Skip to main content
Read page text
page 4
Contents OCTOBER 2010 FEATURES 24 Roman Britain: The key moments A panel of experts describe the important milestones in the Roman empire’s occupation of Britain 34 Mussolini frustrated The diaries of Il Duce’s mistress reveal a boorish racist who was disappointed with his failures, says RJB Bosworth 46 Punishment in the pillory David Nash explores the humiliating sentence that awaited some miscreants in early modern Britain 48 England in miniature Michael Wood explains why he’s chosen to tell England’s history through the prism of a single village 53 Mary Seacole’s lost letter Tom Beaumont James on the chance discovery of the only surviving letter in the hand of a nursing heroine 56 Three films about… the American Civil War Mark Glancy questions the accuracy of Gone with the Wind and two other historical epics 60 Going underground Sam Bird looks at the role of East End activists in enabling Londoners to shelter in the tube during the Blitz 62 “Not a sadder creature in the world” Hannah Newton considers how parents coped with the early deaths of their children during the 17th century 4 Contact us PHONE Editorial 0117 314 7377 Subscriptions & back issues 0844 844 0250 Advertising 0117 314 8752 EMAIL Editorial historymagazine@ bbcmagazines.com Subscriptions & back issues bbchistory@servicehelpline.co.uk POST Editorial BBC History Magazine, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN Subscriptions & back issues BBC History Magazine, PO Box 279, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8DF. BBC History Bookstore Freephone: 0800 112 3482 or www.historydirect.co.uk. See Books section for details EVERY MONTH 5 Letters 8 Milestones: It happened in October News 12 Breaking news 16 News from the journals 18 World news in context: Australian Aborigines 23 Opinion by Dominic Sandbrook 40 Science story by Patricia Fara 43 Q&A: Your historical questions answered 59 Changing times by Chris Bowlby 67 Book reviews: 11 new history books reviewed 81 TV & Radio: What’s on in October Out&About 84 Where history happened: Deserted villages 90 Ten things to do this month 92 Holiday ideas 96 Diversions, and the crossword 98 My history hero chosen by Peter Hain Subscribe: Save 25% PAGE 32 USPS Identification Statement BBC HISTORY (ISSN 1469-8552) (USPS 024-177) October 2010 is published 13 times a year by Bristol Magazines Ltd, 9th Floor, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN, UK. Distributed in the US by Evergreen Marketing, 116 Ram Cat Alley, Suite 201, Seneca, SC 29678-3263. Periodicals postage paid at Seneca, SC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BBC HISTORY, PO Box 421133, Palm Coast, FL 32142-1133. ION COLLECT IBRARY/KOBAL LART IDGEMAN ILD–TOPFOTO/BR BIN ALAMY/ULLSTE BBC History Magazine
page 5
Letters OCTOBER 2010 The opinions expressed by our commentators are their own and may not represent the views of BBC History Magazine, Bristol Magazines Limited or BBC Worldwide EDITOR’S LETTER When Britain was Roman zine Balancing the Nor mans As someone who has a partic ular interest in the period of transi tion from an English (Saxon/Dan ish) hierarchy to a Norman one, August was a good month. T here was an abundance o f TV programmes, with the Au gust edition of this magazine featu ring an interesting article about IN OUR RECENT reader survey (July issue), Roman history came out as a topic that many of you enjoy. Those of you who ticked that box should turn straight to page 24 for our feature highlighting the key moments in Roman Britain. We’ve garnered the opinions of a select panel of historians and historical novelists to discover the pivotal moments in the 400-year occupation of the province of Britannia – from Caesar’s “brief ” invasions to the first peasants’ revolt. The survey has confirmed that the Second World War continues to be an enduring draw. One of the key players in the conflict was the Italian leader Benito Mussolini. On page 34, RJB Bosworth reveals what the recently published diaries of Mussolini’s lover tells us about the dictator as he prepared his country for war. Social history also scored highly in the survey. If you’re a fan, then why not turn to page 62 and have a look at the piece on how parents coped with grief in the 17th century. It’s a sad story, but a good read. Thanks to everyone who completed the survey for us. The results will, I hope, enable us to make the magazine an even better read for you. The winner of the survey prize draw is Mr V Lloyd of Solihull, who now has an Apple iPad to play with. I hope you enjoy the issue. the Domesday sur vey. A common feature was reference to the Bayeux Tape stry and the Domesday Book. Yet they are both Norman in origin, and give a Norman point of v iew. There is another document of the period that has been overloo ked: namely the Anglo-S axon Chronicles. But  why? In the period from Hasting s to Domesday and beyond, the pe ople of England were subjecte d to horrendous treatment by what can only be described as a ban d of thugs, who took al most everything, as Domesday cle arly shows. Goodness knows wha t it must have been like for the ordinary English. Abso lute purgatory, I would imag ine. Indeed one only has to read the lines of the Chronicles. This is the untold story of ordinary pe ople who picked up the tab, so to sp eak. They are the people from whom manyaredescended.Theirs tory deserves a hear 􏰀 twitter.com/bbchistory 􏰀 facebook.com/bbchistorymagazin e Dr David Musgrove Edito ing. So, to give the Norman se ason some balance, could we hav e an article on the Chronicles of this period, and have the Eng lish version of eve nts? Mike Pin chen Chisleh read A Norman carving of a peasant thres hing. But have we ignored the English viewp oint? in the literary world is a good thing if it increases the time 11 to 12-year-olds spend stu dying history (48 per cent spend less than an hour a week doin g so, according to the Histo rical Association) and, in turn , the history GCSE up take. Yet what Mark Lawson call s the “Oliver Stone phenomen on” – referring to the vast quanti ty of Americans who take Stone’s 1991 filmJFKasread–isaca usefor concern. Paul Greengrass’ s 2010 film Green Zone is a case in point. It cuts so close to the bone of non-fiction that, as TIME magazine’s film revie wer says, you’ll “have to sit throug h all the end credits to read that this is a worko ffiction”. Although author Rob ert Harris writes in a disclaimer inside the front cover of The Ghost that “Any resemblance to actu al persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental, ” the 2007 book remains nothing other than a fictional device inven r On the October podcas t To complement features in the magazine, we have a n audio podcast each month. It’s free, and you can liste n at any time. Download from 24 September from ou r website or subscribe via iTune s Miles Russell talks Britannia 􏰀 Roman Britain: The Key Moments, page 24 RJB Bosworth discusses Il Duce’s love life 􏰀 Mussolini Frustrated, page 34 Dr Hannah Newton on grief 􏰀 “Not a Sadder Creature in the World”, pag urst The bits they mad e up I could not disa gree more with Ian Mortimer (Histor ical Novelists Shouldn’ t be Ashamed of Tel ling Lies, August). D on’t get me wrong, ted for the purpose of settling a polit ical score . No wonder Nia ll Ferguson be lieves such fiction “ contaminate s historical und erstanding”. Unle ss novelists mark e 62 www.bbchistorymagazine.com/podcast- the arrival of histor ical fiction as a new p in bold type the bi page BBC History Maga layer Many Americans take Oliver Stone’s JFK as ts

