History Today

Montagu House

Montagu House was built by the first Duke of Montagu, who 'made money like a rogue and spent it like a gentleman' on his patronage of the arts, the finest examples of which were to be found in this London house which was to become the first home of the British Museum.

'A Tyranny Against Nature': The Untouchables in Western India

In this article Rosalind O'Hanlon describes the effects of Hindu religious hierarchies upon the daily life of Untouchables in traditional Indian society and discusses some of the forces associated with British rule that worked to change both the social position of Untouchables and their perception of their position.

Ordnance Building at the Tower of London

From the Restoration in 1660 until 1714, England was intermittently at war with first the Dutch and then the French - and it became imperative, argues Howard Tomlinson, that the country should have an adequate central armoury for general ordnance equipment.

Richard Storry, 1913-1982

Brian Powell remembers the Emeritus Professor of Japanese Studies and his skill in bringing the history of the Far East to a Western audience.

Military Influence on European Town Planning

This article by Heather Norris and Roger Kain illustrates some of the ways in which increasingly elaborate methods of town fortification affected the nature of urban development in European towns, and how the eventual removal of anachronistic defences provided opportunities for large scale urban redevelopment, extension and embellishment.

The Image of Man: Tradition and Change expressed in Indian Art

In this article Thomas Maxwell, one of the organisers of the exhibition and co-author of the catalogue, In the Image of Man: The Indian perception of the Universe through 2,000 years of painting and sculpture (An Arts Council publication in conjunction with Weidenfeld and Nicolson) explains the background to the exhibition.