Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a masterpiece of Middle English literature, which narrowly escaped destruction in the 18th century. Nicholas Mee examines the poem to discover both its secret benefactor and the location in which its drama unfolds.
Taylor Downing tells the story of the Central Interpretation Unit at Medmenham, Buckinghamshire, where the RAF’s aerial photo interpreters played a critical role in Britain’s wartime struggle.
The legend of Mahatma Gandhi places his non-violent Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience, and Quit India movements at the heart of India’s independence. There's more to the story.
Andrew Boxer explains why party political strife lacked real substance in the period after 1945.
In 15 years Æthelstan united the English for the first time. Yet many of the facts about the Anglo-Saxon king remain elusive.
Brazil may be one of the 21st century’s emerging superpowers, but its independence from Portugal was not inevitable, nor was its survival certain.
Michael Dunne remembers the US-backed invasion of Fidel Castro's Cuba.
Glittering monument to Britain’s colonial achievement or fragile symbol of a fragmenting imperial dream? Jan Piggott charts the efforts to make Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace flourish as an ‘Acropolis of Empire’.
Graham Goodlad examines the changing role of the occupant of Number Ten in an era of significant political change.
Mussolini’s colonial land grab in Abyssinia provoked a political storm in Britain. The links between fascism and imperialism were not lost on the British left nor by the empire’s black subjects.
