Kirsty Fairclough, Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester has always been an English city that tells its story through culture. Its reputation was not built solely through a global crucible of industry, commerce or politics but through music, football, television, art and a tradition of creative self-invention. The northern English city of Manchester has played
Pragya Agarwal, Loughborough University Homer’s Odyssey is a quest, following King Odysseus’s ten-year journey back home to Ithaca after the Trojan war. It is a tale with distinct geographic, spatial and temporal dimensions. It is no wonder that for centuries, people have been intrigued by the places mentioned in the Odyssey, wondering how
Ph. The founding generation: James Madison, left, and Thomas Jefferson, both proponents of the separation of church and state. Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Steven K. Green, Willamette University The Trump administration’s Religious Liberty Commission released its report on June 26, 2026, on the state of religious freedom in the United States,
Ph. Violet Gibson pictured after her arrest in 1926. wikimedia Giovanni Pietro Lombardo, Sapienza University of Rome and M. Andrea Pisauro, University of Plymouth Benito Mussolini stepped out onto the Piazza del Campidoglio at 10:58 in the morning of April 7, 1926. He had just delivered a speech prepared for him by his
Duncan Garrow, University of Reading The story of Stonehenge starts around 5,000 years ago. But its famous old stones, some of which were transported all the way from south-west Wales to Wiltshire, are just part of the story. Close to the beginning of its use, the site was a cemetery, with dozens of
Ph. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were shipped from the Gold Coast, today’s Ghana. National Maritime Museum, London, CC BY Nana Kesse, Clark University The transatlantic slave trade was a multilayered, highly commercialised global enterprise that lasted from the early 1500s to the mid 1800s. The events over this period are far
Gemma Ware, The Conversation https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html When Roberto Baggio missed a penalty in the 1994 Fifa World Cup final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, more than 94,000 people were there to watch Italian heartbreak and Brazilian ecstasy. To this day, no other World Cup has been as well attended as the 1994
Ph. Ghana fans will be cheering their team alongside nine other African nations at the World Cup finals. Adera Abdoulaye Dolo/Pexels, CC BY Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu, Stephen F. Austin State University The 2026 men’s Fifa World Cup marks a seismic shift in the global football landscape. The decision to expand the final
Ph. Martina Tonetto Clare Carolin, King’s College London I was texting a museum director friend in Asia recently. We were discussing whether a trip to this year’s “artworld Olympics”, the Venice Biennale, justified the carbon release. I felt ambivalent. The main exhibition is curated by Koyo Kouoh, whose 2016 edition of Ireland’s Biennale,
Ph. Allegorical Portrait of Elizabeth I, unknown artist (1610). Corsham Court Lynsey Cowlishaw, King’s College London In March 1603, Elizabeth I refused to go to bed. For days, she sat on cushions in her Richmond Palace chamber, silent and withdrawn, as her courtiers waited for the end. It’s a final moment that can