History Today

In the first of a new series, we ask historians one of the burning questions of the day. 

Relations between Iran and Britain have often been strained. Yet the relationship is an old one, marked by mutual admiration.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, patients were encouraged to snuff, snort and sneeze their way out of a whole range of ailments and illnesses. 

A professionally organised covert industry satisfied the public’s demand for illicit books in the years before the French Revolution.

Is it possible for dissidents to bring peaceful change to repressive regimes?

Turning chaotic havens of sloth and debauchery into systemised institutions of pain and terror, Victorian Britain’s ‘model’ prisons were anything but.

Norwich prospered in the 16th century, thanks to an influx of immigrants, who arrived fleeing persecution.

How does the reader decide if a history book is worth their time?

Rich enough to appeal to lords and dukes, the success of panettone through history is down to its festive, egalitarian simplicity.

A master historian’s definitive study of one of the most astonishing and influential careers in English history.