BBC History Magazine & BBC World Histories Magazine - HistoryExtra

An illustration of King Arthur's coronation, from the 13th-century Flores Historiarum

8 things you need to know about King Arthur

What if… Boudica had defeated the Romans?

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

Viking women.(Illustration by Laura Grace Haines)

Viking women

The British Museum in London

Virtual museum tours: how to explore the wonders of history from your home

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Pandemics in history

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

Photo of flu patients during the First World War

First World War

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

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

Coronavirus: a historical perspective

A Red Cross worker in the United States, 1918

Spanish flu: the virus that changed the world

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?

Clothes infected by the Black Death are burned in medieval Europe

Black Death facts: your guide to “the worst catastrophe in recorded 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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Today’s events in historical context…

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?

Listening in: a doctor uses a stethoscope to examine a patient in 1948. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

The birth pains of the NHS: how Britain’s National Health Service was created

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The Spanish Flu pandemic

A portrait of Florence Nightingale

Nursing by numbers: how Florence Nightingale campaigned for better conditions

Women's History Month

Marked in both the US and the UK during March, Women's History Month celebrates and highlights contributions of women to history and society…

Which woman has had the biggest impact on world history?

100 Women Who Changed the World

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The Suffragettes

Writer Virginia Woolf photographed in 1932. (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

London’s trailblazing women

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179). (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Doctors, playwrights and feminists: meet 6 trailblazing medieval women

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace: a visionary of computing

Cathy Newman speaks to the History Extra podcast about 'Bloody Brilliant Women'. (Photo by Getty Images)

Women who made modern Britain

Find more articles and podcasts on women's history

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HistoryExtra Podcast

The latest episodes from the History Extra podcast

US Army 7th Division's tanks equipped with flame throwers climbing a ridge on Okinawa. (Photo by W. Eugene Smith/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

Second World War

Okinawa: the battle and the bomb

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The origins of the Tudors

The Vietnam War podcast

The Vietnam War on film

A group of young female Red Army snipers, East Prussia, February 1945 (Photo by Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

General ancient history

Women at war

Simon Sebag Montefiore on letters from history. (Photo by Dreamstime)

Letters that changed the world

A visitor looks at the Bayeux tapestry in Bayeux, western France. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)

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

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Elizabeth I, shown in a portrait commemorating victory over the Armada

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Elizabeth I

Postcard of a group of men wearing identical clothing boarding a boat for a stag party, c1914. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

Stag nights and hen dos: a brief history of bachelor and bachelorette parties

An open Bible on an altar

General ancient history

A history of the Bible: who wrote it and when?

Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, with her husband Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, after their marriage in 1947. (Corbis via Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip: 8 milestones in their marriage

Picture galleries

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

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

A man attacks the Berlin Wall with a pickaxe on the night of November 9th, 1989 as news spread rapidly that the East German Government would now start granting exit visas to anyone who wanted to go to the West. The announcement was misinterpreted as meaning the border was now open and East German border guards were unable to stop the rush of people to the Wall. Within hours people were smashing sections of the Wall with their own hand tools and these first cracks in the Wall led to the complete opening of the border within days. (Photo by robert wallis/Corbis via Getty Images)

In pictures: remembering the Berlin Wall 30 years on

Latest articles

The figure Mulan on a silk print, c19th century

General ancient history

Mulan: the history of the Chinese legend behind the film

An oil portrait of Charlemagne (c747–814), King of the Franks, by 15th/16th-century artist Albrecht Durer. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)

The legacy of Charlemagne: how the king of the Franks continues to cast a shadow over Europe

A painting of the Princes in the Tower

Did Richard III really kill the Princes in the Tower?

The Resurrection of Jesus

Easter eggs, Jesus Christ and the Easter bunny: the history and origins of Easter

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

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Painting of Henry VIII

Henry VIII

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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)

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Social history

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

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