BBC History Magazine & BBC World Histories Magazine - HistoryExtra

Wrecked buildings in Los Angeles' South Central district following 1992 riots

The 1992 LA riots

Love before duty: the story of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson

The Voynich Manuscript: who wrote the mystery medieval codex and what is it trying to tell us?

English author, poet and philosopher Geoffrey Chaucer, c 1343, Bodleian Library (Photo by Getty Images)

The cosmopolitan Chaucer

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General ancient history

History Traveller, part 1: Meroë, Sudan

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In the news

Today’s events in historical context…

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: a historical perspective

Ramshackle homes in a Newcastle slum, c1880

From riches to rags: David Olusoga reveals how Britain’s grand houses descended into Victorian slums

A scene from the Smithfield Decretals depicting a rabbit beheading a man. Rabbits seem to have a strange place in medieval imagery – and are depicted as having strangely violent tendencies.

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #5: chivalry, medieval killer rabbits and prisoners of war in the 15th century

Passengers reading a newspaper while waiting to disembark from the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury, having sailed from Jamaica, taken by an unknown photographer for the Daily Herald newspaper, 21 June 1948.

Do we need to decolonise history? And if so, how?

Historical Q&As

How did Spanish Flu get its name? When did our ancestors start using toilet paper? Why did the famous Crystal Palace burn down? And where was the WW1 Armistice signed? Here are the top questions about history, answered by historians and experts…

What was a drunkard's cloak used for? This illustration shows a man wearing the archaic punishment tool designed to punish habitual drinkers. (Photo by Getty Images)

Q&A What was a drunkard’s cloak used for?

A calendar

Q&A Where do the names for days of the week come from?

John Wilkes Booth leans forward to shoot President Abraham Lincoln as he watches a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C, in 1865.

Q&A What play was Abraham Lincoln watching when he was shot?

'The Landing of St Augustine in Kent', AD 597

General ancient history

Q&A When did Christianity first arrive in Britain?

Why were the Tudors called the Tudors? The answer lies with Catherine of Valois (pictured), widow of Henry V. (Photo by Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty)

Q&A Why were they called the Tudors?

The Church of St Martin of Tours in Canterbury

Q&A What is the oldest church in England?

Read more answers from the experts

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Pandemics in history

With coronavirus spreading around the world, what might we learn from pandemics in the past?

Clothes infected by the Black Death are burned in medieval Europe

Black Death facts: your guide to “the worst catastrophe in recorded history”

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: a historical perspective

Photo of flu patients during the First World War

First World War

Q&A Why was the 1918-19 pandemic known as Spanish Flu?

c1656: A plague doctor in protective clothing. The beak mask held spices thought to purify air, while the wand was used to avoid touching patients. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&A Why did 17th-century plague doctors wear peculiar beaked masks?

The effects of the disease known as the Black Death

Black Death quarantine: how did we try to contain the most deadly disease in history?

c1955: A child pulls toilet paper from a roll. But what did humans do before toilet paper was invented? (Photo by Mac Gramlich/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

General ancient history

When was toilet paper invented and what did people use before?

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HistoryExtra Podcast

The latest episodes from the History Extra podcast

Man and woman using a long-handled wooden paddle to bake bread in an oven, 15th century. (Photo by Getty Images)

Saturday lecture: Medieval food

Two members of the BEF (British Expeditionary Forces)

Second World War

Indian soldiers at Dunkirk

King John II made prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers by the English during the Hundred Years War, 1356. Illustration

Medieval prisoners of war

David Olusoga in the Bristol house featuring in series 3 of A House Through Time (Photo by BBC–Twenty Twenty Productions–Mark Bourdillon)

David Olusoga on A House Through Time

First Crusade, Siege of Antioch, c1097,14th-century illustration (Photo by Getty Images)

Everything you ever wanted to know about the crusades, but were afraid to ask

Two fighting Irishmen with axes, one hitting another in the head. Illustration after the Roy manuscript, 13th century (Photo by Getty Images)

Saturday lecture: Medieval crime and violence

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Charles Cundall’s painting ‘The Withdrawal From Dunkirk, June 1940’

Second World War

9 things you (probably) didn’t know about Dunkirk

100 women who changed the world

100 women who changed the world

Medieval banquet

What time of the day did medieval people eat?

Princess Margaret attends the premiere of Captain Horatio Hornblower, Leicester Square, 1951. (Photo by Ron Burton/Keystone/Getty Images)

The Queen’s “rebel sister”: 8 facts about Princess Margaret

Picture galleries

Explore our historical galleries covering a wide range of historical periods and topics…

VE Day revellers blowing party trumpets

Second World War

In pictures: jubilant VE Day street party celebrations

Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation), holding a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow Airport, 17 March 1969. (Photo by Jim Gray/Keystone/Getty Images)

In pictures: the history of London’s Heathrow Airport

A family at the seaside in the 1960s.

In pictures: English life in the 1960s, photographed by Tony Ray-Jones

Figure of Tutankhamun

In pictures: the glittering treasures of Tutankhamun

Latest articles

The front facade of the prehistoric chambered tomb of Wayland's Smithy

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #6: Viking military mind games, Anglo-Saxon mind maps, and embroidery before the Bayeux Tapestry

Elizabeth I

History quiz: how much do you know about Tudor Queen Elizabeth I?

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General Early Modern

History Traveller, part 2: St Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow

Postcards from the past

Postcards from the past: a selection of entries from our lockdown competition

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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)

Halloween history quiz: test your knowledge

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

Quiz: 100 Women Who Changed The World

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

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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

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Victorian

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20th Century

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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

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Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

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

Women's history

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Sex and love

The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

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