt to the Roman Republic if he dies without an heir 80 BC Ptolemy XI marries Berenice III, who also happens to be his cousin, his stepmother and his possible half-sister. He murders his new wife just 19 days later – a crime for which he is lynched by his enraged subjects 80 BC Ptolemy XII ascends the throne of Egypt. In an attempt to shore up…

Secrets of happiness 1 Don't bank on money alone The subject of whether wealth can bring true happiness has been passionately debated across the centuries Money can't buy you happiness, it's often said. But did our ancestors agree? That depends on who you ask, and on how we define and measure happiness – something that has varied across time, cultures and languages. Is it just a state of mind, describing the way we feel? Or does happiness require us to be healthy, wealthy and wise? Interestingly, research has shown that wealth is actually a pretty good predictor of happiness, but throughout history people have cautioned against relying on material accumulation to achieve a blissful life. Historical studies of happiness have often been guided by the ancient Greek term eudaimonia, meaning…

RECIPE Victorian Christmas pudding ELEANOR BARNETT introduces a classic seasonal recipe with medieval origins that's now a steamy, boozy family favourite Around, dense cannonball of fruity, rich, alcoholic goodness with a sprig of holly on top, doused with brandy and ceremoniously set alight: it's the iconic image of Christmas pudding. And, like much else about modern celebrations of the season, it's a Victorian invention. Its origins go back much further, however, to the medieval dish plum pottage, also known as frumenty – a thick soup or stew made with dried fruits (the word ‘plum’ then referred to all dried fruit) and meat, spiced with cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, and thickened with breadcrumbs. By the 17th century it was sometimes called plum pudding, the chopped meat had been replaced by suet,…

Across 9 British currency historically based on the weight of 240 basic monetary units (5) 10 Greek region of the Peloponnese, 12 cities of which formed a league in ancient times (6) 11 Last name of a BBC History Magazine contributor, author of The Private Lives of the Tudors (6) 13 Location of a 1935 Nazi Party convention where anti-Jewish race and citizenship laws were passed (9) 14 Large region of North America purchased from France by the US in 1803 (9) 15 One-time capital of the Inca empire (5) 17 Influential 18th-century French economist who contributed to Diderot's encyclopedia (7) 18 Belgian town, once a prosperous textile centre, site of major battles of the First World War (5) 20 Island site of the first attempted English settlement in America, the inhabitants of which mysteriously disappeared some time…

Listen ad-free at historyextra.com/podcast or with ads wherever you get your podcasts WW2 All in this together? The phrase ‘Blitz spirit’ is often bandied about today. But did the public really pull together in the face of German raids? In a new ‘Everything you wanted to know’ episode, Dan Todman tackles the big questions on the bombardment of Britain. ANCIENT ROME Thumbs up A flooded Colosseum, epic hand-to-hand combat and rampaging rhinos – Ridley Scott's new epic, Gladiator II, is bringing the world of the Roman games to life in vivid, blood-splattered glory. But how close is the film to reality? Historian and author Guy de la Bédoyère reveals all. THE TUDORS Power behind the throne As Wolf Hall fans will know, the rise and fall of Henry VIII's top…

Diarmaid MacCulloch “During my lifetime, the relationship between sex and religion has become even more tangled. The story of Christian celibacy shows how we forget past religious priorities: for centuries, heterosexual marriage was seen as a second-best to virginity.” Diarmaid traces Christianity's relationship with sexual abstinence on page 20 Diana Nikolova “The internal dynamics of Ptolemy XII's reign, coupled with Rome's involvement, is a fascinating (if occasionally horrifying) tale of the last independent dynasty of ancient Egypt.” Diana tells the story of Cleopatra VII's hapless father on page 38 David Hendy ”For decades the BBC baulked at exploring black culture. But in 1964 it perhaps redeemed itself with an extraordinary series of programmes that turned out to be ambitious, surprising – and sometimes shocking.” David reveals how a BBC series…

“She had a wonderful gift for teasing out the voices of the past” THERE IS A FANTASTIC NEW EXHIBITION, Medieval Women in Their Own Voices, at the British Library (until March 2025). It's a real treat – a staggeringly vibrant portrait of women's lives in England and western Europe from roughly 1100 to 1500: private lives, public lives, working lives, spiritual lives. The exhibition's riches are so spectacular, its images so alluring, that it is hard to know why such evidence has been so little known for so long, with the exception of certain famous women such as the writer Christine de Pisan. It has an incredible cast of characters – writers, painters, alewives and slaves, mystics, visionaries and heretics – some so extraordinary they might have come out of…

What was the Brown-Stigler Incident? Raiding Bremen in December 1943, an American B-17 bomber piloted by 2nd Lieutenant Charles Brown was hit by flak and attacked by German fighters that inflicted massive damage, killing one crew member and wounding others. As a Messerschmitt Bf 109 closed in for the kill, pilot Franz Stigler could see that several men aboard the stricken plane were injured. To shoot it down, he later said, would have been no better than shooting at a man on a parachute. Stigler took the decision to protect the US bomber from German anti-aircraft guns by flying close to it, then saluted and left. Brown and his crew made it back to England, and Stigler never reported the matter: failure to destroy an enemy bomber might have earned…

On 11 June 1488, a Scottish king gathered his army and marched to a field south of Stirling known as Sauchieburn. This man was James III – great-great-great-great grandson of Robert the Bruce, famed for his pivotal victory over the English at nearby Bannockburn. James, though, faced not a foreign invasion but a rebellion by his own subjects. To counter this threat, and eager to be seen as a ‘new Bruce’, he wielded the sword of his famous ancestor. Rather than winning a heroic victory, though, by the end of the day James lay dead – killed by one of his own subjects as he fled the battlefield. But by whom? The answer is a mystery that's endured for more than five centuries. James III was a divisive figure. He…

HOW TO ENTER ● Open to residents of the UK (inc Channel Islands). Post entries to BBC History Magazine, Christmas 2024 Crossword, PO Box 501, Leicester LE94 0AA or email them to Christmas2024@historycomps.co.uk by 5pm on 20 December 2024. ● Entrants must supply full name, address and phone number. The winners will be the first correct entries drawn at random after the closing time. Winners’ names will appear in the February 2025 issue. By entering, participants agree to be bound by the terms and conditions shown in full in the box below. Immediate Media Company Ltd (publishers of BBC History Magazine) will use personal details in accordance with the Immediate Privacy Policy at immediatemedia.co.uk/privacy-policy/privacy/ ● Immediate Media Company Ltd (publishers of BBC History Magazine) would love to send you newsletters,…

IN PROFILE William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, he wrote more than 30 plays and at least 154 sonnets. Many of his plays, which include Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth and Hamlet, have been adapted for television and cinema. More than 400 years after his death, he is still widely regarded as the greatest writer and dramatist in the English language. He is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon. “He's the greatest playwright of all time, and no one else manages the depth and perception of his writing ” When did you first hear about Shakespeare? At school. I had a wonderful English teacher, Alan Hill, who explained Shakespeare in a very enlightened way. But I must have also had an innate ability to understand the language because,…