Deep Thought
Gavin Menzies explains how a life as a submarine commander gave rise to the revolutionary notion that Europeans were not the first to sail round the globe.
Volume 52 Issue 12 December 2002
Puffing Billy
Andrew Barclay marks the 300th anniversary of the death of William III.
The British Universities Newsreel Database
Luke McKernan introduces the British Universities Newsreel Database, together with plans for its development.
What’s Wrong with Television History?
As a new channel dedicated to history opens up in the UK, Tom Stearn excoriates current fashion and points the way to a more historical past on TV.
When Hell came to Halifax
Howard Baker explains how the chance convergence of two vessels produced tragedy and disaster.
The 1902 Education Act
Kevin Manton regrets the political decision to remove direct democratic control over education a hundred years ago.
Cesare Borgia at Sinigallia
The illegitimate child of Pope Alexander VI, Cesare Borgia thwarted a plot by his own men on December 31st, 1502.
The Forty-Seven Ronin Incident
On 14 December 1702, a band of samurai avenged the death of their master.
Contracting Out: Administrative Privatisation in the Reign of James I
Conrad Russell looks at the perks and pitfalls of public office-holding in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.
Sewing Machines: Liberation or Drudgery for Women?
With its effects felt on both the household and workplace over the 19th century, the invention of the sewing machine changed women’s lives. But not always for the better.