Features

If you’re ever lucky enough to drive a tank, you’ll soon realise that it’s a military monster unlike any other vehicle. Attempting to skid-steer several tonnes of metal on tracks is tricky, to say the least. When you’re in the driving ‘seat’ (many tanks require you to kneel uncomfortably or practically lie down, so there’s no real seat to speak …

Interpreting our historical past through the lens of medieval historical writers such as William of Malmesbury, Geoffrey of Monmouth and Orderic Vitalis provides both fascinating insight and complex problems. This is certainly the case with the writer William of Malmesbury, who was recently the subject of a recent three-day conference (William of Malmesbury and his Legacy, University of Oxford, 3-5 …

This may sound like an internet hoax but it isn’t. In January of 2015, farmer Derek Gow from Devon had to put down seven of his rare breed Heck cows. The reason for their demise? The cows were so aggressive they had tried on multiple occasions to attack him and his farm hands (and this is a breed with large …

Professor Francis J. Cole loved to read. And while this might seem a prerequisite for a professor, it was Cole’s way of reading that first got me interested in him. Despite studying Zoology, Cole didn’t just read for scientific information, but seemed constantly fascinated by how knowledge itself travelled, writing on subjects as diverse as A History of Comparative Anatomy …

Gill Hoffs grew up on the Scottish coast before gaining a BSc in Psychology from the University of Glasgow. Gill’s short nonfiction, Black Fish, won the 2011 Spilling Ink Nonfiction Prize, and her work is widely available online and in print, including Wild: a collection (Pure Slush, 2012) and The Sinking of RMS Tayleur: The Lost Story of the ‘Victorian …

In the 19th century there were a number of Asian nations that had sealed themselves off from the outside world, most famously Japan and China but Korea did it too. The idea was that they had seen what the rest of the world had to offer and they weren’t impressed. So after sealing themselves off from foreign influence their societies …

Throughout history much has been said of the self-made man, that fabled sort who dragged himself up by his bootstraps to make his mark on the world and usually make a fortune at the same time. Sir Richard Arkwright is truly the model of this Georgian dream; from humble beginnings he triumphed through a combination of his own ambition, shrewd …

Every year since 2009, Sam Faulkner – photographer on other fascinating projects such as ‘Eagle Hunters’ and ‘Cocaine Wars’ – has travelled to the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium to take photographs of ‘modern day’ Napoleonic soldiers.  Faulkner’s photographs give us a highly emotive insight into individual battlefield experience, recreating the faces of those who fought …

That The Second World War changed the world forever is an unquestionable fact. This book explores one of the less obvious impacts – on Hollywood.  Mark Harris’ Five Came Back is a fascinating snap shot – or should that be reel? – of how five of Hollywood’s  most talented, successful and notorious directors – John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, …

By Fiona Whelan and Kieran Hazzard Historians for Britain consists of a group of scholars attempting to use history to push a political agenda by utilising history facts to aid in the debate about the relationship between Britain and the EU, but also to justify a renegotiation of Britain’s position within the EU. Representing the group, David Abulafia of the …