Volume 59 Issue 7 July 2009
‘Garotting’, or the strangulation of a victim in the course of a robbery, haunted the British public in the 1850s. Emelyne Godfrey describes the measures taken to prevent it and the range of gruesome self-defence devices that were often of greater danger to the wearer than to the assailant.
Mark Bryant looks at the artist behind one of the most iconic images of the 20th century.
At the end of the 19th century, with religious belief under increasing attack, the British antiquarian Arthur Evans sought to ‘re-enchant’ the world with his utopian interpretation of Crete’s ancient Minoan civilisation, as Cathy Gere explains.
A right-wing Catholic who crushed all his rivals, Engelbert Dollfuss fought hard to maintain his young republic’s independence. A.D. Harvey looks at the life of the tiny patriot of peasant stock who stood up to Hitler.
Hugh Purcell looks at how, 90 years ago, the British Empire rejected the principle of racial equality on which the Commonwealth is now based.
In 1706 a little-known mathematics teacher William Jones first used a symbol to represent the platonic concept of pi, an ideal that in numerical terms can be approached, but never reached. Patricia Rothman discusses Jones’s significance among his contemporaries and the unique archive that forms his legacy.
In the 13th century a remarkable trading block was formed in northern Europe. Stephen Halliday explains how the Hanseatic League prospered for 300 years before the rise of the nation state led to its dissolution.
Until 1729, London Bridge was the capital’s only crossing over the Thames and a microcosm of the city it served, lined with houses and shops on either side. Leo Hollis looks at the history of an icon.
In 1969 men set foot on the Moon for the first time. The Apollo space programme that put them there was the product of an age of optimism and daring very different from our own, argues André Balogh.
Richard Cavendish remembers the capture and slaying of the definitive American gangster on July 22nd 1934.
Henry II was fatally injured by the Count of Montgomery during a jousting tournament. He died on July 10th, 1559.
Richard Cavendish recounts the birth of a great warship. on July 23rd, 1759.
The building of Istanbul’s new underground railway has uncovered thousands of years of history, including the first complete Byzantine naval craft ever found. Pinar Sevinclidir investigates.
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Industrial Revolution in what is now a quiet Shropshire town as well as the 200th anniversary of the death of one of Britain’s greatest industrialists, Matthew Boulton. Ross Reyburn reports.
The iconic Mini-Minor, which celebrates its half centenary next month, was a British industry triumph before inefficiency stalled its success, writes Andrew Roberts.
As Algeria prepares this month to host the second Pan-African Cultural Festival, with 48 countries participating, Martin Evans describes the original festival held 40 years ago in Algiers and the spirit of creativity and anti-colonialism that defined it.
Everyone has heard of the Manhattan Project; the Mannahatta Project is very different. As described in this thoroughly professional report to the...
Bernard Woolley, hapless Principal Private Secretary to Jim Hacker in Yes Minister, noted that the idea of mental oddity declines irregularly: 'I...