Dave Musgrove's blog

The latest issue of BBC History Magazine is now on sale. In our new edition Dan Snow celebrates the Royal Navy’s colourful history and looks at how Britain came to rule the waves. 

Elsewhere in the magazine we look at a major project that may shed new light on Oliver Cromwell. John Morrill writes about the military and political leader's way with words.

This month we examine an ambitious new project – headed by the British Museum and the BBC – to tell ‘A history of the world in 100 objects’. We also reveal how an American scholar travelled around a shattered Europe to record the voices of Holocaust survivors in 1946, and we pay tribute to the pioneering scientists who founded the Royal Society 350 years ago. You can also read about the dawn of the steam age and discover why Winston Churchill came to the aid of London’s roller skaters.

The Second World War started 70 years ago. The BBC History Magazine team have been working hard recently and we've published a separate special collector's edition, the BBC History Magazine Second World War Story, on sale in WHSmith in the UK.

Recently, I nipped along to a preview of the newly revamped Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It was quite a treat.

The latest issue of BBC History Magazine is now on sale. In our new edition we examine the fate of returning First World War soldiers who faced new challenges at home. We also explore the changing nature of Armistice commemorations from 1919 until today.

Elsewhere in the magazine we mark the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall by investigating the secretive history of its creation. Plus BBC reporters offer their memories of the moment when the barrier came down.

If you want to keep up to date with everything that's happening on the BBC History Magazine website, our weekly newsletter is the best way to stay informed. Sign up now and we'll send you the best of the week's updates direct to your inbox every Friday afternoon. 

Ever wondered who the richest man who ever lived was? Or why hatters were known to be mad? Or when sliced bread was invented? Or how the sandal-wearing Romans coped with the English winter?

Well the answers to these and hundreds of other conundrums can be found in our brand new book The Celebrated Pedestrian which compiles the best questions featured in BBC History Magazine’s Q&A section over the past five years.

We've just heard that our November 2008 cover has been awarded Cover of the Year in the Specialist & Hobbies section of the Maggies awards.

Unfortunately we were pipped to the post of Overall Winner by Lily Allen and a pair of panthers on Q magazine.

Thanks a lot to everyone who voted for us. You can still get hold of a copy of the winning edition through our back issue pages.

I've just had a press release from Staffordshire Council on the subject of the Anglo-Saxon hoard announced to considerable media furore last week. The gist of it is that the leader of the council Philip Atkins wants to bring the hoard back to Staffordshire, where it was found. In his words "We will do everything we can to bring the Hoard home". Now that's fine, and entirely understandable. Clearly it's politically expedient for a County Council leader to argue the case for the county he represents.

The October issue is now in the shops.