Three writers of Roman historical fiction reveal how seemingly minor research discoveries inspired their stories. Sit any three historical fiction authors around the table and ask them about their research and you’ll be there for a week. Narrow it down to the specific ‘minor discovery’ that changed the course of the narrative and you might […]
Dismantling the misogynistic Marilyn Monroe myth
How does a historian challenge the ‘misogynistic Monroe myth’ of lateness, drinking, and emotional fragility? Not by denying it, says Lucy Jane Santos, but by showing that memories can be faulty, stories retold and reshaped for their audience – and Marilyn’s own words are largely missing. And by remembering that history, like memory, is not […]
Plantagenet princesses in the troubled late Middle Ages
How did the daughters of Plantagenet Kings of England deal with the tumults of the late Middle Ages? Sharon Bennett Connolly, historian and author, explains how they responded to the challenges of plague, rebellion, war — and marriage into other royal dynasties. Until writing Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets, […]
The women of the Blitz (and what I learned from them)
Who were the real hero(ine)s of the Blitz? “The wartime mothers of the East End,” one former doctor, who saved many lives, told author Kate Thompson. Kate writes about the lessons she learned from interviewing East London women who’d survived the bombs: the daughters of childminders, abortionists, money-lenders; the costermonger, the butcher, the singer. These […]
Agrippa, Augustus’ friend and fixer
Marcus Agrippa was Emperor Augustus’ right-hand man. From humble birth, Agrippa rose to become Augustus’ friend and fixer, married his daughter and helped build the Empire. As Agrippa’s biographer, Lindsay Powell, says, the former Octavian would likely neither have triumphed nor held on to power without Agrippa by his side. To rule effectively, a national […]
Bedlam and madness in the 17th century
Bedlam, or Bethlehem Hospital, was a place of horror both for the mentally ill people incarcerated there and in the minds of others, not just in London. By the 17th century, visitors were paying to view the ‘lunaticks’ in Bedlam, plays were being written about it, and fear of imprisonment there was commonplace, Jemahl Evans, […]
Argentina: football and history
The unpopularity of Argentina goes back much further than the reaction to its team’s behaviour during the 2026 World Cup. It’s rooted in the 150-year-old idea that “Argentines came from boats from Europe” and were — are — superior to other Latin American people, Matthew Carr explains. The World Cup always produces villains as well […]
The challenges of researching working class lives
If you want to write fiction or non-fiction based around the court of Henry VIII or of Queen Victoria, you’ll have plenty of sources to draw on. Researching working class lives is more challenging. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it, argues Esther Freeman. When writing my book – Great Women of London – one […]