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The 30th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1958. (Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

13 remarkable moments in the history of the Oscars

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

The Library The downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots

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Rogues' gallery: Images of criminals incarcerated in prisons including Wormwood Scrubs and Newcastle City Gaol, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their crimes included stealing clothes, money, boots, and leather. Recent research into Victorian mugshot books – and increasing digital access to court and prison records – offers a different picture of Victorian criminality to the one painted by writers such as Charles Dickens, argues Heather Shore. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Dark secrets of the Victorian Underworld: did hardened criminals stalk Britain’s cities?

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Latest articles

In the news

Today’s events in historical context…

BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker with Tony Foulds, 82, who for nearly 75 years has tended the memorial of 10 US airmen who were killed when their B-17 crashed in Endcliffe Park in Sheffield in February 1944. Tony witnessed the crash as an eight-year-old boy. (Photo courtesy of Dan Walker)

Second World War

“We got Tony a fly-past”: how BBC’s Dan Walker organised tribute to WW2 plane crash heroes in Sheffield

A British military post in a street in Dublin during the Easter Uprising, 1916. (Photo by ullstein picture via Getty Images)

The Library The history of Ireland: 11 milestone moments

Queen Anne, based on a work by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c1702–10. Anne's reign saw women take centre stage in fierce political debates. (Photo by Bridgeman/National Trust Photographic Library)

Queen Anne's feuding favourites

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

Brexit and American independence

The Oscars

Ahead of the 91st Academy Awards, which will be held on 24 February at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, we explore the history behind the awards and take a closer look at the historical films being celebrated this year…

The 30th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1958. (Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

13 remarkable moments in the history of the Oscars

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in 'The Favourite'. (Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Entertainment Pictures)

The Favourite: the real history behind the new Queen Anne film

A 16th-century portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: the real history behind the new film

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in the film The Favourite, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. (Photo by Alamy)

The true history of The Favourite

Queen Victoria

Season 3 of the hit drama Victoria is airing in the US

Queen Victoria with her daughter Princess Beatrice at Balmoral Castle. Dogs seem to have been Victoria's favourite animal, writes Richard Sugg. (De Agostini Picture Library)

Queen Victoria’s pets and animals

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?

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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

Queen Victoria, who “displayed a healthy enjoyment of food and drink throughout her life”, says food historian Rebecca Earle. (Getty Images)

Queen Victoria’s voracious appetite for food and sex

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Love before Prince Albert: Queen Victoria’s suitors

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The mourning of Queen Victoria

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More on Queen Victoria

Black History Month 2019

As Black History Month continues in the USA and Canada…

Emmett Till pictured with his mother, Mamie Till Bradley, in the early 1950s. (Photo by Alamy)

The legacy of Emmett Till: the murder that reshaped the American civil rights movement

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200-metre run at the 1968 Olympic Games, engage in a victory stand protest against unfair treatment of blacks in the United States. They refuse to recognise the American flag and national anthem. (Getty Images)

The fight for Black America

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A still from 'Guerrilla', a new Sky Atlantic drama inspired by emergence of British Black Power. (Sky UK Limited)

‘Guerrilla’ and the real history of British Black Power

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Black British history and Charles I’s children

A re-enactment of the American Civil War. The conflict looms large in the US psyche 150 years after if began. (Getty Images)

Civil rights and the Civil War

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Black American civil rights leader Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) addresses crowds during the March On Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, where he gave his 'I Have A Dream' speech. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

Is Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ the greatest speech in history?

More black history

Trending in the US

Four soliders of the 36th Sikhs, various ranks, 1896. The regiment was led in January 1897 to occupy the Samana posts, says Captain Jay Singh-Sohal. (Reproduced with permission from australiansikhheritage.com)

The battle of Saragarhi: when 21 Sikh soldiers stood against 10,000 men

c1943: Soldiers enjoy a baseball match at Wembley Stadium in London between the United States Army and Canadian Forces. With them sits Bobby, the mascot of the Canadian Highland Scottish regiment. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

12 amazing pictures of animals through history

A doctor examines a patient's urine in an illustration from the 13th century. Uroscopy, the study of urine, was one of the medieval physician's most effective tools, and is still employed today. (Photo by Bridgman Art Library)

Medieval medicine: killer or cure?

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A 19th-century portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Elizabeth I’s love life: was she really a ‘Virgin Queen’?

