History
Looking for a new England
Dan Hitchens on our love affair with the Anglo-Saxons
Facts are history
Your quiz for the week is to make the connection between the following people: fun-loving Greek hack Homer, veteran US…
The great carve-up
At the end of the last century, Simon Winchester bought 123 acres of wooded mountainside in the hamlet of Wassaic,…
Natural successor
When it comes to natural history, Sir David Attenborough rules the airwaves. Pliny the Elder (d. ad 79) who, as…
Is the past being rewritten in LGBT+ history month?
Did you know that February is LGBT+ history month? If you have a ‘progressive’ employer you probably do. Banks, universities, local councils,…
Prime examples
Why we need a museum of British premiership
Take the hard road
Diversity is ‘about empowering people by respecting and appreciating what makes them different, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religion,…
Historical re-enactments
The Wimborne Militia of Dorset prides itself on being the only formally commissioned ‘private army’ in England. We’re well known…
Words to that effect
In his 37-book Natural History, Pliny the Elder (d. ad 79) wondered why we wished people ‘Happy new year’ (primum…
Respect vs rigour
Professor Toope, the vice-chancellor of Cambridge university, had proposed a motion ordering all members of the university to ‘respect’ each…
The triumph of independent thought
History used to be so much easier. There were the Wars of the Roses, then the Reformation, the Civil War,…
The Midas touch
It’s well known that you should never meet your heroes because they will only disappoint you. Less commonly said, but…
Swear words
Freed from the bonds of the European Union, Britain is now in a position to sign whatever trade deal it…
High life
New York I received a letter from a long-time Spectatorreader, James Hackett, enquiring about books I am reading. It is…
Classic examples
To what use does one put history? Romans thought it provided ‘lessons’. Modern historians rather sniff at the idea, but…
Lamb to the slaughter
The Slightly Foxed podcast, like the quarterly and old bookshop of the same name, is almost muskily lovely. It’s the…
A toast to Tim
I am in an Eliot mood, not a Keatsian one. ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ is a surprisingly… mellow…
Broken records
Restrictions on the National Archives are a disaster for historians
New World order
The myth of the ‘stolen country’
Fascism: the most abused term in America
A well-dressed young man walks down the Potsdamer Straße in Berlin, days before the end of March in 1933. He’s…
The myth of the ‘stolen country’
Last month, in the middle of the COVID panic, a group of freshmen at the University of Connecticut were welcomed…
1619, 1776 and all that
Friday’s news that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died after her long battle with cancer has briefly pushed most other topics…
Days of glory
Ian Thomson describes Ravenna’s golden age, when classical Rome, Byzantium and Christianity met
Greco-Roman wrestling
Can the Classics escape the grip of their past?
We’re making a spectacle of shame
When I was about ten, on return home from church I ate a peach, the juice of which dribbled down…
