Q&A

The Three Lions crest. A trio of lions has appeared on the arms of every English (and British) monarch since the late 12th century, and has been flown as a battle standard on English soil and abroad. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Offside/Getty Images)

Q&A Why are there three lions on the shirts of the English football team?

In the ninth century Pope Nicholas I decreed that St Peter’s symbol, the cockerel, should be displayed on all churches and many incorporated the design into weather vanes. Pictured here is the St Thomas church spire, Melbury Abbas in Dorset, United Kingdom. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

General prehistory

Q&A What does Jesus have to do with cockerel weather vanes?

Harold Godwinson’s two eldest sons fled to Ireland after the Battle of Hastings, where they lived as guests of the King of Leinster. (Photo by Duncan1890 via Getty Images)

Q&A What happened to Harold Godwinson’s children after the Battle of Hastings?

Portrait of black cat – unlucky for some? (Photo by Getty Images)

Q&A Why are black cats unlucky?

The burial mask of Tutankhamun. From the moment Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in The Valley of Kings in 1922, rumours swirled that a curse would fall on those who disturbed the Boy King's eternal slumber. (Photo by Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images)

Q&A How many people are supposed to have died from the curse of Tutankhamun's tombs?

English actor Trevor Howard as Captain William Bligh on the set of 'Mutiny On The Bounty', directed by Lewis Milestone, 1962. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

Q&A: Was Captain Bligh hated by the crew of the Bounty?

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Q&A: Samuel Morse invented the Morse code, but how did he do it, how long did it take, and how long before it was accepted?

A photograph believed to be of a Mrs Adams (1819-93) taken by an unknown photographer in c1860. The technology of the day (long exposure times in particular) required subjects to remain perfectly still – and a smile is difficult to maintain. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Q&A Why do Victorians look so miserable in photographs?

Pathologist Thomas Harvey holds the brain of Albert Einstein in a jar, Kansas, 1994. Harvey, the on-duty pathologist during the eminent physicist's autopsy, removed Einstein’s brain and kept most of it stored in two glass jars, refrigerated inside a beer cooler, for more than 20 years. (Photo by Michael Brennan/Getty Images)

Q&A What happened to Einstein's brain?

Hitler meets members of the Reich Labour Service. (Photo by AKG)

Second World War

Q&A: Are any laws made by the Nazi regime still in use?

A Pompeii mural depicting a slave, in the Naples Museum. (Photo by Sites & Photos/Capture Ltd/ Alamy Stock Photo)

In Ancient Rome, what was the law of the twelve tables?

Wales' fans celebrate victory at the 1957 Five Nations Tournament, France vs Wales, holding the Welsh symbol, the leek. (Photo by Universal/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Q&A Why is the leek associated with Wales?

Tomb of Siptah, Valley of the Kings (Photo by Pierre TETREL/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Q&A Why were cats so important in Ancient Egypt?

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Q&A: When were the first film trailers shown?