Category Archives: history in the news

In the 1980s a mass burial pit from the 1340s Black Death  was discovered at Spitalfields in London. This report was typical, stating  “it contained two mass burial trenches and a mass burial pit, densely filled with several hundred articulated skeletons, as well … Continue reading →

The contents of which photograph do you consider to be more valuable ? These two images come from the two news stories below. In a material sense, the answer is of course clear cut -the coins have an estimated value in excess … Continue reading →

Churchill is meant to have once said “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it”. Perhaps it is an obvious point to suggest that History tends to be written by the winners, but that does not stop … Continue reading →

As many of you will have the misfortune to know Tudor history is really my bag, and there certainly has been a lot of it in the news recently. As such, I thought it might be helpful if I posted … Continue reading →

Those of you who can cast their minds back to the posts on last summer’s riots will remember that David Starkey is not an individual shy of a point of view. This week he compared the Alec Salmond, the Scottish First … Continue reading →

The American Civil War has always felt to me to be something that I should know more about. The truth is it has always passed me by. This article from the New York Times shows how remiss this is. Recent statistical work … Continue reading →

A couple of articles from the BBC from a period of British History that I find fascinating, but perhaps does not get the attention that it deserves. This Today programme report and this news report cover the auction of a poster from … Continue reading →

With Holocaust Memorial Day approching I thought it would be appropriate to post this article about Treblinka from the BBC. The mass graves found there expose the nonsense of those, like David Irving (see earlier posts), who deny the Holocaust killed … Continue reading →

This excellent article from the Sunday Telegraph clearly shows the growing importance of archaeology to our understanding of the past. Just like the earlier article on Calleva Atrebatum it shows how recent archeological discoveries have changed our understanding of an aspect of the … Continue reading →

A couple of excellent articles from the BBC to mark the centenary celebrations of the ANC. This video contrasts its early roots as a party of liberation with its post-Mandela disappointments. This Today interview from Radio Four looks at the problems of … Continue reading →