In the centenary year of the BBC, this Virtual Branch talk from Marcus Collins relates the strange tale of how the BBC did and did not broadcast about homosexuality in the 1950s and 1960s and what it tells us about sexuality, broadcasting and the origins of permissiveness in mid-twentieth century Britain.  Marcus Collins...

Professor David Olusoga is a revered TV historian, a writer and a practising academic at Manchester University. In 2022 he was the recipient of the Historical Association's annual Medlicott medal, awarded for outstanding contributions to history. The recipient of the medal provides the closing lecture of the HA's annual awards evening. Professor...

Addressing issues of the legacies of racism created by the transatlantic slave trade and the narratives of its abolition  The Medlicott Medal is awarded annually for outstanding services and contributions to history. This year the Medal went to Professor Catherine Hall, who is Emerita Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History at...

Professor Paul O’Prey has engaged international audiences with the history of First World War poetry. During the recent centenary, he also produced two new anthologies for the Imperial War Museum and published the first collected work of Mary Borden, American philanthropist and humanitarian, nurse, and wartime poet. Sound artist Mira...

In this podcast Professor Eric Evans discusses the relationship and rivalry between Gladstone and Disraeli and their reforms.

In this podcast Dr Anne Logan of the University of Kent looks at how the Women's Movement developed and changed in the years subsequent to achieving the vote.

In this podcast Dr Catherine Horler-Underwood of the Cardiff University discusses changes to law and justice in Wales from 1543 to 1830.

In this podcast Professor Justin Fisher discusses why Magna Carta is still significant today.

In this podcast Professor Eric Evans looks at the rise, fall and legacy of Margaret Thatcher's premiership.

In this podcast Simon Bendry, Programme Director for the UCL Institute of Education’s First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme, discusses the programme and its impact. This podcast was recorded as part of the Teacher Fellowship Programme on Conflict, Art and Remembrance.

In this podcast Paula Kitching looks at the history of the British Jewish Community from 1800.

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore nineteenth century social reform and its effect in changing, gradually, the role of the state. This includes videos looking at the New Poor Law, Factory and Education Acts and the campaign to repeal the...

In this podcast Dr Stuart Aveyard of Queens University Belfast looks at the origins of the Northern Irish Civil rights movement that developed in the 60s and 70s and the impact of Bloody Sunday.

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore the Peterloo Massacre, looking at its origins, outcome and longer term historical significance. The playlist also contains 18 dramatised primary sources drawn from The National Archives and the Parliamentary Archives. These are designed to...

In this podcast Professor Richard Huzzey and Dr Henry Miller of the University of Durham discuss their research project on 'Re-thinking petitions, Parliament, and people in the long nineteenth century'. During this project they analysed records of 1 million public petitions to the House of Commons in the period 1780-1918 - and...

In this podcast Professor Keith Laybourn of the University of Huddersfield examines the key social, political and economic problems of the 1920s and 30s.

In this podcast Dr Samantha Knapton of Nottingham University and Jennifer Shearman of Queer Britain explain how their work has come together to reveal and present the hidden history of LGBTQ+ lives across Britian and beyond. Queer Britain is the UK’s first museum dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community and its...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore the history of radicalism in the nineteenth century, including the Spa Fields Riots, the Pentrich Uprising, Luddism, the Swing Riots and the March of the Blanketeers. The playlist also provides an overview of key...

There is a great deal of discussion at the moment about how we engage with and confront the history and legacies of slavery in twenty-first century Britain. A lot of attention has been placed on men like slave trader Edward Colston or merchant and slave-owner Robert Milligan, both of whom were memorialised...

Mass-Observation is probably the most consistently useful source for the study of mid and late 20th social lives Britain. It was established in 1937 with the aim of investigating ordinary life and developing an 'anthropology of ourselves.' It used a range of different methods to collect information, from recording overheard...