Q&A

Wehrmacht soldiers on parade, 1937

Second World War

Q&A How was Germany able to  afford the astronomical cost  of rearmament in the 1930s?

Shoppers in Liverpool during the 1960s

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

Weetoomoo Carey, 8, left, and her sister Jackolynn Carey, 5, Wampanoag Nipmucs from Mashpee, looked across to the Mayflower replica anchored near Plymouth Rock, where Native Americans gathered for a day of mourning in counterpoint to the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving. (Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Q&A What and when is the National Day of Mourning in the United States?

Gaol fever illustration.

Q&A What is gaol fever and how was it caused and spread?

A modern fireworks display

General ancient history

Q&A How were fireworks made in ancient China?

Kirk Douglas And Burt Lancaster walk with gun drawn in a scene from the film 'Gunfight At The O.K. Corral', 1957. (Photo by Paramount Pictres/Getty Images)

Q&A Was the gunfight at the OK Corral a major gun battle?

pasta-4-60c5a50

How did pasta come to Europe and when did it first become established in Italy?

Clog-Fight-8402dd5

Q&A What was clog fighting?

A axe stuck in a piece of wood

General Early Modern

Q&A Why do we say 'bury the hatchet'?

Hume Castle

Q&A Who was the original king of the castle and who was the dirty rascal?

Q&A Could Roman slaves buy their own freedom?

The fabled ‘Vegetable Lamb of Tartary’ was a plant said to grow sheep as its fruit.

Q&A What was the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary?

The Bal des Ardents (the 'Ball of the Burning Men'), from 'The Chronicler of European Chivalry' by GG Coulton (London, 1930). The 1393 tragedy claimed the lives of four people. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Q&A What was the ‘Ball of the Burning Men’?

Tony Robinson as Private Baldrick and Rowan Atkinson as Captain Blackadder

Q&A Was there a real Blackadder?

The burgundy cover of a British passport

Q&A When were passports as we know them today first introduced?