BBC History Magazine, BBC History Revealed & BBC World Histories - HistoryExtra

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, back to back

‘Two steps behind’: male royal consorts through history

Leonardo da Vinci’s private relationships: what’s known?

Q&A Why do we say ‘rule of thumb’?

Aidan Turner as Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo: the real history behind the new Renaissance drama

May issue 2021 BBC History Magazine

May 2021 issue of BBC History Magazine out now!

Latest articles

In the news

Today’s events in historical context…

Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and her fiance, Philip Mountbatten at Buckingham Palace, after their engagement was announced, 10th July 1947. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Prince Philip as consort: a life of duty and devotion

In 1845, the Franklin Expedition sailed into the Canadian arctic and never returned. Andrew Lambert explores the real history that inspired the BBC drama The Terror. (Image by Getty Images)

What happened to the Franklin Expedition? The real mystery behind The Terror

Young woman gets hair cut in to a bob

A brief history of changing hairstyles

Triumphant Death chases Londoners from their city

How 17th-century London reacted to the Great Plague

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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…

The Imperial State Crown

Second World War

Q&A Where were the crown jewels kept during World War II?

A statue of Tollund Man, a bog body from the Iron Age. (Photo by Getty Images)

General prehistory

Q&A What are bog bodies?

A union flag flown on HMS Queen Charlotte at the battle known as the Glorious First of June, 1794

Q&A When was the Union Jack or Union flag created?

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and known as the Kingmaker, meets his end at the battle of Barnet in 1471

Q&A Why was Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker?

A set of dentures belonging to George Washington. The first US president wore fake teeth for much of his life

Q&A Did George Washington have wooden teeth?

A portrait of Marie Antoinette

Q&A Did Marie Antoinette really say “let them eat cake”?

Read more answers from the experts

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HistoryExtra Podcast

The latest episodes from the History Extra podcast

Roland Philipps tells the story of Mathilde Carré

Second World War

Traitor or triple agent? The WW2 spy Mathilde Carré

Catherine Fletcher discusses what is known about the private life and relationships of the Renaissance polymath, and considers the historical inspirations for the new TV drama Leonardo. (Image by Getty Images)

Leonardo da Vinci’s private life

Frank Spotnitz and Steve Thompson, creators of the new drama 'Leonardo' starring Aidan Turner, talk about the inspirations behind their series on the Renaissance polymath. (Image by © Fabio Lovino)

Leonardo: bringing Da Vinci to the screen

King Arthur and a hand holding the sword Excalibur.

The legends of King Arthur: everything you wanted to know

Pectoral ornament in the form of a double headed serpent, Aztec/ Mixtec, c 1400/1521 (Photo by Getty Images)

The Aztecs: everything you wanted to know

The bigamy trial that scandalised Georgian England

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Trending in the US

No 10 Downing Street has been home to dozens of prime ministers (and numerous cats) since the iconic residence was first offered to Sir Robert Walpole

23 things you (probably) didn’t know about No 10 Downing Street, the official residence of Britain’s prime ministers

The Great Fire of London, 2-5 September 1666 (Photo by Alamy)

The Great Fire of London: everything you wanted to know

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, c1870. He was the youngest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany: the sickly fourth son of Victoria and Albert

'The Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings: a guide to 8 famous works

Picture galleries

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

2C2A1441

In pictures: 150 years of the British Red Cross

Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in season 4 of 'The Crown'. (Photo by Netflix)

The Crown S4 news: Netflix releases first images of Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher

This photo dated 1948 shows the devastated city of Hiroshima some three years after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city on 6 August 1945, at the end of World War 2. Around 140,000 people, or more than half of Hiroshima's population at the time, died in the first atomic bombing – with another 70,000 people perishing in the bomb dropped over Nagasaki 9 August 1945. (Photo credit should read AFP/AFP/Getty Images)

Second World War

In pictures: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

VE Day revellers blowing party trumpets

Second World War

In pictures: jubilant VE Day street party celebrations

Latest articles

The road to equality Protesters march in New York City, 1976. The gay rights movement in the US is one of LGBTQ history’s most famous stories. (Photo by Granger/Shutterstock)

What are the challenges of telling LGBTQ history?

Babies from a nursery are walked in a pram, c1953

A nation in numbers: 100 years of British life in 7 statistics

17th century engraving showing the execution by hanging of four witches. (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images)

Quiz: Would you have been accused of witchcraft?

A broker looks at his screens at Frankfurt's stock exchange on 15 September 2008. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images)

The 2008 financial crisis explained

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How much do you know about the Vikings? Test your knowledge with our quiz. This mid-19th century painting shows Viking ships on the River Thames. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

History quiz: How much do you know about the Vikings?

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

Medieval quiz

World leaders (l-r) Georges Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson and Lloyd George after signing the treaty of Versailles at the end of the First World War. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images)

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The effects of the disease known as the Black Death

History quiz: how much do you know about the Black Death?

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

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