History Today

Who Wrote Piers Plowman?

The popularity of the Middle English poem has endured for 650 years but the question of who wrote it remains unanswered. Lawrence Warner addresses the mystery.

Ranji's Special Guest

Roger Hudson explains why the great cricketer W.G. Grace embraced Indian headwear for a day.

The Familiar and the Fresh

Steven Runciman’s profile of Richard the Lionheart, written at a time of impending crisis in Anglo-Cypriot relations, offers a nuanced and sensitive portrait, writes Minoo Dinshaw.

A Muddy Vision of the Great War

Following the media rush to commemorate the First World War, Stephen Badsey is disappointed that television has so far failed to embrace the latest historical research on the conflict.