It is ferocity and incompetence that have characterised Figes's own extraordinary war with academics, and dominated the headlines earlier this year. The stakes could not have been higher.

THE mystery of a badly corroded pocket watch, recovered from a wrecked warship hailed as Scotland's Mary Rose, has finally been solved – thanks to medical science and good old-fashioned detective work.

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FORMER World War Two pilots and navigators are holding a signature session to mark 70 years of a Hatfield fighter plane this weekend.

Simon Schama is one of the UK's most brilliant historians and particularly excels at telling stories. His BBC series A History of Britain is arguably the most provocative and engaging televisual narrative of our island story ever produced. So it is no surprise that the government wants Schama to play a role in reshaping the school history curriculum.

As the most barbaric event of the twentieth century, the Nazis' mass extermination of Jews during World War II has served as the basis of countless books, plays, and films over the past sixty years.

A Russian archaeologist claims to have found the well-preserved ruins of a previously unknown Bronze Age civilization in Russia's North Caucasus.

A Russian archaeologist claims to have found the well-preserved ruins of a previously unknown Bronze Age civilization in Russia's North Caucasus.

But did it really happen?! Read more Share this:

For 70 years the Parisian apartment had been left uninhabited, under lock and key, the rent faithfully paid but no hint of what was inside.

A rare, first-person account of the ordeal of one of the survivors of the Titanic disaster will soon hit the auction block.

The appointment of historian and presenter Simon Schama as the Coalition Government's new history tsar has been condemned as insincere and insulting by a leading academic.

elangelo's er..Tracey?

The latest tests conducted by anthropologists at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have proven that the bacteria Yersinia pestis was indeed the causative agent behind the "Black Death" that raged across Europe in the Middle Ages.

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The academic Simon Schama, who presents the BBC series A History of Britain, has agreed to advise ministers on an overhaul of the curriculum, the education secretary, Michael Gove, said today.

Gove said the move would ensure that no pupil leaves school without learning "narrative British history".

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Germany is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its reunification.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is leading the celebrations, hosted by the northern city of Bremen, where tens of thousands of people have turned out.

Germany is finally paying off World War I reparations, with the last 70 million euro (£60m) payment drawing the debt to a close.

The graph would be really useful to use!

The top photo is an actual photograph taken of President Obama leading several people to the East Room. However, the state-run Egyptian paper didn’t like that their president, Hosni Mubarak, was in the back of the group. They made the logical decision to show their president leading the way through the White House, which is clearly what happens when foreign dignitaries come to speak to Obama. Journalism at its finest.

Germany will finally clear its First World War debt by repaying nearly £60million this weekend.

The £22billion reparations were set by the Allied victors – mostly Britain, France and America – as compensation and punishment for the 1914-18 war.

Gaskell was a Victorian novelist, also notable for her biography of her friend Charlotte Brontë…[more] Share this:

A 250-year-old antique pistol taken from an Italian museum by a British squaddie as a souvenir during World War II has finally been returned, fulfilling the old soldier's death bed wish.

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Sylvia Pankhurst, the daughter of Dr. Richard Pankhurst and Emmeline Pankhurst, was at Drayton Terrace, Old Trafford, Manchester on 5th May, 1882. Her father was a committed socialist and a strong advocate of women’s suffrage. He had been responsible for drafting an amendment to the Municipal Franchise Act of 1869 that had resulted in unmarried…

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Mao's most important departure from mainstream communist thought was his belief in the peasantry and a peasant uprising.

A Cambridge University historian died after a junior doctor working his second shift mistook a fatal heart condition for mild chest pains, an inquest heard.

Presidential Debate 1960On 26 September 1960, 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever televised presidential debate. It was the first of four televised “Great Debates” between Kennedy and Nixon. The first debate centered on domestic issues. The high point of the…

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The most troubling and satisfying aspect of The Conspirator, director Robert Redford's account of the Surratt case, is the comparison it draws between the actions taken by the Andrew Johnson administration immediately after the event of Apr. 14, 1965 — the first assassination of a U.S. President — and the Bush Administration's actions in the months and years after the events of Sept. 11, 2001…

Art historians may have finally solved a centuries-old puzzle over the origin of a fashion favorite: blue jeans.
The discovery lies in the artwork of an unknown 17-century north Italian artist, dubbed the "Master of the Blue Jeans," which went on display in Paris this week, the AFP reported.

The musical instrument that caused the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall to cry with laughter has its roots in a bizarre device created in the 16th century, its creator has revealed.

France says comments by former Cuban leader Fidel Castro about its treatment of Roma migrants are unacceptable and show his ignorance of history.

David Irving, the controversial historian, has outraged war veterans and survivors’ groups with a tour of sites related to the Nazi occupation of Poland.

