History Today back issues from September 2008:
Angus Calder: an appreciation: when The People's War was published in 1969 on the thirtieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, it set a gold standard for Home Front studies that has never been equalled. It has remained in print ever since, read for nearly forty years by those who remembered and those who never knew.
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A young man's book, since its author, Angus Calder, who died of lung cancer aged sixty-six on June 5th, 2008, was 'not even a twinkle in anyone's eye at the time of our finest hour', as the playwright Dennis Potter pointed out in his review of the book for ...
'Definite proof' of royal murders.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(Romanov family )(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Forensic studies have found 'overwhelming evidence' that the entire Russian royal family was murdered 90 years ago. Dr Peter Gill of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, with colleagues from the US and Austria, updated DNA profiling tests from 1993-4 on ...
Spy case files released.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... The US government has agreed to release witness testimonies from the 1951 trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. A ruling on June 23rd allowed secret grand jury files from the espionage case to be made public. The Rosenbergs, US citizens, were convicted of passing atomic bomb secrets to the ...
New status for Roman Wall.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(Antonine Wall)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... The second-century Roman defence north of Hadrian's Walt has been granted World Heritage Site status. The new classification of the Antonine Wall in Scotland, the Roman frontier built in the AD 140s, was announced by UNESCO in Quebec on July 7th. The 60 km wall was built by Emperor ...
Diverse museums open.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(Sharjah Museum, Museum of the American Cocktail and National Museum of Computing )(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Three new but very different museums have opened this summer around the world. First to open in June was the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, housed in a traditional Middle Eastern souq or indoor market. The museum in the United Arab Emirates contains over 5,000 artefacts from ...
Astronomers question Caesar's landing date.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(Julius Caesar's first landing in Britain)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Astronomers from Texas State University have suggested an alternative date for Julius Caesar's first landing in Britain. Donald W. Olson and Russell Doescher dispute the accepted dates for the Roman landing of August 26th or 27th, 55 BC, because the English Channel would have been flowing ...
BM is 2007's top tourist attraction.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(British Museum)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Helped by its First Emperor exhibition, the British Museum has become the most visited attraction in the UK. The Museum's annual report, out on July 1st, revealed that it attracted 6,040,000 visitors in 2007, an increase of over one million on the ...
Investigation into 1943 mystery.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... The Polish President has requested the exhumation of General Wladyslaw Sikorski's remains, sixty-five years after his mysterious death. President Lech Kaczynski told the Tygodnik Powszechny weekly on July 2nd: 'The tragic circumstances of the death of General Sikorski should be explained.' ...
'Tragedy of history' redressed.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(New Zealand government has granted 100,000 Maori people land assets )(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... The New Zealand government has granted 100,000 Maori people land assets worth 161 million [pounds sterling] in compensation for a nineteenth-century treaty. The accord was signed in the Wellington parliament on June 25th and ...
Cutty Sark restoration gets key funds.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... A gift of 3.3 million [pounds sterling] to save the historic Cutty Sark was announced on June 24th. The donation from shipping magnate Sammy Ofer closes the funding gap for the Cutty Sark Trust, allowing the nineteenth-century sailing ship to be restored ...
Windrush anniversary.(History as it Happens: Snapshots from the Past)(SS Empire Windrush )(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... The 60th anniversary of the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in Britain has been celebrated in London. June 22nd, 1948, saw 500 settlers from Jamaica reach Tilbury Docks in Essex, marking the start of mass Caribbean migration to Britain. The highlight of ...
An FBI conman: Alex Goodall looks back at the career of one of the shadiest agents ever hired by the FBI in its hundred-year history.(FRONTLINE)(Gaston Bullock Means)(Biography)
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The enduring image of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which celebrates its centenary this year, is of the G-man: a smartly suited, clean-cut agent, incorruptible and professional. But, in its early years, the organization's reputation was very ...
High level performance: Chris Aspin recalls the career of a man who gave a new word to the language.(FRONTLINE)(James Duncan Wright)(Biography)
Sep 01, 2008; ... On a summer evening in 1853, a crowd of between 15,000 and 20,000 gathered on the banks of the River Ribble at Preston in Lancashire to watch a man in a sailor suit climb to the top of a cotton mill chimney and then, seated on a board, hurtle 1,500 feet down a rope in ten seconds. As a ...
Gettysburg: Peter Furtado reports on new developments.(FRONTLINE)
Sep 01, 2008; ... America's most visited battlefield, Gettysburg, is undergoing a major revamp. A new visitor centre opened in the spring, and this month it is enhanced by the return of a massive nineteenth-century representation of the horror and the drama. Finally, in November the David Wills House, where ...
Orphans of history: Kathryn Hadley has talked to Algerian veterans about how they view 'their' day of remembrance.(FRONTLINE)(harkis)
Sep 01, 2008; ... On September 25th, ceremonies will be held across France in commemoration of the harkis, the Algerian nationals who fought alongside the French during the Algerian War. Nevertheless, despite the institution of the journee nationale d'hommage aux harkis in 2003, harkis remain orphans of ...
