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 APRIL 2025

THREE THINGS I'VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS

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

“If the culture wars were to come to an end, historians would be delighted” • The new president of the Royal Historical Society, LUCY NOAKES, talks to Matt Elton about the issues facing history in Britain in 2025 – and why they will matter to the country in the years ahead

Marika Sherwood (1937-2025)

MICHAEL WOOD ON… • EPIC MEDIEVAL CHINESE VOYAGES

HIDDEN HISTORIES • KAVITA PURI on the long-standing but now dwindling Jewish community of Kochi

THIS MONTH'S TOP PODCAST PICKS

Evacuee memories

BBC History Magazine

WE PROVED, WITH 99.999% CERTAINTY, THAT THE SKELETON IN THE CAR PARK WAS RICHARD III. HERE'S HOW • Turi King led the verification team that worked on Richard III's rediscovered remains. Here, on the 10th anniversary of the king's reburial service, she reveals how science finally solved a 500-year-old cold case

A BLONDE BOMBSHELL? • What did Richard III really look like? Analysis of his DNA threw up some interesting possibilities, writes Turi King

Robert Wedderburn Firebrand abolitionist • While most British radicals fought for the rights of the exploited white working class, one man saw such rights as entwined with those of enslaved black workers. RYAN HANLEY tells the story of the ‘notorious firebrand’ who campaigned against slavery

“Matchless monst ers of the female sex” • Men committed most violent crimes in Tudor and Stuart England. But when women murdered, the press had a field day. Blessin Adams asks what drove society's gleeful fascination with its “angels of death”

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

WHAT TO DO WITH THE DEAD? • Tens of thousands of British and German servicemen died on enemy soil during the two world wars. What happened to their remains, writes Tim Grady, tells us a great deal about the two nations’ evolving relationship after the conflicts

Was Charles I truly a tyrant? • The reviled king was condemned to death as a “Tyrant, Traitor, Murderer and Public Enemy”. But on the 400th anniversary of his accession, how fair does that judgment seem today?

FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT… the history of pirates • Sophie Nibbs shines a light on the murky world of the bandits who marauded the high seas in the 17th and 18th centuries

Josephine Baker DANCER, ACTIVIST, SPY • Today she's widely remembered as a risqué entertainer – yet she was also involved in many of the earth-shaking events of her era. On the 50th anniversary of Josephine Baker's death, Anna Maria Barry tells the story of a true 20th-century icon

BOOKS

“We tend to take all of the prejudices of a previous era, frozen in aspic, and regurgitate them” • HALLIE RUBENHOLD speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about the notorious Crippen murder case – and why we need to expose the enduring misogyny that blackened the victim's name

Shock and awe in the Renaissance • CATHERINE FLETCHER is engaged by a lively look at Renaissance political thought focusing on the humanist ideas of...