Latest from History

Death and the maiden: The tale of 'Tangiwai'
It might be a film named for our greatest rail disaster but Tangiwai is also a tragic tale of love and cricket.

All pain, no gain for hip patients
An artificial joint touted as the best on the market has turned into an international medical disaster. The Weekend Herald investigates why no one here saw it coming.

Delay angers kin of Kiwis executed in Kiribati
The Defence Force has been criticised for nine months of "evasive" responses over the possible discovery of long-lost Kiwi war heroes in the Pacific.

Greece: Pure notes of healing sanctuary
The theatre acoustics are fit for the gods at the birthplace of Apollo's son, writes Jim Eagles.

Bathed in ancestral light
A new book and exhibition by photographer Fiona Pardington examines the historic - and now derided - practice of taking casts of people's heads to study their brains. Some were her ancestors.

Not-so lucky immigrants
Aussie actor David Wenham delves into a dark side of his country's past.

The rugby tour that split us into two nations
It is 30 years since the 1981 Springboks flew into New Zealand. For 56 days the country was bitterly, even violently divided. Today we hear from two pivotal figures from opposite sides of the conflict.

Meurant hid clown-bashing cop
Thirty years ago a South African rugby tour divided the country. As the 1981 Springbok team prepares for a reunion, a top police officer reveals the story behind an attack on three protesters.

Paul Thomas: I'll take boring over US loony extremes
Biggest economy wouldn't default over politics, would it?

Fiction Addiction: The Larnachs - fact or fiction?
The historical novel is history-lite, the easiest of entrées into another time and place.

Nothing new about oddball baby names
Quirky baby names may seem all the celebrity rage, but they're not all that original - take Suri and Cruz, says Corrie Taylor.

England: Rhyme with no reason
Tracing the roots of a nursery classic proves surprisingly tricky for Jim Eagles.