Category: Features
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Dance until you Drop; The Dancing Plague of 1518
Abbie Teal narrates how, in 1518 Strasbourg, a bizarre contagion known as the Dancing Plague caused frenzied dancing and death.
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Street Rats and Symbols: The Historical Partnership Between Pigeons and Humans
As a final segment of a five part series, Ailsa Fraser analyses the age-old partnership between humans and pigeons.
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Using Nick Hedges’ Photography to Challenge Narratives of Widespread British Affluence in the 1960s
Many historians deem the 1960s to be a decade of consumerism and affluence which affected the working class. Lauren Hood seeks to complicate this notion through analysing the striking photography of Nick Hedges, who captures the bleak reality for many working class Britons.
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Eugenics and the Dangers of Simplifying Intolerance
Eugenics, coined by Francis Galton in 1883, aims to influence future generations’ racial quality, intertwining with scientific racism and legislative practices such as forced sterilisation. Kate Philips evaluates how the idea of eugenic and its historical interpretations possess a dark side, implicated in human cognition and societal values.
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The Cone-Shaped Hennin: A Small History of a Big Hat
The Hennin is a staple of children’s fancy dress. Elida Lyons offers an explanation as to why this hat dominates the imagery of medieval fashion.
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A Trip Down Gin Lane: An Enquiry into British Boozing
Alcohol consumption is central to British national self-conception and military culture. Olivia Hiskett traces the contentious moral history of alcohol from the eighteenth century to the present.
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The English Dream of Utopia
Fleur O’Reilly tracks the meanings behind the English dream of Utopia, from the Greek translation, through the sixteenth century and the Industrial Revolution.
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Daughter of Castile to Queen of England: A Brief Biography of Catherine of Aragon and Her Place in Tudor England
Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, navigated complex political alliances since childhood. Narrated by Ishaabhya Tripathi, away from merely her tumultuous marriage and lack of male heirs, Catherine’s life profoundly impacting English and European history.
Retrospect Journal 