1959: The Regent Street Association first decorated the street with Christmas trees lights in 1954 after the Daily Telegraph reported that London looked ‘drab’ at Christmas. (Bettman, Corbis) 1960: As the afternoons descend into darkness in early November, the lights of central London are switched on and hang brightly above shoppers’ heads. (Henry Grant Collection, […]
“Our BODIES, our LIVES, our RIGHTS, our FUTURE”, chants the website of the women’s rights organisation poignantly titled the Handmaid Coalition. Formed in response to the outcome of the 2016 American Presidential election, which, they claim, “changed us all”, this collective are “fighting to ensure fiction does not become reality”. But why would a modern […]
Lord Kitchener was appointed Minister for War in August 1914 and, unlike many of his contemporaries, forecast a prolonged stalemate upon the declaration of war. He recognised the importance of mass recruitment and drew up significant manpower requirements in order to meet such high demands. Volunteers were required, and tapping into powerful sentiments of loyalty […]
Walking into this place really is (excuse the cliché) like stepping back in time – providing you can ignore the chrome coffee machine and smoke-less air of course. Housed in a former Georgian House on Cross Street, this Manchester institution first opened as a pub and restaurant by Thomas Studd in 1870. Before 1901, hard […]
Dubbed ‘the bloodiest war in history’, the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) shook China, its scars both present and still healing today. In 1843, Hong Xiuquan was converted to Protestantism by Western missionaries and founded a God-worshipping society. Five years ago, Luo Huazhong made an important discovery: he loved doing nothing. After quitting his factory job in […]
We have retold the stories of the Second World War without pause since it drew to a close in 1945. Films are an increasingly important way in which we remember the Second World War. But yet, these films, while engrossing in character and wildly popular, do not always reflect how the Second World War actually […]
The seaboard of Southeastern American states has always been prone to dangers imposed by hurricanes. Hurricanes can form several times a year, typically originating off of the coast of Africa, in the Cape Verde area, and travelling North over the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico before hitting the United States. According to CBS News, […]
This article will feature in Issue 37: Oppression and Resistance It is hard to imagine what Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector from Austria who was executed for his refusal to pledge his allegiance to Hitler during The Second World War, had to go through. Bearing in mind that he had to sacrifice his large family’s […]
Hello everyone, and welcome to the History Society for the 2015/16 academic year! After a very busy Welcome Week and Week 1, we’ve kicked the year off with a bang and have loved seeing so many of you at our events or passing by the Welcome Week Fair stall. The History vs. English Pub Crawl […]
January 30th saw the History Society’s annual Trip abroad. This year was the turn of Amsterdam, the historical hotbed of student frivolity. The trip inevitably began with a rather long coach journey from the Armitage Centre to Dover. The long slog was made slightly better with in-flight entertainment courtesy of Shaun of the Dead and […]
HS2 phase 2 is the high-speed train line that will connect Manchester and Leeds to Birmingham and on to London. Promoted as an attempt to bring ‘the UK’s Victorian railway infrastructure dramatically into the 21st Century,’ the Government expects to spend billions in a plan set to transform North-South transport infrastructure, encourage business, boost employment […]
20 years it took for their cherished novel to finally reach television screens were most likely spent anticipating the disappointment they would inevitably feel. How could a TV adaptation of a tale that pushes all human emotion to the very brink of despair, embodied in the charming Stephen Wraysford (played by Eddie Redmayne), ever replicate […]
The end of the Second World War and the collapse of Nazism necessitated an enormous change to German ideals of masculinity. For decades prior to the conflict, it had been drilled into German men to be unfeeling, disciplined and efficient soldiers; their loss to the allies therefore precipitated a crisis of masculinity. When considering this crisis in post-war Germany, it is […]
Factory Records was a fiercely independent and experimental Mancunian record label started by local news presenter and post-punk enthusiast, Tony Wilson. Though it closed down in 1992 its influence on Manchester and the UK music scene is undeniable and continues today. The history of its creation and philosophy reveals why Factory Records remains legendary in […]
