Britain

Poster from the ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ campaign, 1939-46. mauritius images GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo.

Fighting the Home Front’s ‘Enemy Within’

National security during the Second World War was threatened by the ‘enemy within’ – working-class women, suspected of betraying their country by taking in deserters and escapees.

The Sick, the leprous, and the lame praying at Saint Hedwig's tomb, from the Vita beatae Hedwigis, 1353. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. Ludwig XI 7, fol. 87v, 83.MN.126.87v. Public Domain.

The Pilgrim as a Historian

Pilgrimage is not meant to be easy, but it remains a popular pursuit – even for non-believers.

Channel Tunnel illustration © Ben Jones/Heart Agency.

Fear, Friendship and the Channel Tunnel

November 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the first passenger trains between London and Paris. What does the history of the Channel Tunnel tell us about Britain’s relationship with its neighbours?

A military dental surgery, pen drawing by H. Bury, early 20th century. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Brushing for Britain

The First World War revealed the bad state of Britain’s teeth. Intervention was required to keep the nation biting fit.

Edward Heath, newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, outside his home, London, 27 July 1965. PRISMA ARCHIVO/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Conservative Party Popularity Contest

How the first Conservative leadership election modernised the party in the 1960s.

Artisans’ Dwellings, Petticoat Square, London, by William Haywood, 19th century. Bridgeman Images.

Solving the Victorian Housing Crisis

The acute housing crisis of mid-Victorian Britain generated stormy opinions about the nature of state intervention and the need for ‘wholesome despotism’.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers, photograph by James Wallace Black, 1872. National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Public Domain.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers Across the Atlantic

In 1874 a choir of African American singers concluded a successful tour of Britain, singing songs that confronted American racism. Victorian audiences had never heard music like it.

Frontispiece from Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes, Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, 1686. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

Aliens and the Enlightenment

In the 18th century the existence of extraterrestrial life went from debatable hypothesis to fundamental tenet of Enlightenment thought.

‘Oliver Cromwell of Ely Visits Mr. John Milton’, by David Dalhoff Neal, 1883. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Public Domain.

On the Spot: Alice Hunt

‘What is the most common misconception about my field? That the republic was an absolute failure and the Restoration inevitable.’

Miniature of William III, attributed to Benjamin Arlaud, 1689- 1719. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

Scandals of the Glorious Revolution

Rumours about the sexual proclivities of King William III began to spread as soon as he took the English throne. What went on behind the closed doors of the royal court had implications for the nation.