History Revealed

History Revealed brings the past to life for everyone. It’s an action-packed, image-rich magazine with zero stuffiness. Each issue has a central section that takes a closer look at one of history’s big stories, such as the Wild West or Ancient Rome, telling everything you need to know. We also explore the lives of the truly famous, follow the great adventures of the past, taste the blood and thunder of battles, and look at how closely Hollywood blockbusters have told history. Plus, we answer questions about some of the more surprising and strange aspects of the past. If you want to get into history, subscribe today.

WELCOME APRIL 2020

THIS MONTH’S BIG NUMBERS

GET INVOLVED

Snapshots

THINGS WE LEARNED THIS MONTH.... • RECENT HISTORY HEADLINES THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE

Ravenmaster at the Tower of London

April fools! The fake joke stories that duped Britain • The Mail on Sunday,1 April 1990 |Daily Mail, 1 April 1991| Today, 1 April 1994

London Zoo opens (but not to everyone)

YEAR IN FOCUS....1842 • SNAPSHOTS OF THE WORLD FROM ONE YEAR IN THE PAST

DIED: 13 MARCH

The Pilgrimage of Grace

THE SECRETS AND LIES OF COLD WAR SPIES • They engaged in thrilling adventures in a shadowy world. But who were the spies who turned traitor during the Cold War, what were they up to, and why did they do it? Michael Goodman steps into the secret world of history’s real James Bonds...

THE SUPER SPIES ON BOTH SIDES • Information was a vital weapon in the Cold War, and these men and women, whether for ideological beliefs or money, were on the front line

GADGETS AND GIZMOS: INSIDE THE COLD WAR SPY’S TOOL KIT • Some of the most exciting and innovative gadgets were conceived and built for spies and spying during the Cold War. Among the most important were those that allowed agents in hostile environments to interact with their handlers without arousing suspicion from those around them – important for spies in the West, but particularly crucial for those living and working in the Soviet Union

DID YOU KNOW?

IS JAMES BOND ANYTHING LIKE THE REAL SPIES? • Spies depend on secrecy so it needed a fictional agent to bring the world of espionage out of the shadows

DISNEYLAND'S DIFFICULT BIRTH • Walt Disney had a singular vision for his theme park, which, as Richard Snow explores, only a man of his ambition could achieve

WHAT WAS WALT LIKE? • To his adoring public he was Uncle Walt, but he was a shrewd, sombre businessman through and through

What’s in a Name? • Emma Slattery Williams explores ten of the strangest sobriquets that have persisted through the ages

Best of the rest

THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION • From 1791-1804, the Caribbean isle of Hispaniola burned and convulsed as enslaved Africans rose up in rebellion after rebellion – finally emerging as independent Haiti. Hakim Adi examines how the first successful revolution of enslaved people came to pass

TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE • Who was the man who led the revolution?

BREAKING THE CHAINS • The Haitian Revolution was not a one off, as this trio of slave uprisings reveal

BEDLAM ‘PALACE FOR LUNATICS’ • The infamous asylum for the mentally ill has a fearsome reputation. How bad was it really? Paul Chambers explores what went on inside its walls, and how ‘Bedlam’ became a byword for chaos

LONDON’S PRIVATE MADHOUSES • Some of London’s mental asylums were run purely for financial gain...

BETHLEM'S TERRIFYING TREATMENTS • They say you have to be cruel to be kind, and judging by the treatments below, that was once the outlook held at Bethlem...

A SNAPSHOT IN TIME • During the 1850s, Bethlem patients were captured on camera by society photographer Henry Hering. His images provide a rare, and often...