HistoryExtra Long Reads

Ranking history

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• Ale, terror and a martyr’s death: what not to miss on the Bayeux Tapestry

  October 4, 2026 · 24 min

  David Musgrove and Michael Lewis offer the essential spotter's guide to the iconic medieval embroidery Heading to the British Museum to see the Bayeux Tapestry for yourself? This Long Read, written by David Musgrove and Michael Lewis…

• The Spitfire: love at first flight?

  September 27, 2026 · 22 min

  It’s been hailed as the plane that won the Battle of Britain – but does the Spitfire deserve its all-conquering reputation? Ninety years after this nimble fighter took its maiden flight, this Long Read written by Hattie Hearn explores how…

• A beginner’s guide to medieval farming

  September 20, 2026 · 19 min

  From famine to fines, the life of the medieval farmer was often far from straightforward. In this Long Read, Christopher Dyer offers six tips for those seeking success in running a smallholding in the 13th and 14th centuries. Today’s…

• History repeating?

  September 13, 2026 · 23 min

  It’s human nature to believe that history repeats itself – but might our instinct to look for echoes of the past in the present be misguided, and even dangerous? This Long Read, written by Robert Blackmore, explores why such comparisons…

• The Magdalene laundries: Ireland’s secret shame

  September 6, 2026 · 21 min

  In Ireland, many thousands condemned as ‘fallen women’ were detained indefinitely in Magdalene laundries, forced to toil in harsh conditions. This Long Read written by Louise Brangan – author of The Fallen – reveals how church and state…

• The troubled birth of England

  August 30, 2026 · 21 min

  The collapse of Roman rule in Britain, followed by the emergence of kingdoms established by Germanic tribes, marks one of the most turbulent periods in Britain’s history. But what factors drove this dramatic transformation? This Long Read…

• Cultural dreams v political nightmares: life in interwar Weimar

  August 23, 2026 · 25 min

  In the 1920s and 1930s, Weimar was rife with contradictions, embracing both utopian modernism and Nazism. This German town’s interwar story reveals how democratic dreams can die in the face of economic ills and polarising politics, as this…

• Athens v Sparta: a Greek tragedy

  August 16, 2026 · 22 min

  In 480 BC, Athens and Sparta joined forces to repel one of the greatest invasion forces the world had seen. Yet just a few decades later, they faced off against each other – with dire results for the people of Greece. This Long Read…