JULY 2018

CONTENTS

Features

Every month

Is the age of the supermarket coming to an end? We investigate on page 14

20 The myths of Windrush David Olusoga on why one ship’s voyage 70 years ago has been so thoroughly woven into Britain’s national story

25 Humanity at war Margaret MacMillan tells Ellie Cawthorne why con ict has played such an integral role in human history

28 The immortal Viking Eleanor Parker reveals how the legendary gure of Ragnar Lothbrok helped forge the ideal of the archetypal Viking warrior

37 Birth pains of the NHS The NHS’s inception in 1948 was plagued by political in ghting and chronic shortages, says Mathew Thomson

46 The Nazi tapestry? Shirley Ann Brown chronicles German attempts to claim the Bayeux Tapestry as an icon of Aryan history

51 First World War memoirs Mark Bostridge argues that we shouldn’t believe everything we read in autobiographical accounts of the Great War

58 The gunpowder queen Tracy Borman investigates claims that Anne of Denmark was implicated in a plot to kill her husband, James VI & I

6 ANNIVERSARIES 11 HISTORY NOW 1 1 The latest history news

1 4 Backgrounder: supermarkets 16 Past notes: the football World Cup

17 MICHAEL WOOD’S VIEW 18 LETTERS 44 OUR FIRST WORLD WAR 63 BOOKS Thelatestreleasesreviewed,plus Keith Thomas discusses his book onBritons’questforcivility

75 TV & RADIO The pick of new history programmes

80 OUT &ABOUT 80 History Explorer: Britain’s forests

85 Five things to do in July 86 My favourite place: Bern

93 MISCELLANY 93 Q&A and quiz 94 Samantha’s recipe corner 95 Prize crossword

98 MY HISTORY HERO Esther Rantzen chooses Angela Burdett-Coutts

EVENTS 78 Buy tickets for our History Weekends

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USPS Identification Statement BBC HISTORY (ISSN 1469-8552) (USPS 024-177) July 2018 is published 13 times a year under licence from BBC Worldwide by Immediate Media Company Bristol Ltd, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN, UK. Distributed in the US by Circulation Specialists, Inc., 2 Corporate Drive, Suite 945, Shelton CT 06484-6238. Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, CT and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE, PO Box 37495, Boone, IA 50037-0495.

20 The feelgood symbolism that obscures the truth about the Windrush

25 How the compulsion to go to war has driven human progress

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37 The troubled rst years of the National Health Service

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