BBC History Magazine & BBC World Histories Magazine - History Extra

The ruins of Dunluce Castle, which sit on the coastal cliffs of North Antrim in Northern Ireland. They are thought to have been the inspiration for CS Lewis’s castle Cair Paravel in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (1950–56). (Photo by Andrea Ricordi/Contributor/Getty Images)

9 of Britain’s best castles

The motherhood revolution: how the great fertility decline affected the lives of women

The Library Leonardo da Vinci’s genius: 7 of his visions for the future

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Podcast Website large Emma Wells - Notre Dame

Notre-Dame

Latest articles

Places to explore

We select the best castles, stately homes and palaces to visit this Easter weekend...

Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn's childhood home in Kent. (Photo by Prisma Bildagentur/UIG via Getty Images)

8 must-visit castles with Tudor connections

Chatsworth House, where Elizabeth I ordered for Mary, Queen of Scots to be imprisoned after she abdicated and fled from Scotland to England in 1567. (Photo by Chatsworth House Trust)

Britain’s 7 most amazing stately homes

Blenheim Palace in a c1880 print from ‘A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland’, edited by Reverend FO Morris, Volume I, William Mackenzie, London. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

10 things you might not know about Blenheim Palace – ‘the real Downton Abbey’

The ruins of Dunluce Castle, which sit on the coastal cliffs of North Antrim in Northern Ireland. They are thought to have been the inspiration for CS Lewis’s castle Cair Paravel in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (1950–56). (Photo by Andrea Ricordi/Contributor/Getty Images)

9 of Britain’s best castles

More places to visit

In the news

Today’s events in historical context…

Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, 15 April 2019. Yet despite the devastation, the fire is “not the worst chapter in its 850-year history”, argues Dr Emily Guerry. (Patrick Anidjar/AFP/Getty Images)

Notre-Dame fire “not the worst chapter in its 850-year history”

Thatcher holds up two shopping bags to show how much less a pound would buy due to inflation under Labour. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Are we still living in Thatcher’s Britain?

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Notre-Dame cathedral, which dates back to 1163. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)

Notre-Dame cathedral: 10 historical facts

A group of skaters on a frozen-over backwater of the River Thames at Abingdon, 1895. (Photo by English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Harbingers of doom: a brief history of climate change warnings

Queen Victoria

As season 3 of the hit drama Victoria continues in the UK...

Attempted assassination of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). On the evening of Wednesday 10 June 1840 Victoria and Prince Albert were travelling in a carriage along Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace, London, when Edward Oxford fired a pistol at the Queen

The man who tried to assassinate Queen Victoria

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784 - 1865), the British Liberal statesman who served almost continually as Prime Minister between 1855 and 1865, pictured circa 1860. (Photo by Herbert Fry/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Lord Palmerston: the people’s champion

Archduchess Ileana’s great grandmother, Queen Victoria, whose birth certificate Ileana desperately needed to get hold of (Getty)

Queen Victoria and the Nazis: the strange tale of the search for the royal family’s Aryan origins

A portrait of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with five of their nine children, by Frederick Winterhalter. (Photo by © Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Library Victoria and Albert: a marriage of misery?

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

podcast-logo_v4_31-21a6c69

The Library The mourning of Queen Victoria

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Queen Victoria of Great Britain with her husband, Prince Albert, and their nine children. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

Queen Victoria’s children

Queen Victoria pictured c1862 during her period of mourning after the death of her husband, Albert, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Library Prince Albert: the death that rocked the monarchy

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Queen Victoria refused to wear her crimson velvet robes of state for her wedding to Albert. Instead, she opted for a dress of pure white and “simple magnificence”. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

“Nothing could have gone off better”: the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

An illustration from 1883 shows the phrenology chart of the skull

The Victorian phrenology craze

As Queen Victoria ended the 19th century, she was not her usual self. She was visibly fading: her voracious appetite had disappeared and she had lost almost half her body weight. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The final days of Queen Victoria

More on Queen Victoria

Game of Thrones

As the eighth and final season of the fantasy epic gets underway...

