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Already dictator of France, a coronation took place on 2 December, 1804.

The only Englishman ever to be Pope, Nicholas Breakspear was elected on December 4th, 1154.

Leslie Ray argues that politics and football have always been inseparable in the land of the ‘hand of God’.

T.A. Jenkins reviews the life and legacy of Benjamin Disraeli, statesman, novelist and man-about-town, on the bicentenary of his birth.

Arthur Marwick reveals how beauty moved from being enticing and dangerous to being enticing and all-powerful.

Nicholas Vincent celebrates the founder of the Plantagenet dynasty.

Anthony Fyson reads a letter from his great-grandfather, who as a young man was caught up in the Eureka Stockade, where gold-miners in Ballarat, Victoria, famously clashed with state troops, 150 years ago this month.

Seán Lang looks forward to the return of narrative to the teaching of history in schools.

Richard Cavendish remembers the events of December 9th, 1854.

Adrian Mourby welcomes a new wave of opera houses around the world, and compares this with the previous surge in the late 19th century.