History Extra

BBC History Magazine aims to shed new light on the past to help you make more sense of the world today. Fascinating stories from contributors are the leading experts in their fields, so whether they're exploring Ancient Egypt, Tudor England or the Second World War, you'll be reading the latest, most thought-provoking historical research. BBC History Magazine brings history to life with informative, lively and entertaining features written by the world's leading historians and journalists and is a captivating read for anyone who's interested in the past.

WELCOME FEBRUARY 2026

THREE THINGS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

ANNIVERSARIES • DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in February in history

How is nostalgia shaping our view of the past? • In our politically unstable modern world, the allure of retreating into memories – sometimes mirages – of bygone eras seems to have grown. Six historians explore how this tendency impacts our historical understanding

“Great histories have been written under the intense pressure of events”

THIS MONTH’S TOP PODCAST PICKS

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED THIS MONTH • JAMES OSBORNE highlights four insights shared by experts on our HistoryExtra podcasts

“This was the site for what may have been Britain’s first refugee camp” • KAVITA PURI on immigration debates in the 18th century

LETTERS

History Extra

WHY BRITAIN TURNED ITS BACK ON THE GOOSE STEP • Extremism was on the march across continental Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Yet Britons chose a different, more moderate, path. Alwyn Turner explores why the posturing and rants of would-be dictators largely fell on deaf ears between the wars

Lady Charlotte Schreiber Extraordinary art collector • She was a headstrong scholar who contributed hugely to the study of medieval literature and challenged the societal norms of the 19th century. So why isn’t she better known? CAROLINE MCCAFFREY-HOWARTH traces the adventures of an unsung heroine

What was the most important year in history – and why? • Our crack team of historians, broadcasters and authors offer their takes on a conundrum that continues to divide opinions

WHY ROME FELL • How do civilisations collapse? That was the question at the heart of Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Two hundred and fifty years after it was published, Guy de la Bédoyère argues that Gibbon’s magnum opus remains a landmark in the writing of history

Q&A • A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

By 1889, Jack the Ripper’s grisly murders had sparked terror across London. So when a woman’s headless, mutilated body was found beneath railway arches near the Thames, a coded alert was dispatched to all Metropolitan Police divisions: “Another Whitechapel.” But her killer wasn’t Jack… • Lucy Worsley investigates the horrifying crimes of the ‘Thames Torso Murderer’

Three in the frame • Which of these men might have committed the Thames Torso Murders?

OFF-PISTE OLYMPICS • Boxing and football? In a Winter Olympics? In October? Held in 1908, the first-ever winter games was an experimental affair. But, writes Martin Polley, it was one that sowed the seeds for future – and snowier – competitions

BREAKING THE ICE • Five athletes who made their mark at London’s Winter Games

How killing powered the industrial age • In the 18th century, developments in finance, weapons and industry converged to create a modern economy born of bloodshed

BOOKS

“I realised there was a story about the National Trust that hadn’t really been told before” • MICHAEL HALL speaks to Charlotte Vosper about the long-hidden stories of LGBTQ people whose lives were connected to the properties owned by the...