DECEMBER 2018
CONTENTS
Features
Every month
Explore the historical heartland of Britain’s ceramics industry, on page 82
22 Like father, like son? Henry VIII wasn’t as di erent from his dour, penny-pinching father as his PR machine suggested, writes Tracy Borman
28 The last survivors Steve Humphries recalls his conversations with six extraordinary people who lived through the First World War
33 The King Arthur fraud Nick Higham argues that the warrior-king was the invention of a writer with an axe to grind with the Anglo-Saxons
38 The radical Walter Ralegh Anna Beer on how the famous explorer’s incendiary political writings in uenced Oliver Cromwell
44 Max Hastings on Vietnam The journalist and historian describes the carnage and chaos of the Vietnam War, and his memories of reporting on it
50 The horror of Peterloo Stephen Bates reveals how the massacre of 1819 became a cause célèbre in the struggle for full su rage in Britain
58 Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt What can the three leaders’ letters to one another tell us about the coalition against Nazism? David Reynolds investigates
6 ANNIVERSARIES 11 HISTORY NOW 1 1 The latest history news
1 4 Backgrounder: homelessness 16 Past notes: vinyl
18 LETTERS 21 MICHAEL WOOD’S VIEW 65 BOOKS Thelatestreleasesreviewed,plus AdamZamoyskidiscusseshisbook on Napoleon Bonaparte
79 TV & RADIO The pick of new history programmes
82 OUT &ABOUT 82 History Explorer: British ceramics
87 Five things to do in December
93 MISCELLANY 93 Q&A and quiz 94 Samantha’s recipe corner 95 Prize crossword
98 MY HISTORY HERO Sir Lenny Henry chooses SamuelColeridge-Taylor
56 SUBSCRIBE
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BBC HISTORY (ISSN 1469-8552)
(USPS 024-177) December 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.
33 Was King Arthur a historical gure?
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22 Did Henry VIII escape his father’s shadow?
28 Testimony from six of the Great War’s last survivors
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