August 2021

Articles from the August 2021 issue of BBC History Magazine

Police disperse a mob attacking a Hindu temple in Calcutta (now Kolkata) during the violence of Direct Action Day, 1946

Why we should remember… Direct Action Day

A modern fireworks display

General ancient history

Q&A How were fireworks made in ancient China?

Gulielma Lister became the world's leading expert on slime moulds (Illustration by Rachel Dickins)

Gulielma Lister: the female botanist who became the queen of slime moulds

A statue of Oliver Cromwell stares downwards, against a red background

The dark truth about Oliver Cromwell

Ilustration showing thorned brambles growing up the nervous system of a pink torso, the brambles at the bottom of the piece are growing in the shape of a uterus, and there are blackberries where the ovaries should be. A blue, gloved hand is coming in from the left to pluck at the ovary blackberry, and another gloved hand coming in from the right is using gardening secateurs to cut one of the branches. A metaphor for endometriosis, and in a broader sense, women's medical neglect and oppression

General History

The gender pain gap: perceptions of women’s health through history

A plaque which decorated the palace of the Benin Obas, The Obas butchers sacrificing a cow, the most prestigious animal sacrifice

Benin: a kingdom cast in bronze, brought to ruin by Britain

Laurence Olivier pictured in New York, 1933. “In my young mind he was theatrical royalty – almost a kind of monarch,” says Steven Berkoff. (Image by Getty Images)

History hero Steven Berkoff chooses Laurence Olivier (1907–89)

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Emma Dabiri "William Cuffay's story is more relevant now than ever" . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tokyo Olympics 1964: Yoshinori Sakai prepares to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony. Born on the day that the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, he was a symbol of Japan’s postwar reconstruction and peace

Tokyo Olympics 1964: the Games that defined Japan

Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier’s painting portrays the Declaration of the Rights of Man

How progressive was the French Revolution?