All About History

We tend to hold a pretty grim picture of medieval life in our minds as a default. The concept of the Dark Ages has probably coloured things a little, while miniatures and illuminations depicting hideous boils and gruesome surgeries have done the repu

The Supreme Court ruled that American laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional in the ruling for the Loving v. Virginia case. The case concerned Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial married couple who had been found guilty in Vir

14 INSIDE WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL 16 ANATOMY OF A HIPPY 18 INFLUENTIAL HIPPIES 20 NOT ALL PEACE AND LOVE ■

The peace symbol is introduced by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at their inaugural meeting in London. It is designed by Gerald Holtom and is based on the semaphore signals for N and D. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey makes his

Between 15 and 18 August 1969, a farm in the small town of Bethel, New York became host to one of the most iconic music events of all time. Thousands of young “hippies” descended on the grounds of a dairy farm, at which stages had been erected and pe

Of all the musical legends associated with the hippy movement, the name of Janis Joplin is one of the most famous. She instantly became a counter-culture icon due to her psychedelic musical styles, which infused rock with traditional blues. Previousl

As a Black musician bringing a civil rights message to a largely white hippy crowd, Hendrix bridged the gap between two major social movements of the 1960s. With his colourful Carnaby Street clothing and sensuous style, he also fully embraced the ima

Why was the US involved in the Vietnam War? Since the start of the Cold War, the USA had become increasingly afraid of the spread of communism. Interestingly, this was never the Soviets’ objective. While countries embraced Leninism, for example Cuba,

Few places in the UK have kept up the hippy vibe into the modern day quite so much as Glastonbury has. You may know it for the famous music festival that takes place near Pilton each year, but the town itself is a haven of hippy fashion, trends, and

When she died in 1316, Tevena, a merchant woman of Lyon, possessed a range of precious stones, including a sapphire believed to cure swellings. Tevena was not a trained physician or surgeon, but she owned healing objects for addressing her own medica

By 1933, Fritz Lang had become the most celebrated director working in Germany. Movies such as Metropolis (1927) and M (1931), while not as commercially successful as some of his other works, cemented his reputation as a cinematic genius. That same y

During the Bronze Age, there were two major civilisations that dominated ancient Greece. The Minoan culture emanated from the island of Crete, while the Mycenaean civilisation was established on Greece’s mainland. Though the Minoans had been a powerf

While the Magna Carta has gone on to be considered a hugely significant and influential document, the peace it was supposed to bring between King John of England and the powerful barons was not long-lasting. With King John reneging on his promises an

Look at most lists of the great artists who worked in Britain and you’re unlikely to find many women listed. Why is this? You might immediately assume that perhaps there were few female artists to begin with, but you’d be wrong. In fact, as a new exh

The Great Depression in America set the stage for a perfect storm. The clash of economic turmoil, larger-than-life figures, and sensationalised media coverage propelled the likes of mobsters and outlaws into the limelight. The frenzy of chaos, hype,

When Austrian troops advanced to attack two French divisions near Marengo, Italy, on 14 June 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte was shocked. Fully expecting the Austrians to avoid a fight, he had detached several of his divisions to block potential escape rout

It is a battle still celebrated today in modern Russia as the very heart and soul of their courage and fortitude against an invading army. On the surface, the Molotov–Ribbentrop non-aggression pact of 1939 between Hitler and Stalin gave each what the

In 1819, a group of British hunters following a tiger through the jungle near the city of Aurangabad in India made an amazing discovery. When the tiger disappeared into a ravine, the hunting party followed and came across a man-made entrance in the r

An engaging and well-acted, if sometimes cliché-ridden, Holocaust drama Cert: 15 Director: Tali Shalom-Ezer Cast: Harvey Keitel, Melanie Lynskey, Jonah Hauer-King Released: Out now “In this hell we’re in, we’re only given two choices. The bad one and

Did you know that the Ancient Greeks invented pancakes? Tiganites most likely have their origins in an ancient Greek pancake known as teganites, a recipe for which still exists thanks to the physician Galen and his book On The Properties of Foodstuff

Director: Marie Kreutzer Starring: Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Katharina Lorenz Country: Austria Year: 2022 Can this even accurately be called a biopic of the famous Empress Sissi? VERDICT: There’s really not much that’s accurate in this oth