History Today

Was Richard III a Bad King?

Child-murderer, arch villain, failed monarch, ‘northern’. Have efforts to redeem Richard III succeeded or is he still one of history’s worst kings?

On the Spot: Feargal Cochrane

Why am I a historian of Irish politics? I grew up in 1970s Belfast, where contested versions of history were literally written on the walls.

Pulp Fiction

Marketed as the taste of French summer, Orangina’s origins are complicated.

Crowning Triumph

Westminster Abbey was the focus of the world during the recent coronation. How and why was it built?

The Life Aquatic

Hong Kong in the 1950s had a nomadic floating population that needed to be counted in the census – but how?