Page Text

View plaintext

Contents

OCTOBER 2010

FEATURES

24 Roman Britain: The key moments A panel of experts describe the important milestones in the Roman empire’s occupation of Britain

34 Mussolini frustrated The diaries of Il Duce’s mistress reveal a boorish racist who was disappointed with his failures, says RJB Bosworth

46 Punishment in the pillory David Nash explores the humiliating sentence that awaited some miscreants in early modern Britain

48 England in miniature Michael Wood explains why he’s chosen to tell England’s history through the prism of a single village

53 Mary Seacole’s lost letter Tom Beaumont James on the chance discovery of the only surviving letter in the hand of a nursing heroine

56 Three films about… the American Civil War Mark Glancy questions the accuracy of Gone with the Wind and two other historical epics

60 Going underground Sam Bird looks at the role of East End activists in enabling Londoners to shelter in the tube during the Blitz

62 “Not a sadder creature in the world” Hannah Newton considers how parents coped with the early deaths of their children during the 17th century

4

Contact us

PHONE Editorial 0117 314 7377 Subscriptions & back issues 0844 844 0250 Advertising 0117 314 8752

EMAIL Editorial historymagazine@ bbcmagazines.com Subscriptions & back issues bbchistory@servicehelpline.co.uk

POST Editorial BBC History Magazine, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN Subscriptions & back issues BBC History Magazine, PO Box 279, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8DF.

BBC History Bookstore Freephone: 0800 112 3482 or www.historydirect.co.uk. See Books section for details

EVERY MONTH

5 Letters

8 Milestones: It happened in October

News

12 Breaking news

16 News from the journals

18 World news in context: Australian Aborigines

23 Opinion by Dominic Sandbrook 40 Science story by Patricia Fara 43 Q&A: Your historical questions answered 59 Changing times by Chris Bowlby 67 Book reviews: 11 new history books reviewed 81 TV & Radio: What’s on in October

Out&About

84 Where history happened: Deserted villages 90 Ten things to do this month

92 Holiday ideas

96 Diversions, and the crossword

98 My history hero chosen by Peter Hain

Subscribe: Save 25% PAGE 32

USPS Identification Statement BBC HISTORY (ISSN 1469-8552) (USPS 024-177) October 2010 is published 13 times a year by Bristol Magazines Ltd, 9th Floor, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN, UK. Distributed in the US by Evergreen Marketing, 116 Ram Cat Alley, Suite 201, Seneca, SC 29678-3263. Periodicals postage paid at Seneca, SC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BBC HISTORY, PO Box 421133, Palm Coast, FL 32142-1133.

ION

COLLECT

IBRARY/KOBAL

LART

IDGEMAN

ILD–TOPFOTO/BR

BIN

ALAMY/ULLSTE

BBC History Magazine

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content