BBC History Magazine

JANUARY 2026

Welcome to your January 2026 edition. The new year brings some new developments here on the magazine, notably the fact that we have ended our official relationship with the BBC. We’ve had a long and fruitful partnership with the corporation, but as our...

2025’s BEST HISTORY BOOKS CHOSEN BY OUR EXPERTS

WELCOME

Schemer. Manipulator. Murderer. As with many powerful women from the past, Margaret Beaufort has found herself in the firing line, viewed as a Machiavellian mastermind who, some believe, orchestrated the killing of the princes in the Tower – all in aid...

WELCOME

In his memoirs of the Second World War, Winston Churchill wrote: “The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.” It’s not hard to understand why. If Britain couldn’t feed itself or supply its factories then the war...

HITLER’S AFRICAN NIGHTMARE

England’s first, and greatest, king?

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“My kingdom for a horse!” So cried Shakespeare’s Richard III as he battled for his crown in Bosworth Field. As far as we know, the real king uttered no such words, but kingdoms were indeed won and lost by the steeds that formed such a crucial part of...

THREE THINGS I’VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

1. Gnome insurance I know that many gardeners treasure their gnomes, but I was surprised to discover that Britain’s oldest individual, Lampy, was insured for a cool £1m in 1997 ( Q&A, page 36). 2. Death on the farm Our feature on Tudor accidental...

Rob Attar Editor

It was 25 years ago that the Tate Modern opened, Gladiator stormed the box office, Chelsea won the FA Cup – and we published our first ever issue. A lot has changed in the world since then, of course, as well as here at the magazine where we’re now...

Anniversaries

“My dear friends, this is your hour.” These were the words of Winston Churchill, broadcast to the nation from Downing Street on the afternoon of VE Day. After six long years, the war in Europe was over and a wave of celebration engulfed Britain. For...

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Ten years ago, on 26 March 2015, an English king was buried in a cathedral. What made this event particularly unusual was that the king had died more than 500 years ago, and had been residing under a car park in Leicester until very recently. I’m...

The triumph of the AngloSaxons

How the kingdom of Mercia powered the rise of England

THREE THINGS I’VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

1. Another USA I was fascinated to read, in Tamar Herzog’s review of the new book Patria, that in the early 19th century there was a plan to create a united states of South America, encompassing the former Spanish colonies on the continent (page...

THREE THINGS I’VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

1. Global wealth gap In Kavita Puri’s Hidden Histories column (page 18) she writes that the Mughal empire’s annual revenue in the early 17th century was “100 times greater than that of England and Scotland under James VI & I”. 2. Blast from the...

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Diarmaid MacCulloch “During my lifetime, the relationship between sex and religion has become even more tangled. The story of Christian celibacy shows how we forget past religious priorities: for centuries, heterosexual marriage was seen as a...

THREE THINGS I’VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

1. Meeting of minds It’s always intriguing to read about great figures from history meeting each other, and in our article on John Milton, I discovered that he encountered the astronomer Galileo during his travels in Italy (page 44). 2. Historical...

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Imagine the scene. You’re watching the World Snooker Championship on TV when the picture cuts away to live footage of heavily armed men in black balaclavas abseiling down the side of a central London building. This is how Ben Macintyre recalls the 1980...

Medieval pigs on the loose

The swine that made a stink in the Middle Ages

THE GENIUS OF AETHELSTAN

Michael Wood champions England’s first king

WELCOME

This month’s issue is published on the same day as the UK general election and by the time many of you are reading this the result may already be known. Elections are historic moments and their outcomes have often represented or reflected significant...