BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine aims to shed new light on the past to help you make more sense of the world today. Fascinating stories from contributors are the leading experts in their fields, so whether they're exploring Ancient Egypt, Tudor England or the Second World War, you'll be reading the latest, most thought-provoking historical research. BBC History Magazine brings history to life with informative, lively and entertaining features written by the world's leading historians and journalists and is a captivating read for anyone who's interested in the past.

WELCOME DECEMBER 2024

THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS

ANNIVERSARIES • DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in December in history

THE BIG QUESTIONS What does history say about the climate crisis? • Historian PETER FRANKOPAN and broadcaster and campaigner CHRIS PACKHAM discuss how the past could help us tackle today's environmental challenges – and how experts can work together to get their message across

BEHIND THE HEADLINES “The increasing ferocity of the Middle East conflict makes it harder and harder to tell this history” • Historian and broadcaster SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE's updated biography of Jerusalem charts events right up to the present day. Why did he choose to examine such a contentious past? And is it possible to remain entirely impartial? Matt Elton caught up with him to find out

MICHAEL WOOD ON… • POCKET-SIZED WINDOWS ONTO A VANISHED WORLD

HIDDEN HISTORIES • KAVITA PURI on the repression of women's rights in Afghanistan

LETTER OF THE MONTH Sex and swearing

BBC History Magazine

TALES FROM THE ARENA • How did gladiators supercharge the rise of Julius Caesar? And why were they seen as sex symbols? As Gladiator ll arrives in cinemas, Guy de la Bédoyère tells the story of this brutal form of mass entertainment through six of its most significant (and surprising) moments

FROM HERO TO ZERO • Thomas Cromwell's final six months were a Greek tragedy of hubris and political venom – all presided over by a tyrannical king. Diarmaid MacCulloch charts Cromwell's rapid descent from the very pinnacle of power to the executioner's block

HOW CROMWELL GOT HIS REVENGE • The minister's enemies would suffer dearly for the role they played in his death

FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT… Victorian Britain • Ruth Goodman, who is teaching our new History Extra Academy course, shares five surprising facts about everyday life (and death) in this fast-changing era

THE LONG ROAD TO PARADISE • On the 350th anniversary of the death of John Milton, Islam Issa explores the story of a poet and polemicist who lost two of his wives, his liberty and his sight – but not his hope

MILTON'S ARTISTIC LEGACY • Over the three and a half centuries since its creator's death, Paradise Lost has inspired generations of painters, musicians and writers

Sarah Biffin An extraordinary artist • One of the most famous British painters of the first half of the 19th century was a woman born without arms or legs. ALICE LOXTON explores the life and work of an ambitious artist who became a favourite of royalty and was immortalised by Charles Dickens

Q&A • A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO LORD LUCAN? • Fifty years after the notorious peer vanished following the murder of his children's nanny, Laura Thompson reviews the case of the gambling earl — and explores what it reveals about social attitudes of the time

AN ENDURING MYSTERY • Theories about Lord Lucan's fate continue to swirl

Medieval influencers • Women in the Middle Ages rarely wielded political or economic power – yet, a little like the most persuasive doyennes of social media today, their words could shape minds and...