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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 pigeons’ war on Hitler

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"The Knights Templare were able to flight across all terrains. They were the equivalent of the SAS, the Navy SEALS or the French Foreign Legion," says Dan Jones. (Alamy)

The rise and fall of the Knights Templar

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As a child king, Henry VI – shown in a c16th-century portrait – learned the lessons of kingship from books. Unfortunately, those books didn't extol the merits of ruthlessness and practising realpolitik. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

How Henry VI’s love of peace cost him the throne – and his life

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A group of students celebrate their graduation in Cardiff

My student days

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History Extra Podcast

The latest episodes from the History Extra podcast

Catherine Hanley tells the story of Empress Matilda, whose battle for the English throne became known as ‘the anarchy’. (Photo by Jeni Nott for BBC History Magazine)

Medieval warrior queen

Julian Baggini and Justin Champion. (Photo by Fran Monks)

A global history of philosophy

A man helps his partner to dress by lacing her corset. (Photo by Frank Martin)

Love in Georgian times

Richard J Evans. (Photo by Fran Monks)

Eric Hobsbawm: history and politics

In 1877, a major rebellion in Kyushu concentrated the opposition of conservative elements to the westernization of Japan. (Photo by Asian Art/Getty Images)

The story of modern Japan

John Simpson. (Photo by Chris Williamson)

Second World War

War and music

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Kings and queens

Ahead of our Kings and Queens Weekend in March 2019…

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In pictures: kings and queens through history

A portrait of Elizabeth I, c1565. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

The 10 best English queens in history

BBC History Magazine's Kings and Queens Weekend, March 2019

Kings and Queens Weekend 2–3 March 2019

Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor, sits with his wife, Wallis Simpson, at the Chateau de Cands in France, 1937. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

Edward VIII: Nazi sympathiser, playboy prince or peace-loving reformer?

Tom Holland will talk on Athelstan.

Tom Holland The Founding Father of England

Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce in 'Outlaw King'. (Photo by Netfix / David Eustace)

Robert the Bruce: what do we know?

More kings and queens history

Brexit

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

1st May 1975: Three documents, for and against, published for the referendum on the Common Market. The document 'Britain's New Deal in Europe' (centre) contains a recommendation by the government signed by prime minister Harold Wilson for Britain to stay in the Community. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Britain decides: the first European referendum

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?

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The historical significance of Theresa May’s Brexit defeat

The big question: Has the European Union been a success?

The Library The reluctant Europeans

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The Second World War

Everything you need to know...

Contrasting biographies of iconic leader Winston Churchill show how perceptions of historical figures change with the passing of time, says David Cannadine. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

Why Churchill’s reputation is still on the line

Bletchley Park

Second World War

WW2 espionage: The spies who surprised me

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The crew of ‘Mi Amigo’. The pilot, 23-year-old Lt John Kriegshauser, can be seen in the front row, far left. (Photo courtesy of Sheffield County Council via American Air Museum in Britain)

Second World War

Mi Amigo: the deadly WW2 bomber crash in Sheffield play park that killed 10 airmen

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

Second World War

The Library Alan Turing: The man, the enigma

German soldiers with a horse-drawn cart during the retreat from Ukraine in 1943. The idea of Teutonic efficiency was a triumph of Nazi spin, says James Holland. (Keystone/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library The great misconceptions of the Second World War

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The maquis du Vercors were a rural group of French resistance fighters who converged on the Vercors plateau in south-east France. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Second World War

The cruel victory: Paddy Ashdown on the French resistance during the Second World War

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Women's history

Austrian physicist Lise Meitner

6 women in science history you (probably) didn’t know about

Top ( l-r) Agrippina the Elder, Julia, and Livia. Bottom (l-r) Messalina and Agrippina the Younger

The Library The women who built the Roman Empire

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A 'poster parade' of Ealing suffragettes advertising a meeting to be held on Ealing Common, 1 June 1912. (Photo by Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Where history happened: the fight for women’s suffrage

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The Italian-French poet and campaigner for women's rights, Christine de Pizan (1364–c1430). (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Not so silent: the unquiet women of history

25th September 1948: Members of a Women's Institute enjoying a tea break during a canning session at Ashton-under-Edge village hall in the Vale of Evesham. Original Publication: Picture Post - 4647 - Canning Club - pub. 1948 (Photo by Kurt Hutton/Picture Post/Getty Images)

First World War

In pictures: the history of the Women’s Institute

Max Adams. (Photo by Kona Macphee/Royal Literary Fund)

Remarkable women through history

More women's history

Latest articles

Battle of Verdun. French trench on the front lines, 1916. (Photo by Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

First World War

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Verdun

BBC History Magazine March 2019 issue

March 2019 issue of BBC History Magazine out now!

From matriarchs and artisans to traders and travellers, Judith Jesch explores the often rich and adventurous lives of women in the Viking age. (Illustrations by Laura Grace Haines)

Viking women: at home and at war

British soldiers while away the hours in a photograph captioned "The long, long Burmese day", c1892. Many imperial troops went decades without firing a shot in anger. (Photo by National Media Museum/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images)

Britain’s bored imperialists

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History Quizzes

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

The Romanovs, 1913: Nicholas II with his wife and children. (Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

History quiz – The Romanovs

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

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Second World War quiz

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

Medieval quiz

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

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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)

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

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