History Extra logo
The official website for BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed
Vintage photograph of a gentleman from the Victorian era c1880 with a bushy moustache.
General History

A hairy history of the moustache

Membership

What if… Charles II of Spain had produced an heir? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Second World War

Why the Nazis fell in love with the Bayeux Tapestry

Sketch of Guy Fawkes with a lantern kneeling in front of barrels of gunpowder
Stuart

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot: everything you need to know

Premium
Pod Preeti Dhillon WL
Membership

Fighting racism in postwar Britain . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Latest articles

Property 1=Variant2

Bitesize history: watch in under 5 minutes

Could the Nazis have built the world's first atomic bomb?
Second World War

The German Nuclear Weapons Program Could the Nazis have built the first atomic bomb?

Did Ramesses II really have a passport?
Ancient Egypt

Q&A Did Ramesses II really have a passport?

3 myths surrounding the Battle of Britain.
Second World War

Overwhelming odds and inevitable invasions: 3 myths surrounding the Battle of Britain

Trajan statue
Roman

Tom Holland on Trajan "He is vastly overrated"

More historical videos
Homepage 900 x 374 Xmas23 UK book offer

On this day in history

What happened on this day in the past? We round up the landmark events, births, deaths and more...
On this day_Numbers_blue3
On This Day

3 November

On this day_Numbers_blue2
On This Day

2 November

On this day_Numbers_blue
On This Day

1 November

On this day_Numbers_orange31
On This Day

31 October

More On This Day

Most searched for

Swastika on a lotus background
Second World War

Why did Hitler choose the swastika, and how did a Sanskrit symbol become a Nazi emblem?

Composite image of depictions of Queen Cleopatra
Ancient Egypt

The face of Cleopatra: what did she look like, and was she really so beautiful?

A composite image showing an astronaut on the moon against a purple sky.
20th Century

Conspiracy Did NASA fake the Moon landing?

Simo Häyhä, said to be the deadliest sniper in history
Second World War

The world’s deadliest sniper: Simo Häyhä

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…
Video Teeth WL
Medieval

Q&A Did medieval people have rotten teeth?

Premium
Oppenheimer
Membership

Q&A How did J Robert Oppenheimer react to the first nuclear weapons test? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Victorian family gathers around a graveside
Victorian

Q&A What were Victorian burial societies and why were they formed?

Scenic view of Cornwall
General History

Q&A Why is Cornwall called Cornwall?

Inflation hit Britain hard in the 1970s. Here activist Erin Pizz addresses a protest by housewives holdiing placards decrying rising food prices in July 1971
20th Century

Q&A UK inflation: how does today’s economic crisis compare to the 1970s?

Tudor codpieces
Tudor

Q&A What was the fascination behind Tudor codpieces?

Read more answers from the experts
US banners Dec22 $49.99

HistoryExtra Podcast

The latest episodes from the History Extra podcast
Premium
Pod Malcolm Gaskill WL
Membership

Scotland’s last witch . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Pod Roger Luckhurst WL
Membership

Horror films: a chilling cultural history . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium
Pod Audra Diptee WL
Membership

The history of Jamaica: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium
Pod Maria Smilios WL
Membership

Disease killers: the black nurses who conquered TB . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium
Life - Nefertiti WL
Membership

Life of the week Nefertiti . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium
Pod David Reynolds WL
Membership

Who moulded Winston Churchill? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

View all podcasts

More of our latest articles

Premium
A French soldier pictured next to wrecked German lorries.
Membership

Could WW1 have ended in 1916? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Weekly history quiz from the team at HistoryExtra
General History

Quiz of the week Which monarch is thought to have owned a wig made of pubic hair?

Premium
A black and white photo of the American actress Janet Leigh, with a shadow of a chair on the wall behind her. She is looking forwards and screaming in shock.
Membership

Ninety years of horror: nine films that reflect society’s changing anxieties . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Matriarchs of society such as Mrs Caroline Backhouse Astor (pictured played by Donna Murphy in The Gilded Age) employed the rules of calling cards to maintain the social order. (Alison Rosa Cohen © 2021 Heyday Productions, LLC and Universal Television LLC)
Victorian

The War of the Operas: new money vs old in The Gilded Age

More of our latest articles
Advertisement MPU index

History Quizzes

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

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

Flagellants or Brothers of the Cross in Netherlands scourging themselves as they walk through streets
Medieval

Quiz How much do you know about medieval history?

Weekly history quiz from the team at HistoryExtra
General History

Quiz of the week Which monarch is thought to have owned a wig made of pubic hair?

Premium
The effects of the disease known as the Black Death
Membership

History quiz: how much do you know about the Black Death? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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