- History RSS Feed

Queen Victoria's diaries to go online

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:50:27 +0100

The Queen has launched a website documenting the life of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria in her own words - but revealed she had no plans to publish her own diaries.

Frederick Wilfred: London Photographs 1957-62

Fri, 18 May 2012 13:03:24 +0100

A selection of previously unseen images of London taken by unsung photographic talent Frederick Wilfred go on display at the Museum of London next month.

Charlie Duke: I see the Moon as a science station in the future

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:08 +0100

During the heyday of the space programme, the Houston-based Capsule Communicator (or “Capcom”) was the distant crew’s only link back to Earth. Any information they wanted to pass back to the Flight Director; any information that needed to be passed by him to them – good, bad, mundane or catastrophic – travelled via the conduit of just one person; just one voice. And to make sure that voice was welcomed and given credence, it always belonged to a fellow astronaut. The only time the voice changed was when that astronaut finished his shift. Then he would be replaced by another chap with the right stuff; stuff enough to be the sole Earthly link for three men sitting in a tin can, locked into a trajectory of astonishing speed; splitting the darkness at 20,000mph.

Young historians 'are damaging academia' in their bid for stardom

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Young history academics are too eager to convert their research into books that have only a slim chance of success in an increasingly crowded market, according to the chief judge of a leading history writing prize.

Morbid Hitler had 'messiah complex'

Fri, 04 May 2012 07:17:00 +0100

A secret intelligence report - compiled just as Hitler embarked on the Final Solution - found the Nazi leader had a "messiah complex" and increasingly turned to "Jew-phobia" as defeat loomed.

Hitler postcard found at roadshow

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:10:00 +0100

Adolf Hitler was surprisingly keen to return to the front line after being injured in the First World War, a recently-discovered postcard suggests.

In pictures: Cutty Sark to reopen with 90% of original vessel intact

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:19:47 +0100

The famous Greenwich landmark the Cutty Sark will reopen to the public this week after the completion of a restoration project costing £50 million which followed the fire that nearly destroyed her five years ago.

Prayers and wreaths for Titanic's dead

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

With prayers, a hymn and a moment of silence broken by a ship's deep whistle, passengers and crew on a memorial trip marked 100 years to the moment since the Titanic took 1,514 people to a watery grave.

Stop plundering of the Titanic, says expert who found wreck

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

New rules must be implemented to stop people from plundering the Titanic, according to Dr Robert Ballard, who found the ship nearly 27 years ago.

Secrets of the earliest Britons could be hidden in 5,000-year-old tomb

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Neolithic portal dolmen, one of Western Europe's oldest ritual burial chambered monuments, in an isolated field in Wales.

Falklands War: A look back in 50 photographs

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:00:22 +0100

On the thirtieth anniversary of the Falklands War, relations between Britain and Argentina remain frosty over the tiny South Atlantic Ocean archipelago.

So, George, you really think that you're a Robin Hood Chancellor ...

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The Robin Hood chancellors

Revealed: Wife's last words of comfort to Captain Scott

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The letter is touching: a dispatch from a wife to a husband thousands of miles away, full of gentle reminders to brush his hair and not to smoke too much. But more than that, it overflows with hope that he'll return safely. It was not to be: Captain Robert Falcon Scott clutched the missive to his chest as he lay freezing to death in his tent in the Antarctic, thinking of the wife and son he would never see again.

Japan earthquake and tsunami: A year on

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:04:46 +0000

Next week, on 11 March, it will be exactly a year since one the most powerful earthquakes on record struck the north-east coast of Japan, triggering a massive tsunami wave up to 40 metres in height.

Picture preview: Portrait of London

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:03:23 +0000

An exhibition of historic photographs of London will open at the Wandsworth Museum next month. Bringing together images from the museum’s own archive and the Museum of London’s, it will provide portraits of the British capital dating back to 1839.

Picture preview: Last days of the Arctic

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:22:05 +0000

We might have been subject to Arctic winds lately, but as an exhibition by Icelandic photojournalist Ragnar Axelsson shows, the chill wilderness of that region could not be further from here.