Q&A

19th century advert for snuff

Q&A What was snuff?

Monument to Prince Vladimir the Great in Moscow

Q&A Who were the Kievan Rus and what do they have to do with the Vikings?

Edward Jenner

Q&A When did medical practitioners start to be called ‘doctor’?

Scrooge and Marley's ghost

Q&A Why do we say ‘Bah Humbug’ and what does it mean?

Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret as Prince Charming and Cinderella in a 1941 pantomime

Q&A What are the origins of the Christmas pantomime?

Shoppers in Liverpool during the 1960s

Q&A Why is the shopping day after Thanksgiving called ‘Black Friday’?

Statue of King Alfred the Great in leafy Trinity Church Square, Southwark. It is thought to be the oldest statue in London.

Q&A What’s the oldest statue in London?

An empty knight's armor sitting on a chest.

Q&A How did knights in armour go to the toilet?

Photo of Abraham Lincoln

Q&A Did Abraham Lincoln’s beard win him the election?

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waves to the crowd at Heston Airport and declaims

Second World War

Q&A Did appeasement cause the Second World War?

How did England react to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1751? (Illustration for BBC History Magazine)

Q&A Did the introduction of the Gregorian calendar spark riots?

King Arthur and his knights return to Camelot (Photo by: Christophel Fine Art/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Q&A Where was Camelot?

St Swithin (or Swithun). (Image by Alamy)

Q&A Who was St Swithin?

Winston Churchill gives his famous v-sign. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

From Winston Churchill to the Bengal famine: are we in denial about our role in WW2?

Anne Boleyn (left) and her daughter, Elizabeth I. (Photos by Getty Images)

What did Elizabeth I think of her mother, Anne Boleyn? Historian Tracy Borman explains