History Today

Pilgrimages were among the earliest forms of historical travelling, and they remain popular in many parts of the world. Alex Koller tries Japan’s most famous Buddhist pilgrimage.

Kevin Desmond looks for records of a little-known French inventor who rivalled Thomas Edison.

Simon Maghakyan describes the destruction of a vital part of the heritage and early history of Armenians.

Martin Bell, famous for his BBC reports from the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, celebrates the life and work of the man whom modern war reporters admire the most, The Times’ man in the Crimea, W.H. Russell.

Roy Strong tells York Membery why the humble English parish church is a perpetual source of fascination and refreshment.

Shovell's flagship, the Association, struck the Outer Gilstone Rock and sank on October 22nd, 1707.

Richard Cavendish remembers the life of Louis B. Mayer, who died on October 29th, 1957.

Philip IV had every Templar arrested on October 13th, 1307.

Continuing his series on how cartoonists have seen events great and small, Mark Bryant looks at the impact of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth orbit and a Soviet triumph in the Cold War.

Sudeshna Guha looks at the archaeology of the Indus Civilization, the Bronze Age phenomenon of South Asia, whose study began under the British and has continued since independence and partition of the country.