Round & about: September 2008.(FRONTLINE)(Calendar)
Sep 01, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cut & Paste: European Photomontage 1920-1945 September 24th to December 21st Estorick Collection, 39a Canonbury Square, Islington, London NI 2AN Telephone: 0207 704 9522 www.estorickcollection.com ...
Sept 29 1938: The Munich Conference.(MONTHS PAST)(Event overview)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Before leaving London for Munich, the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, told his entire cabinet and the Dominions' high commissioners, who had come to see him off: 'When I was a little boy I used to repeat, If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That is what I am doing ....
Sept 1 1928: King Zog I of Albania.(MONTHS PAST)(Biography)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Zog I was probably the strangest monarch of the twentieth century. The Times called him 'the bizarre King Zog' and his biographer, Jason Tomes, quotes descriptions of him ranging from 'a despotic brigand' to 'the last ruler of romance'. He created his throne for himself and as Europe's ...
Sept 29 1758: birth of Horatio Nelson.(MONTHS PAST)(Biography)
Sep 01, 2008; ... The most revered hero in the history of the Royal Navy grew up in the North Norfolk countryside, where his father, Edmund Nelson, was the rector of Burnham Thorpe. His mother, Catherine Suckling, was the daughter of a London clergyman. He was their fourth surviving child and his mother had ...
Jerusalem the Citadel: Anthea Gerrie describes a museum that is also in itself a historical record of a city's development.(TRAVEL TO THE PAST)(Tower of David)(Landmark overview)
Sep 01, 2008; ... It seems fitting that a building housing a museum that aims to tell a tale as complex as the building of Jerusalem should itself be a historical microcosm of the eternal city. The Tower of David, also known as the Citadel, may not be quite as old as the first known settlements of ...
The ambassador, the grand duke, his wife and her lover: Tony Brenton tells of the clandestine correspondence between the future Catherine the Great and the British Ambassador to St Petersburg over eleven months from July 1756.
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As British Ambassador to Russia I am naturally interested in the doings of my predecessors. From the presentation of credentials to Ivan the Terrible by the first ever English Ambassador, Anthony Jenkinson, in 1566, diplomatic relations between our two ...
What made us British? Hugh Williams describes how he and his colleagues set about compiling a list of fifty significant 'things' that have helped to shape Britain and the British.(TODAY'S HISTORY)(Essay)
Sep 01, 2008; ... History's ten worst days, fifty greatest leaders, 100 most famous battles, 1001 days that changed the world: the lists just keep on coming. This autumn sees a new one with the launch of a television series on the History Channel entitled Fifty Things You Need To Know About British History ....
Globalization in the making: Neil Cossons describes how factory methods gave rise to a worldwide marketplace.(GLOBALIZATION)
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Manufacturing--the 'industrial revolution' that is some 300 years old--largely replaced the tradition where goods were made in low volumes by craftsmen, often to the customer's personal specification. In its earliest phases, industrialization implied the ...
Live recording: Asa Briggs, author of the monumental five-volume history of the BBC, talks to David Hendy about his thirty-seven year engagement with the story of British broadcasting.(TODAY'S HISTORY)(Interview)
Sep 01, 2008; ... 'I gave him a very good lunch--he had a glass of sherry,' Asa Briggs recalls of his crucial meeting fifty years ago with that towering egotist, visionary and sternest of Presbyterians, the BBC's Founding Father John Reith. Briggs, then a young history professor at Leeds, had just accepted ...
Eden's Balkan odyssey: Steve Morewood investigates Anthony Eden's frenetic diplomatic efforts to forge a Balkan front to save Greece from Nazi Germany and the controversies that resulted from his failed mission.
Sep 01, 2008; ... Anthony's Eden's rise and fall is framed by resignation: in February 1938 over the appeasement of Mussolini and in January 1957 after the Suez debacle. In between he almost tendered his resignation twice, on the first occasion during his second stint as foreign secretary over the Eden-Dill ...
Veiled politics: Zephie Begolo discusses the symbolic power of the veil in Iranian politics, and its consequences for women, before and during the Islamic Revolution.(HISTORY BEHIND THE NEWS)
Sep 01, 2008; ... On May 19th 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, speaking to a crowd marking the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad's daughter, declared that henceforth Iranian Women's Day would be celebrated on this date. It was because of Iran's women, clad in their black chadors, that men poured into the ...
Cromwell's 'gay attire': Puritan souls may hide a cavalier approach to clothes, according to Patrick Little as he explores fashion at the court of Oliver Cromwell.(Cover story)
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] 'Charles I was a Cavalier King and therefore had a small pointed beard, long flowing curls, a large, flat, flowing hat, and gay attire. The Roundheads, on the other hand, were clean-shaven and wore tall, conical hats, white ties, and sombre garments ....
