Feature

There is an enduring obsession with understanding the body and mind of Henry VIII, but how sound are diagnoses past and present – and do we need them?

In 1954 a new agency was founded: the KGB. While less violent and arbitrary than what it replaced, its insidious reach soon permeated Soviet society.

In the age of enlightenment, the public developed a taste for sheer spectacle. Suitably awe-inspiring, dazzling versions of the world’s most famous volcano, Vesuvius, could soon be found across Europe and North America.

In the late 19th century a new trend captured the Czech people –gymnastics. But sokol was more than just exercise: a healthy body was a healthy nation and the Czechs wanted independence.

Soldiers on the front line in France and Flanders saw their fight as the only legitimate one. But in Britain, the mobilisation of the domestic workforce was integral to winning the First World War.

As Anglo-Saxon England faced conquests and apocalypse, Archbishop Wulfstan saw hope for the kingdom in a radical restructuring of society.

Fifty years separate the Boston Tea Party and the Monroe Doctrine. How did a group of British colonies become a self-proclaimed protector of continents within half a century?

Seen to be less capable because of their deafness, deaf artists in the Renaissance used their art as a powerful means of expression.

Was it the mob? A coup? Cuban dissidents? War hawks? Over 60 years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the theories are still debated. Do any of them hold up?

Japan has had a vexed relationship with Jesus ever since European missionaries arrived on its shores. Banned until 1873, successive leaders have asked whether love of the ‘two Js’ is compatible.