FORGOTTEN HISTORY: 2 - The Untold Story

Poem of the week: The Secret Day by Stella Benson

Writing towards the end of the first world war, the poet, novelist, journalist and suffragist Benson here dreams of a secure peace

The Guardian - UK · Feb 2

Cape Fever by Nadia Davids review – a power struggle between mistress and maid

Set in a colonial city after the first world war, this story of a battle of wills between an elderly widow and her young servant is deftly told

The Guardian - UK · Dec 30, 2025

Princess Kate marks royal first at moving Armistice Day service

The Princess of Wales wore a military-inspired black coat, a wide-brimmed hat adorned with a bow, and two poppies

The Independent UK · Nov 11, 2025

Identities of lost war heroes uncovered in time for Remembrance Sunday

The remains of 52 British and Commonwealth soldiers have been identified following investigations by Ministry of Defence ‘war detectives’.

Evening Standard · Nov 8, 2025

After the first world war, séances boomed – and dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home

In March 1915, a young British man named Raymond Lodge was deployed to Ypres, France, to fight on the front lines of the first world war. By September, he was dead, aged just 26.

The Conversation · Oct 29, 2025

Ralph Fiennes on ‘painful’ comparison between young cast and Ukrainians at war

Fiennes stars in The Choral, which follows his character as he recruits teenagers into a choral society during the First World War.

Evening Standard · Oct 12, 2025

AI, drone ships and new sensors could leave submarines with few places to hide in the ocean

For over a century, the ocean has been the ultimate refuge for those who wished to disappear. From the U-boats of the first world war to the nuclear-powered leviathans that glide through today’s deep waters, the submarine has thrived on one simple principle: stealth.

The Conversation · Oct 9, 2025

Taylor Swift has branded herself a showgirl. These hardworking women have a long and bejewelled history

The iconic feathered showgirl was born amid the chaos of the first world war, when the wealthy, global French superstar Gaby Deslys entertained Parisians and Allied soldiers in a 1917 show called Laissez-les tombe! (Let Them Fall), a dazzling spectacle of ostrich feathers, rhinestones and beauty.

The Conversation · Oct 2, 2025

Princess Royal rededicates war cenotaph to those who made ‘ultimate sacrifice’

Hundreds of people from Dunfermline were killed it the First World War.

Evening Standard · Sep 26, 2025

Scots soldiers laid to rest exactly 110 years after they fell in First World War

The MoD’s war detectives used DNA to identify the remains, which were found during construction work near Lens, a city in northern France.

Evening Standard · Sep 25, 2025