Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 141 i All About History

When I am studying various figures from history, I’m often hoping to find someone who I can feel good about championing and highlighting. I’m always looking for a hero, I guess. The trouble is, people are messy. We make mistakes, we hold contradictory ideas in our heads at once. As a result, it’s challenging to find someone in history who isn’t – to use the modern parlance – problematic. But sometimes, digging up those elements of a person and adding them to the balance of our understanding of them can be informative. Which brings us to the person on our cover this issue, Leonardo da Vinci. The famous polymath, master of art and science, about as true a genius as you could ever wish to find. But for every Mona…

One of the most iconic and groundbreaking buildings of the Victorian era was undoubtedly the Crystal Palace. Erected in 1851 in Hyde Park, London, the impressive structure was designed by architect Joseph Paxton to house the Great Exhibition. The design of the Crystal Palace as one huge glass construction was based on the greenhouses that Paxton had previously designed and built for the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. When Paxton’s designs were officially accepted by the building committee of the Royal Commission on 15 July 1850, the construction of the Crystal Palace was set in motion. The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (to give the event its full name) was intended to be an international event to display items from around the world…

Charles Dickens English, 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870 Charles Dickens wrote 15 novels in total, among which are some of the best-known works in the English language, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. However, unlike some of his contemporaries, Dickens focused his writing on exposing the social evils of his day, primarily that of poverty and exploitation. Dickens had spent his youth in poverty and so knew personally the hardship felt by Britain’s working class. Yet despite this, his works were serialised and popular among all the classes. Queen Victoria was also said to have been an admirer, meeting Dickens shortly before his death. George Eliot English, 22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880 Born Mary Ann Evans, George Eliot held strong left-wing views and…

Leonardo da Vinci is remembered as a ‘dual genius’, the great artist who gave us the Mona Lisa and the great inventor who conceived machines that would not exist for some time, from the parachute to flying contraptions. But did you know that Leonardo was deeply interested in science not apart from his art, but because of it? Insatiably curious, he delved into many sciences – anatomy, hydraulics, geology, botany, mechanics, astronomy – but the one that mattered to him the most was optics, the science that teaches about darkish, smoky, and blurred shadows. He thought that those darkish shadows were key to understanding the human mind. ENTER THE POLYMATH Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15 April 1452, in Vinci, a small village about 20 miles from Florence. His…

In the popular imagination, the Wars of the Roses ended with the death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The House of York had fallen and England belonged to the Tudors under Henry VII. However, it is arguable that the true fight between the houses of York and Lancaster ended 14 years previously. The Battle of Tewkesbury is one of the greatest clashes in English history and was the final direct encounter between the Yorkists and a purely Lancastrian force. It witnessed the death of a prince of Wales, destroyed the ambitions of a queen, entrenched the rule of a king and sealed the grisly fate of another monarch. Its story has all the hallmarks of a medieval epic and was the culmination of decades of…

Book Film TV Podcast Games Other MASTERS OF THE AIR A stunning technical achievement, but haven’t we seen these stories before? Cert: 15 Creator: John Orloff Distributor: Apple TV Cast: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle Released: Out now Adding to the spiritual series of WWII shows, following Band Of Brothers and The Pacific, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have been reunited as producers for this Apple TV show, Masters Of The Air. This is the story of the 100th Bomb Group, the American Flying Fortress heavy bombers stationed in England during the war, who took part in some daring and incredibly dangerous missions over Europe. There are sequences in Masters Of The Air that do for WWII air combat what Saving Private Ryan did for the Normandy beach landings.…

21 March 1960 SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE As an estimated 7,000 protestors demonstrated outside the police station in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa against pass laws (internal passport systems used to racially segregate people), police opened fire on the crowds. The demonstrators had started advancing towards the fence at the station when shots began to be fired, resulting in the deaths of 69 people and harming around 180 protestors. The anniversary of the massacre is now commemorated in South Africa with a public holiday in honour of human rights. 9 April 2005 THE WEDDING OF CHARLES AND CAMILLA Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, married his second wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. The wedding was not attended by Charles’ parents, Queen Elizabeth II…

How did people in the Victorian era care for the dying? Obviously, there were as many ways of caring for the dying in the 19th century as there are today. The main difference, perhaps, was that for the great bulk of the population, dying happened at home. Hospitals restricted their care to a small number of diseases, and were not considered good places to be, so if you had money, you were looked after at home by your family and by servants; if you didn’t have money, you couldn’t afford the hospitals, and so you too were looked after at home by your family. Dying could also be a very prolonged process. If you had, say, tuberculosis, you might well be bedridden for months, possibly years. You knew you weren’t…

The human history of Japan dates back at least 30,000 years. At that point, the four main islands of Japan were connected and land bridges joined them to both Korea in the south and Siberia in the north. The first humans to occupy what is now Japan simply walked in. While their stories remain in the archaeological record as flint tools and the remnants of settlements, we know almost nothing of their history. The development of writing tells us what the Japanese said about themselves. What little does emerge may be part-myth and part-truth, but it reveals a society often riven by war. THE JOMON & THE YAYOI The first culture to develop in Japan was the Jōmon around 10,000 BCE. We do not know what the Jōmon called themselves,…

