BBC History Magazine

Fern Riddell and Nicola Tallis discuss accuracy in period dramas Siavush Randjbar-Daemi traces the roots of popular protest in Iran Kavita Puri on the Ugandan Asians who started new lives in Britain In October, Rishi Sunak became the first UK prime m

Matt Elton How important is it that period dramas are historically accurate? Fern Riddell Having worked as a historical consultant on period dramas, I feel strongly that historical accuracy is one of the most important elements when recreating the li

On 13 September 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, was arrested in Tehran for allegedly violating strict government rules that require women to wear a hijab, or head covering. Three days later, she died in hospital. Eyewitnesses said tha

I WAS AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY THE OTHER DAY for the opening of a fascinating exhibition on the legend of Alexander the Great. Instead of spelling out the history of the fourth century BC, it makes use of manuscript paintings, books and images to exami

FIFTY YEARS AGO, IN THE SUMMER OF 1972, ON the orders of Ugandan president Idi Amin, south Asians living in the country were given three months to leave. In an address on 5 August, Amin said, “I am going to ask Britain to take over responsibility for

In the spring of 1803, at a concert hall in Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven performed Violin Sonata No 9 alongside the young virtuoso George Bridgetower 1, to whom the piece was dedicated. The composer played the piano, and the so-called “African Prince

Mehmed VI, the last sultan of the Ottoman empire, died suddenly on the night of 16 May 1926. His passing occurred as he entered his fourth year of exile, in the Italian resort town of San Remo. Mehmed VI departed life virtually penniless. His debts w

The short answer is no. Robert Walpole is generally held to be Britain’s first prime minister and since he came to power in 1721, Britain has never welcomed a new monarch and prime minister in the same week - until now. There have been a few close ca

Cleopatra VII was the Egyptian queen who Romans loved to hate. By the end of 30 BC, her reputation plumbed the depths. She was, after all, the “fatal monster” who had seduced Mark Antony and lured him into an alliance that had ended in defeat to Rome

In July 1962 the USSR premier Nikita Khrushchev, in agreement with Cuba’s leader Fidel Castro, made the fateful decision to place nuclear warheads in Cuba, just 90 miles from the US mainland. The Americans' discovery of the weapons in October 1962 sp

In December 1618, a young couple, Thomas Speller and Sara Earle, were married in the church of St Botolph Without Aldgate in the City of London. They were both from Essex, but had been forced to marry in London because of increasingly heated argument

Rhiannon Davies: Some excellent books have hit the shelves this year. Which popular history book would you put forward as the best of 2022? Michael Wood: I think the best that I’ve come across is 1 Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker. Some people

PODCAST Victorian visions of a renewable future EXPLORE Mithraeum, London TRAVEL Strasbourg, France Nicholas Elliott (1916-94) and Kim Philby (1912-88) both worked for the British intelligence services. They were also the closest of friends over many

Since the Middle Ages, French families have celebrated the festive period with a slice of galette des rois, or king cake. Served on the 12th day of Christmas (6 January) to celebrate Epiphany - when the three kings arrived to see Jesus an extra helpi

Every issue we highlight a recent edition of our podcast. You can find it along with more than 1,500 previous episodes at our website: historyextra.com/podcast When the Victorians pictured the year 2000, what did they see? “They imagined the 20th cen

Centuries at the heart of Europe has positioned Strasbourg as one of the continent’s confluences for ideas and culture. The principal city of the Alsace region, it’s home to a distinct blend of French and German influences, with its own dialect and s

Rome in the first century AD was an empire populated with many gods, and temples dedicated to Mithras provide some of the most fascinating cult sites from this period. This solar cult proved particularly popular with the Roman army, and temples (know

WIN BOOKS WORTH OVER £200 FOR ONE WINNER • Open to residents of the UK (inc Channel Islands). Post entries to BBC History Magazine, Christmas 2022 Crossword, PO Box 501, Leicester LE94 0AA or email them to Christmas2022@historycomps.co.uk by 5pm on 2

BBC foreign correspondent Jeremy Bowen chooses Vincent Sheean was an American journalist, foreign correspondent and author. He reported from Palestine in the 1920s and also covered the Spanish Civil War and the Blitz. His 1935 memoir, Personal Histor