Hardian's Wall, a world heritage site. (Photo by Getty Images)

A tale of two walls: how Hadrian’s Wall inspired Game of Thrones

Medieval punishments, Toulouse, 14th century. (Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

How bloody was medieval life?

The food served at the wedding of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell may be inspired by accounts of ancient Roman excess, says Ayelet Haimson Lushkov. (© Home Box Office, Inc/Sky Atlantic)

Power plays and scheming queens: the ancient history behind Game of Thrones

KRISTOFER HIVJU GAME OF THRONES

The Library Game of Thrones: medieval inspiration

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Williams, Maisie as Arya Stark

Game of Thrones: the real-life medieval history

The battle of Towton during the War of the Roses, 1461. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

12 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Wars of the Roses

The Library

Unlock exclusive content for BBC History Magazine subscribers

Seeking to remove opponents who questioned his right to be head of church and state, Henry VIII was ruthless in his pursuit of those he deemed traitors. (Image by Alamy)

The Library Henry VIII’s hitmen: the Tudor king’s secret hunt for traitors

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

A protester in a headlock, Southall, April 1979, when a member of the Anti-Nazi League died after being struck on the head. (Images by Getty Images)

The Library 1979: Britain in meltdown

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

The west Cornish tomb Lanyon Quoit, which dates to the Neolithic period (3500–2500 BC). The Anglo-Saxons believed that ancient burial sites were cursed – and guarded by dragons. (Image by Dreamstime)

The Library Giants, dragons and Middle Earth: the Anglo-Saxon fear of the past

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

A poster produced for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) promoting express rail travel to the Lancashire seaside resort of Blackpool, the world’s first working-class seaside resort. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

The Library The great escape: Britain’s love affair with the seaside holiday

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

More from The Library

Trending in the US

A portrait of Joan of Arc,

The Library The real Joan of Arc

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Robert E Lee (seated at the table, left) surrenders to Union commander Ulysses S Grant at Appomattox Court House. (Image by Alamy)

A battle of wills: why the South lost the American Civil War

The bronze statue in Washington DC celebrating Abraham Lincoln's emancipation of slaves shows the 16th president standing over a shackled African American. Lincoln is "one of the towering figures in the story that Americans tell about themselves," writes Lucy Worsley. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Library Lincoln and slavery: “If I could save the union without freeing any slave, I would”

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Children at the Berlin Wall on Sebastianstrasse, Berlin - Kreuzberg - in around 1964. (Photo by Lehnartz/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

The Library The secret history of the Berlin Wall

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Read American history

History Extra Podcast

The latest episodes from the History Extra podcast

Melvyn Bragg speaks to the History Extra podcast about the 12th-century love story of Heloise and Abelard. (Photo by Awakening/Getty Images)

Melvyn Bragg on Heloise and Abelard

Podcast-Website-large-July-2017-James-Evans_0-50db1b0

The Library The English in America

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

podcast-logo_v4_31-21a6c69

The Library The East India Company and Nelson

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

On the latest History Extra podcast, Christopher Somerville discusses his experiences of visiting some of Britain’s historic cathedrals, including Wells Cathedral, pictured. (Photo by Roger Utting | Dreamstime.com)

Exploring Britain’s cathedrals

Old Crofters Cottage, near Broadford, looking North, Isle of Skye, Scotland. (Photo by Getty Images)

The Scottish Clearances

podcast-logo_v4_31-21a6c69

The Library The conquest of Wales and Mary I

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

View all podcasts

Brexit

The history behind Britain’s decision to leave the European Union…

Treaty Of Paris, 1783, by Benjamin West (Photo by Granger/REX/Shutterstock)

Brexit and American independence

(Getty Images)

The Library Why has Britain decided to leave the EU?

