History Matters

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Nicknames can easily raise an eyebrow, but they have value to the historian beyond humour.

Recent protests in China are part of a long tradition of student activism, but results are often lacklustre.

Was the worst poet in history a hidden visionary?

On his early travels across the world it was geology that struck Charles Darwin’s interest.

The Bethnal Green tube station disaster, 80 years on.

Charles XII of Sweden had a thirst for war, which made him a target for the British press.

A folk favourite loved by Jane Austen and Abraham Lincoln, ‘The Irishman’ has revolutionary roots that have been forgotten.

Utopian societies promise a new way of living, but are they doomed to fail?

London used to ring with the cries of street sellers. Changes for the city brought changes to their way of life.

The smooth whiteness of paper belies the mess and hard labour that went into its production.