History Today, established in 1951 and based in London, publishes the world's leading scholars, on all periods, regions, and themes of history.
Published monthly, every issue is carefully edited and illustrated to make an enjoyable and informative read.
This website includes an archive of almost every article published by History Today since it was founded. It also includes most of the articles from History Review, our periodical for history students, which was published three times a year between 1995 and 2012.
The History of History Today
The first issue of History Today was published in January 1951. The magazine was the brainchild of Brendan Bracken, Minister of Information and First Lord of the Admiralty during the Second World War and Winston Churchill’s right-hand man. After the war, as Chairman of the Financial Times, Bracken had the idea of starting a history magazine. He reportedly discussed this with Churchill and one night, relaxing after a heated session in the House of Commons, Bracken commented that they had ‘made history today’. Churchill replied that that would be a good name for a magazine. Although initially proposed in 1946, sufficient paper was not available to print the magazine until 1951 after Ellen Wilkinson, the Minister of Education, granted them enough for a print run of 10,000 copies.
As co-editors, Bracken appointed Alan Hodge, one of his secretaries during the war, who had later worked at the Financial Times, and Peter Quennell, a biographer and literary historian with whom he had collaborated before.
The magazine’s goal was to bridge the gap between academic history and a general public eager to make sense of a world that had, in the past 50 years, undergone ‘bewilderingly swift’ change: two world wars and the start of the Cold War, the dismantling of the British Empire and the vast social restructuring that came with those. Their interest was:
The study of history – of history in the widest meaning. It will be written by experts, and it will cover many specialized subjects; but the main intention of the magazine is to interest the general reader.
History Today was launched, for the price of half a crown, in 1951. The first issue sold out and it was reported that the print order for the second was increased by 5,000 copies. They were soon reporting a large readership. ‘Brendan tells me they sell 30,000 copies every month’, Churchill reportedly told his doctor, Lord Moran: ‘I find all this very encouraging. It would appear that not everyone in England reads the Daily Mirror.’
Quennell and Hodge co-edited the magazine for 29 years until Hodge’s death in March 1979; Quennell retired that October. The magazine remained under the Financial Times, by then part of the Longman publishing group, until 1981 when, feeling it was no longer viable, Longman tried – and failed – to sell it. The decision was made to close the magazine and its final issue was announced. Instead, a group of private individuals bought the magazine, establishing History Today Ltd as the owner, and the magazine has been independent ever since. It is one of the few magazines on the newsstand to be funded entirely by its readers.
The magazine has seen several redesigns over the decades, most recently in 2017 when the decision was made to leave behind the large-format glossy magazine and instead adopt something that blended modern design with the look of the magazine’s early years: smaller size, matte paper, and bold, colourful covers. We have also stayed true to the original vision: the widest possible history, written by world-leading experts.
When History Today was launched it promoted itself as ‘the only magazine of its kind published in the English language’; today the history market is very different. Yet despite widespread reports of the precipitous decline of print media, History Today is flourishing: subscriber numbers are increasing year-on-year.
