History Today

The clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley died February 6th, 1804, aged seventy-one.

Terry Jones, former Python, describes how a perverse fascination with the boring bits of Chaucer converted him from being a clown into a historian of the 14th century.

John Hannavy investigates the perennially fascinating ‘pit brow lasses’.

Ruth Bottigheimer argues that the survival of our best-loved fairy tales owes more to popular print tradition than to fireside story-telling passed down through the generations.

Roger Owen considers bell’s impact on the much maligned consul-general of Egypt.

John Guy, author of a new biography of Mary, Queen of Scots, explains how working in the archives made him fascinated with sixteenth-century history.

Daniel Snowman meets the historian of Germany, defender of history and expert witness in the Irving trial.

Lawrence Paterson tells the story behind a new book of rare photographs published this month detailing life aboard a German Second World War submarine.

Nicky McHugh describes recent developments in Hartford, Connecticut, at the home of Mark Twain for those seeking a close encounter with America’s literary past.

Frank Shapiro investigates the options open to Jews who wanted to leave Nazi Germany prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, and considers why one possible route to safety was abandoned.