Kensington Palace among those being probed by TV historian investigating slave trade links

TV historian Lucy Worsley leads ‘review’ of royal palaces’ links to slavery including Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Kensington Palace home Historic Royal Palaces review follows similar exercise by the National Trust  Review being led by Lucy Worsley, 46, known for BBC history documentaries The historian also described National Trust as ‘ahead of the game’  … Read more

Controversial statues should be placed in a ‘museum of colonialism’, leading historian claims

Controversial statues should be placed in a ‘museum of colonialism’, leading historian claims William Dalrymple a ‘museum of colonialism’ would highlight ‘war criminals’ Would include controversial commander-in-chief of India Sir Colin Campbell Oversaw cruel punishment on rebels – including firing them from a cannon   By Jemma Carr For Mailonline Published: 02:19 BST, 16 September 2020 | Updated: … Read more

Bullies won’t silence me: TV historian Neil Oliver is defiant and ready to go to war with critics 

More used to talking about war than fighting one, TV historian Neil Oliver says lately he has felt like he’s in ‘the Ypres Salient in the First World War’, fighting skirmish after skirmish.  The area in Belgium was the scene of some of the Western Front’s fiercest battles and, recently, the 53-year-old presenter has found … Read more

Historian Nigel Jones recounts the humbling of a colossus tank

November 1917, and the day dawned dank and foggy over the water-logged trenches near Cambrai in eastern France. Not surprisingly, Gefreiter (Lance-Corporal) Wilhelm Bar of Germany’s 27th Reserve Infantry Regiment was feeling more demoralised than usual. Then suddenly, out of the mist, burst a hurricane of shellfire, swiftly followed by the grinding sound of hundreds … Read more

TV historian David Olusoga says racism in broadcasting made him clinically depressed

TV historian David Olusoga said racism in broadcasting left him clinically depressed. The Civilisations presenter said it is ‘lonely’ as a black person in the television industry and he has often been left feeling ‘patronised and marginalised’ throughout his career.  Speaking in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter movement, the historian said the industry … Read more

Napoleon-obsessed historian shot student lover four times and dismembered her, court hears

  Napoleon-obsessed historian shot his student lover four times in the head and kept her body in his flat for days before dismembering her, court hears Professor Oleg Sokolov, 64, shot Anastasia Yeschenko, 24, during an argument He ‘squeezed the victim’s neck with his hands’ before firing three more shots Sokolov dismembered body and dumped parts … Read more

Historian Tom Holland says Britons will see boarding up of Winston Churchill’s statue as ‘sinister’

Popular historian and bestselling author Tom Holland said many Britons will regard the boarding up of Winston Churchill’s statue as ‘sinister’ after it was covered to protect it from further attacks.   Mr Holland, 52, also claimed the sight of locals in Poole, Dorset, needing to defend the statue of founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden-Powell … Read more

Historian unearths camera from World War One that is still in working order

The selfie a WW1 German soldier took with camera he stole from a dead British soldier is developed after over 100 years – as historian seeks to reunite Kodak with its original owner’s family A picture of a World War One German soldier has developed after over 100 years German veteran Ernst Behnke took camera … Read more

Coronavirus is a deadly wake-up call, writes historian DOMINIC SANDBROOK

One day, long after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is behind us, historians may see the last few days as the moment when the world tumbled into the abyss. On Thursday, the head of the World Health Organisation declared that mankind stood at a ‘decisive point’. The world faced ‘a crisis, an epidemic that … Read more