Death in the Vienna Woods: Gabriel Ronay revisits the story of a Crown Prince's suicide pact with his mistress and finds the evidence clearly pointing to murder.(MAYERLING)(Archduke Rudolf)
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It was a scandal that shook an empire. At 7am on January 30th, 1889, the Archduke Rudolf, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was found dead by his valet in the Imperial hunting lodge at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods, fifteen miles southwest ...
Paul Pry's noble duke: Mark Bryant describes how a nosey parker drew some inspiration from Old Nosey's career.(CARTOON TIMES)(William Heath's caricatures of the Duke of Wellington )
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) was, along with Napoleon, one of the most caricatured figures of the early nineteenth century. Immensely popular as the hero of Waterloo and the Peninsular Wars, he later lost public favour during his period as prime ...
Life and Death in the Third Reich.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Life and Death in the Third Reich Peter Fritzsche Harvard University Press 378pp 18.95 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0 674 02793 0 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Do we need another general history of the Third Reich? The answer is 'no' if it ...
Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Burghley William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I Stephen Alford Yale University Press 412pp 25 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0 30011 896 4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Tudor dynasty was served by a remarkable succession of ...
Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Universe of Stone Chartres Cathedral and the Origins of Order Philip Ball Bodley Head 322pp 20 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0 224 07863 4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Which of us, when visiting an awe-inspiring medieval cathedral ...
Europe between the Oceans: Themes and Variations: 9000 BC to AD 1000.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Europe between the Oceans Themes and Variations: 9000 BC to AD 1000 Barry Cunliffe Yale University Press 480pp 30.00 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0 30011 923 7 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This handsome book seductively melds the ...
The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George's Life.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... The Pain and the Privilege The Women in Lloyd George's Life Ffion Hague HarperCollins 518pp 25 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0 00721 949 0 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Six years ago David Lloyd George was voted the 79th Greatest ...
1918: A Very British Victory.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... 1918 A Very British Victory Peter Hart Weidenfeld & Nicolson 552pp 20 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0 29784 652 9 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If the battle of Waterloo was, according to its victor Wellington, 'the nearest run ...
After the Raj: The Last Stayers-On and the Legacy of British India.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... After the Raj The Last Stayers-On and the Legacy of British India Hugh Purcell The History Press 214pp 20.00 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0 7509 4786 2 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More than sixty years after the British left ...
Burford: Buildings and People in a Cotswold Town.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Burford Buildings and People in a Cotswold Town Antonia Catchpole, David Clark and Robert Peberdy Edited by Simon Townley Victoria County History with Phillimore 243pp 14.99 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 186077 488 1 ...
Old World, New World: The Story of Britain and America.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Old World, New World The Story of Britain and America Kathleen Burk Little Brown 830pp 25 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0 316 86166 3 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The American-born historian Kathleen Burk, long resident in ...
Her Naked Skin.(Theater review)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Her Naked Skin Rebecca Lenkiewicz Olivier Theatre, London Until September 24th [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This enthralling play about the campaign for the votes or women focuses on the year 1913 when suffragette militancy was at its ...
Historical method.(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; ... Monsignor Bruce Kent (Letters, August 2008) is right to identify Nicholson Baker's book Human Smoke as a pacifist tract, which it undoubtedly is, but quite wrong to criticize William Rubinstein's superb review (July 2008) for excoriating it. The book deliberately wrenches quotations out of ...
Prophet without honour.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; ... I was fascinated by Rebecca Abrams's article about Alexander Gordon ('A Prophet in his Own Country', August 2008), the Aberdonian doctor who studied puerperal fever which killed so many mothers at childbirth. His treatise on the disease published in 1795 was ignored. As she wrote, ' ... he ...
Subject-based learning.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; ... There has been a continuing debate on History in schools for many years, reflecting a persistent fear that the subject is under threat. In fact there is little evidence of this, with numbers at GCSE and A Level holding up well. A report last year that Kathleen Tattershall, now the head of ...
Marching through Georgia.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; ... The burning of Atlanta, as depicted in the film of Gone With The Wind, (August, 2008) was not the work of the Union Army under General W. T. Sherman but, rather, of the Confederate Army under General J. B. Hood as it evacuated the city at the start of September 1864. The railroad cars full ...
1968 and all that.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; ... As a veteran of two of the peripheral events of 1960s' radicalism--the 1968 Birmingham University sit-in and the 1970 student actions at the University of Poitiers--I was interested in the articles by Robert Gildea and Gerard DeGrout ('1968 and 2008' and 'Street-fighting Men', May 2008), ...
Television history: Jeremy Isaacs, the producer of The World at War and Cold War, reviews the changing nature of historical documentaries made for the small screen, and their reception by academics.
Sep 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A conference at the Imperial War Museum in the mid-1970s brought together television producers and historians in an attempt to bridge an apparent gap between them. Two communities, suspicious of each other, sought to patch up differences and declare a ...