History Today

It is a perennial joke amongst those returning from their holidays that the things they had most hoped to see on their journey were lost from view – closed, removed for restoration, or sent away for exhibition elsewhere.

Tessa Murdoch on the exhibition charting the contribution made by the Huguenots to the national life of Britain.

'Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.' – Richard Hooker.

Robin Gwynn examines the arrival of Huguenot French to England in the 17th century.

Six leading historians of science define their discipline.

Brian Holden Reid examines the substance of the legend behind 'Lawrence of Arabia'.

Eric Hobsbawm has recently been honoured with a second Festschrift, The Power of the Past, edited by Pat Thane, Geoffrey Crossick and Roderick Floud, an appropriately unusual distinction for an unusually distinguished historian.

Go to a dinner party with unknown academics and you might well come away with the idea that for diversion they read Dostoevsky and Kafka, sparing the occasional sneering glance for the annual recipient of the Booker Prize. When you get to know them better, you are as likely to discover that they really devour thrillers on a massive scale.