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

A cartoon from 'Punch' magazine (1903) titled 'Fidgety Joe', by Edward Linley Sambourne, depicting two parents representing the Duke of Devonshire and Arthur Balfour (centre), respective leaders of the Liberal Unionist and Conservative parties, trying to control their son, Joseph Chamberlain. In 1903, Joseph Chamberlain began his famous crusade for Imperial Preference – an issue which caused deep divisions in the government and ultimately paved the way for the Liberal Party's return to power in the 1906 general election. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Brexit, the Corn Laws and the Common Market: a brief history of Britain’s trade deals

The Library Brexit lessons from history

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

“The anglocentric view we have of British history is unsustainable,” says Misha Glenny

The Library The reluctant Europeans

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Latest articles

"As a patron of crusading, St George easily became the quintessential knight," says Jonathan Good. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

St George’s Day: 10 things you (probably) didn’t know about England’s patron saint

Anita Anand, photographed in London. "My grandfather was in Amritsar on the day of the massacre. This story has been woven into my DNA," she says. (Photography by Alastair Levy)

Books interview with Anita Anand: “Singh hoped that he would be the catalyst for a revolution”

A souvenir for a burlesque adaptation of the classic opera 'Carmen' at the Gaiety Theatre, 1890. (Image by Bridgeman)

The Library Victorian burlesque: cheap thrills for the chattering classes

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Empire Cinema and Casino, Leicester Square, London. It was originally a theatre and ballet venue, before reopening as a music hall in 1884. (Image by Alamy)

The Library History explorer: The birth of British cinema

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

The Second World War

Everything you need to know...

Steve McQueen stars in the 1963 film that turned the 'Great Escape' into a symbol of Allied pluck and ingenuity. (Image by Alamy)

Second World War

The Library The not-so Great Escape

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Alan M Turing and colleagues working on the Ferranti Mark I Computer, 1951.

Second World War

The Library Alan Turing: The man, the enigma

Aleksander Kulisiewicz, wearing a concentration camp uniform, performs at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Italy, 1965. (Image: Kulisiewicz family)

Second World War

The Library Songs of the Holocaust: the music of Aleksander Kulisiewicz

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Bart van Es, winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2019 prize. (Photo by Alamy)

Second World War

Bart van Es on The Cut Out Girl

The wrecked remains of an Allied glider that participated in Market Garden

Second World War

The Library Arnhem: A disaster in the planning

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Members of the Home Guard train racing pigeons as messengers in Blackburn, July 1940. Soon, carrier birds like this would be supplying vital intelligence on German arms factories and troop movements in occupied Europe. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library The pigeons’ war on Hitler

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

Advertisement

History Quizzes

How much do you know about history? Test out your knowledge with our quizzes...

People praying for relief from the bubonic plague, circa 1350. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Medieval quiz

A depiction of a witch on a broomstick. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

History quiz – Halloween

Subscribe for unlimited access to The Library

The results of the poll: 100 women who changed the world. (Photos by Getty Images/Alamy)

Quiz: 100 Women Who Changed The World

great fire 4

Great Fire of London quiz – how much do you know?

View more quizzes

Popular historic periods

Portrait of King Henry VIII, Jane Seymour and Prince Edward. (Photo by Getty Images)

Tudor

Illustrated Medieval scene from the Romance of Lancelot

Medieval

Victorian - Getty Images

Victorian

20th Century - Getty Images

20th Century

Explore more historic periods

Popular people from history

Painting of Henry VIII

Henry VIII

Portrait of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria

Winston Churchill gives his famous v-sign as he opens the new headquarters of 615 (County of Surrey) Squadron of the RAAF (Royal Auxiliary Air Force) at Croydon, 1948. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Winston Churchill

Golden funerary mask of Tutankhamun, inlaid with lapis lazuli, obsidian and turquoise. (Photo By DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

Tutankhamun

Explore more people from history

Popular historic topics

Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

Photo of Mabel Capper and Patricia Woodlock advertising a meeting, Manchester, Lancashire, July 1908

Women's history

Illustration of a couple

Sex and love

The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

Explore more historic topics