Q&A

Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle

Q&A Who wrote the French national anthem?

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa portrait

Q&A Who was the Mona Lisa?

Welsh flag, featuring a dragon. The red dragon of Wales dates back to Roman times. (Photo by Getty Images)

Q&A Why does the Welsh flag feature a red dragon?

A depiction of the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh (10 September 1547), the last formal battle between England and Scotland. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Q&A When was the last battle between England and Scotland?

Wrestlers in ancient Greece

Q&A How did ancient athletes prepare for the Olympics?

A cartoon showing a man in a suit of armour on the moon

Q&A Did NASA really pick the brains of the Tower of London armoury when designing the first space suits?

Illustration by Glen McBeth.

Q&A When did the leopards on the royal arms of England become the lions depicted today?

Dick, Kerr Ladies football team during World War I

Q&A Why was women’s football banned?

King Edward IV, who used the surname Plantagenet. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&A When did British kings and queens start using surnames?

A depiction of Henry VIII and his only recognised illegitimate child, Henry Fitzroy. (Illustration by Glen McBeth for BBC History Magazine)

Q&A Did Henry VIII acknowledge any of his illegitimate children?

An illustration depicting the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, 1865. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Q&A Could modern medicine have saved Abraham Lincoln?

Is it true that an angry mob of Dutchmen killed and ate their own prime minister in 1672? (Illustration by Glen McBeth)

Q&A Is it true that an angry mob of Dutchmen killed and ate their own prime minister in 1672?

A colour illustration of First World War allies, the German Reich and Austria-Hungary, featuring soldiers shaking hands, their troops and national flags, c1915. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

First World War

Q&A Who was involved in the First World War? Who was on each side?

Alfred Nobel. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Great misconceptions: There is a Nobel Prize for economics

Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, who wrote under the pen-name Nellie Bly. (Photo by Interim Archives/Getty Images)

Q&A Who was Nellie Bly?