Volume: 54 Issue: 12

T.A. Jenkins reviews the life and legacy of Benjamin Disraeli, statesman, novelist and man-about-town, on the bicentenary of his birth.

The only Englishman ever to be Pope, Nicholas Breakspear was elected on December 4th, 1154.

Anthony Fyson reads a letter from his great-grandfather, who as a young man was caught up in the Eureka Stockade, where gold-miners in Ballarat, Victoria, famously...

Nicholas Vincent celebrates the founder of the Plantagenet dynasty who was crowned 850 years ago this month.

David Bates introduces a major conference exploring the place of history in our schools and colleges.

Edward Higgs examines the contentious history of identification systems in modern Britain.

Letters to the Editor in December 2004

George Weidenfeld recalls a masterful historian of ancient Rome, and much else besides.

December 2nd, 1804

Adrian Mourby welcomes a new wave of opera houses around the world, and compares this with the previous surge in the late 19th century.

Richard Cavendish remembers the events of December 9th, 1854.

Arthur Marwick reveals how beauty moved from being enticing and dangerous to being enticing and all-powerful.

Seán Lang looks forward to the return of narrative to the teaching of history in schools.

Peter Day delves into documents recently released from the National Archives to review the short and sad career of Talal, father of King Hussein of Jordan.

Martin D. Brown tells the little-known story of how British and American soldiers disappeared in Slovakia’s Tatra Mountains during the remarkable episode of...

William Frend, later professor of ecclesiastical history at Glasgow University, explained how he influenced the course of European history in 1944.