THE DUKE Director: Roger Michell Starring: Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Matthew Goode Country: UK Year: 2020 This tale of a real-life heist may provide the laughs, but just how much does it ‘steal’ from the past? VERDICT: An incredibly accurate and immensely fun, feel-good portrait of a real-life heist. 01 Kempton Bunton, a 61 year old, becomes embroiled in the theft of Francisco Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery. The film portrays the socially conscious Bunton as having three children, whereas he actually had five. 02 Bunton returns the portrait, walking into the National Gallery and handing it back. However, while Bunton did return the painting, he did it by leaving it at the left-luggage of Birmingham New Street Railway Station. He then turned himself…

Gaining popularity in post-war Japan when supplies were scarce, the okonomiyaki evolved in several directions from the earliest pancakes in Japan from around the Edo period (1603-1868). Originally more crepe-like and sweet, savoury varieties with more ingredients and sauces emerged, each with their own twist or interpretation. From this it gets its name, with yaki meaning ‘grilled’ and okonomi meaning ‘what you want’. Two styles emerged from Osaka and Hiroshima, with the key difference being Osaka pancakes mixed everything into the batter while Hiroshima pancakes cooked toppings on top of a thin base. Post-war rice prices pushed many to try the dish and it remains very popular to this day, served in Japanese restaurants around the world. We’ll take a look at a relatively simple Osaka version, although it has…

28 JUN 1838 THE CORONATION OF QUEEN VICTORIA Following the death of William IV, the 18-year-old Victoria ascends to the throne and is crowned a year later. Despite Victoria describing the event as the ‘proudest moment of my life’ numerous mistakes occur, including the coronation ring being jammed painfully onto the wrong finger. 1851 THE GREAT EXHIBITION Following a number of smaller exhibitions, Prince Albert, Henry Cole and others stage a vast exhibition dedicated to manufacturing and design from across the world. Some six million people visited the exhibition and it raised a staggering £186,000. 1 AUG 1838 SLAVERY IS ABOLISHED In 1834 the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect, freeing 750,000 slaves in the British West Indies. But many of the freed slaves found themselves working as apprentices in…

For over 30 years, John Brown was Queen Victoria’s most important servant. He first came to the attention of the Queen when her and Prince Albert began renting the Balmoral estate, where Brown worked as a pony herder. The pair immediately became enamoured of Brown and he was given the position of personal servant to the Queen. However, following Prince Albert’s death in 1861, historians have speculated as to whether the pair began a relationship far more intimate and scandalous. Brown was transferred (along with the Queen’s pony) to Osbourne in order that she remain exercising and healthy during her period of mourning. Brown’s duties were many, functioning as the Queen’s personal bodyguard as well as her servant. He once apprehended a man who approached her with a pistol, holding him…

1 SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM 221B BAKER ST, LONDON, NW1 6XE Located at 221B Baker Street, the address of the fictional detective, the Sherlock Holmes Museum now serves as a memorial to the supreme sleuth. Opening in 1990, the museum meticulously recreates Sherlock Holmes’ apartment and rooms, filling them with a wealth of Victorian knick-knacks, curios and items from his various adventures. There can also be found wax statues portraying some of the most famous characters from the Doyle stories, including of course Holmes and Watson but also others such as Inspector Lestrade and the villainous Professor Moriarty. The Museum’s shop houses what it claims to be the largest collection of Sherlock Holmes merchandise in the world. Visiting Sherlockians would also do well to drop by the pub named after the…

As the 1980s drew to a close, a quirky group of youthful outsiders began to dominate the New York club scene. These were strange creatures to mainstream observers, a misfit band of queer outcasts who found fame due to their outré styles and shocking subversive humour. Throughout the 1990s, these so-called ‘Club Kids’ ruled the city’s nightlife, their influence spreading far beyond their inner circle and growing to include future celebrities, such as drag superstar RuPaul, among their ranks. For young, queer partygoers the Club Kids were transgressive, exciting and new. “It felt like Babylon,” former member Walt Cassidy reminisced during an interview with Another Man. But, on 17 March 1996 the new Babylon fell, when one of the movement’s creators, Michael Alig, brutally murdered and dismembered fellow Club Kid…

Did you know that a gay man designed the modern computer we use today? Or that a lesbian almost halved the infant mortality rate of New York City? These incredible achievements made by LGBTQIA+ people in science, technology, engineering and medicine have not always been told. While many hid their true identities and sexuality out of fear of persecution, others were left out of the history books altogether. As times have changed and societal views have shifted, their real stories have been unearthed, so here are five LGBTQIA+ people whose contributions, in one way or another, have changed the world. ALAN TURING Known as the ‘father of modern computing’, Alan Turing was a noted genius from a young age. He studied mathematics at Cambridge University where he designed the Turing…

In 1206, the Mongol tribes of Central Asia were brought together under the leadership of one man. Unification under the notorious Genghis Khan marked the start of an impressive empire that would become a world powerhouse, expanding across Eurasia. Though Genghis Khan died in 1227, his descendents would continue to oversee the magnificent empire, and his grandson, Kublai Khan, would found the Yuan dynasty as Emperor of China. The Pax Mongolica, a time of peace within the vast Mongol Empire, was instrumental in facilitating the exchange of artistic and scientific cultures from East to West. A new exhibition at the Musée d’histoire de Nantes is now the first in France to be dedicated to Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire, and features objects that have never been on display in…