History Today

Told by Churchill to ‘go and sing when the guns are firing’, Noël Coward aspired to do more during the Second World War than entertain the troops.

The return of religion and the West’s current obsession with decline make Roy Porter’s profile of Edward Gibbon, first published in History Today in 1986, curiously dated.

Constructing the Victoria Embankment on the north bank of the River Thames in London: an image analysed by Roger Hudson.

Jonathan Downs reports on the fire last December that caused extensive damage to one of Egypt’s most important collections of historical manuscripts.

The actress behind the Spirit of Ecstasy, the mascot on every Rolls-Royce, and other women who have inspired famous emblems.

For centuries King John has been regarded as the embodiment of an evil ruler. But, says Graham E. Seel, this image is largely the creation of monastic chroniclers with an axe to grind. A close examination of contemporary records reveals a more nuanced character.

As the debate continues on the causes of last summer’s English Riots, Michael Roberts examines previous attempts by reformers to address moral malaise and social breakdown.

With Italy on the brink of financial collapse and in deep political crisis, the country’s 150th anniversary has been a dramatic one. It is especially timely, then, to take stock of new research into this most contradictory and enigmatic of countries.

Robin Whitlock asks if studies of the decline of societies such as that of Easter Island can shed light on contemporary concerns.

Hitler's future companion was born in Munich on February 6th 1912.