Britain

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a masterpiece of Middle English literature, which narrowly escaped destruction in the 18th century. Nicholas Mee examines the poem to discover both its secret benefactor and the location in which its drama unfolds.

Bitter feelings between Loyalists and Patriots after the British surrender at Yorktown led to many skirmishes and retaliations.

Concorde began regular test flights above Britain 40 years ago this month. Jad Adams looks back to a time when, wracked by industrial decline, a nation embraced the world’s first supersonic airliner.

The Duke of Marlborough was dismissed from the office of captain-general on December 31st 1711.

Gordon Marsden, a former editor of History Today, reflects on the advertisements that helped to fund the first 20 years of this magazine’s publication and explores the wider messages they reveal about sexism, empire and swinging Britain during the 1950s and 1960s.

At its height, the British Empire was the largest the world has ever known. Its history is central to Britain’s history, yet, as Zoë Laidlaw shows, this imperial past is not an easy narrative to construct.

The first performance of The Tempest on record was at court on All Hallows’ Day, on November 1st 1611.

Michael Bentley looks at the father of British historiography who was an eloquent and controversial opponent of teleology.

In recent years British models have reappeared on the catwalk wearing real fur, though it is unlikely to ever regain the mass appeal it once had. Carol Dyhouse looks back to a time when female glamour was defined by a mink coat.

Taylor Downing tells the story of the Central Interpretation Unit at Medmenham, Buckinghamshire, where the RAF’s aerial photo interpreters played a critical role in Britain’s wartime struggle.

Few figures in British political history have endured such lingering hostility as the statesman who did so much to forge Europe’s post-Napoleonic settlement, says John Bew.

Dorothy Sherindan, the Archivist of Mass-Observation at the University of Sussex, traces its development - and revival in the 1980s.

The standing of Britain’s police forces may be in decline at home, yet their insights into policing methods and practices are still sought eagerly elsewhere, according to Clive Emsley and Georgina Sinclair.