A pocket book which was passed between injured soliders to record their poems and messages by a First World War nurse has emerged after 92 years.

It took Barack Obama 18 months to put his own stamp on The Oval Office but it appears he needs a history lesson about its new contents.

The new rug adorning the famous floor, it was said, was woven with quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

But the quotations attributed to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King in the wheat-coloured carpet in fact came from reformist and abolitionist Theodore Parker.

It took Barack Obama 18 months to put his own stamp on The Oval Office but it appears he needs a history lesson about its new contents.

The new rug adorning the famous floor, it was said, was woven with quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

But the quotations attributed to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King in the wheat-coloured carpet in fact came from reformist and abolitionist Theodore Parker.

The Horrible Histories series has been a great success in teaching children about the lives of the Romans, Aztecs and Egyptians, among others. But could history also hold the key to encouraging our children to eat better?

The Horrible Histories series has been a great success in teaching children about the lives of the Romans, Aztecs and Egyptians, among others. But could history also hold the key to encouraging our children to eat better?

Britain's dry early summer has made 2010 a "vintage year for archaeology" with crop marks revealing several hundred new sites, according to English Heritage.

Britain's dry early summer has made 2010 a "vintage year for archaeology" with crop marks revealing several hundred new sites, according to English Heritage.

As the 70th anniversary of the start of the blitz approaches, Duncan Campbell reveals how black marketeers, thieves and looters took advantage of the misfortunes of war

As the 70th anniversary of the start of the blitz approaches, Duncan Campbell reveals how black marketeers, thieves and looters took advantage of the misfortunes of war

Marcel Albert, who became one of the leading French fighter pilots of World War II, flying Soviet-built planes in duels with German aircraft on the Eastern front, died Monday in Harlingen, Tex. He was 92.

Marcel Albert, who became one of the leading French fighter pilots of World War II, flying Soviet-built planes in duels with German aircraft on the Eastern front, died Monday in Harlingen, Tex. He was 92.

By the 1970s, she was internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary and book Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. Mother…

COUNCIL officials in Runnymede are joining national attempts to establish a new bank holiday in 2015 to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta.

COUNCIL officials in Runnymede are joining national attempts to establish a new bank holiday in 2015 to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta.

An award-winning TV historian is using ancient maps to fight plans to route hundreds of walkers through his front garden after claims he has blocked off a public footpath.

An award-winning TV historian is using ancient maps to fight plans to route hundreds of walkers through his front garden after claims he has blocked off a public footpath.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says the refusal of Romania's central bank to withdraw a coin bearing the image of a prime minister who stripped Jews of their citizenship before World War II is "insensitive" to the memory of Holocaust victims.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says the refusal of Romania's central bank to withdraw a coin bearing the image of a prime minister who stripped Jews of their citizenship before World War II is "insensitive" to the memory of Holocaust victims.

A woman who urinated on a war memorial in Blackpool and performed a sex act nearby has been barracked by veterans.

A woman who urinated on a war memorial in Blackpool and performed a sex act nearby has been barracked by veterans.

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of 50 Aztec children during excavations for a new subway line in Mexico City.

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of 50 Aztec children during excavations for a new subway line in Mexico City.

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From about AD 800 to 1300 the Earth underwent a slight warming period so dubbed "The Medieval Warm Period."…

From about AD 800 to 1300 the Earth underwent a slight warming period so dubbed "The Medieval Warm Period."…

While memories of the Battle of Britain remain fresh in the minds of The Few who flew, and the staff who supported them, veterans fear its significance could soon be forgotten by others.

While memories of the Battle of Britain remain fresh in the minds of The Few who flew, and the staff who supported them, veterans fear its significance could soon be forgotten by others.

The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on May 1, 1960, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and during the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet Union airspace. The United States government at first denied the plane’s purpose and mission, but…

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Tracing the history of English villages or pieces of land is to become easier with a new online database that helps map out records from the Domesday Book.

Tracing the history of English villages or pieces of land is to become easier with a new online database that helps map out records from the Domesday Book.

The Florence Nightingale museum is a good place to start learning about the famous nurse. You may also like to listen to this rare recording of Nightingale speaking in 1890. Share this:

Annie Oakley (August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926), born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley’s amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar…[wikipedia article] Share this:

Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, of Isolabella and of Leri (August 10, 1810 – June 6, 1861) was a leading figure in the movement toward Italian unification. He was the founder of the original Italian Liberal Party and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, a position he maintained (except for a…

Polymath writer of epic history of modern Europe relished controversy even after disease trapped him in his own body

Polymath writer of epic history of modern Europe relished controversy even after disease trapped him in his own body

Fidel Castro, the former Cuban leader, has delivered his first speech to the national assembly since resigning over ill health four years ago.