Explainer

Soldiers from Mao Zedong’s Red Army assemble in Yan’an, Shaanxi province, 1936 (Photo by Getty)

The Chinese Civil War: a guide to the conflict and the rise of Mao Zedong

Portrait showing Mary, Queen of Scots with her hand on her hip

Mary, Queen of Scots: your guide to her life and times

The Immortals shown holding long spears on a frieze from the palace of Darius the Great

General ancient history

The Persian Immortals: the feared elite guard of the Achaemenid empire

(Illustration by Glen McBeth for BBC History Magazine)

Q&AWhat is the origin and meaning of the pirate expression ‘shiver me timbers’?

A pirate ship flying the Jolly Roger closes in on another vessel during a storm

The golden age of piracy: when pirates ruled the waves

A 17th century sketch of a peg-legged pirate walking with the aid of crutches

Q&ADid any real pirates wear eyepatches or have peg legs?

Nineteenth century engraving depicting raining cats and dogs

General Early Modern

Q&AWhy do we say 'raining cats and dogs'?

Froissart illustration of Hugh Despenser the Younger's execution by being hanged, drawn and quartered. Despenser is on a ladder, as a man beside him disembowels him and tosses his entrails into a fire

‘Godly butchery’: the horrifying history of hanging, drawing and quartering

The Normans had a profound influence on Britain – so why do we not speak French?

Ancient greek alphabet contains 24 letters, starting with alpha and ending with omega

The ancient Greek alphabet: when was it invented, how many letters are there and how do you pronounce them?

A Viking ship is burned in a reproduction of a funeral

What do we know about Viking funerals?

Depiction of a musician and dancing fool in Paris, 14th century

What was life like for a court jester?

A axe stuck in a piece of wood

General Early Modern

Q&AWhy do we say 'bury the hatchet'?

Hume Castle

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

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace: a visionary of computing

Mário Soares of the Socialist Party basks in public adulation after becoming prime minister in the election of 1976. (Photo by Getty Images)

Your guide to the Carnation Revolution

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: what’s the story?

A depiction of a Spartan mother saying goodbye to her son, she is seated as he leaves

Women in ancient Greece: what were their lives like?

A modern illustration shows prisoners of war being sold into slavery

Slavery in ancient Greece: what was life like for enslaved people?

An ancient Greek vase depicting sexual intercourse

A brief history of sex and sexuality in Ancient Greece

Q&ADid the Scottish mass-murdering cannibal Sawney Bean actually exist?

A Peep at St. Peter or The Poet in a Pickle

Q&AWhy do we say 'Peeping Tom'?

Photo of a man on a penny-farthing

Q&AHow dangerous was the penny-farthing?

Illustration of German Dominican preacher Johann Tetzel selling indulgences inside a church

Q&AWhat are indulgences, how were they abused in medieval times, and what do they have to do with the Reformation?

Prince Charles with his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten at Windsor

Why was Lord Mountbatten, Prince Charles’s great-uncle, assassinated?

Bust of Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo the MagnificentThe astounding life of the ‘delightful tyrant’ of Renaissance Florence

Thomas Crapper started a plumbing business in Chelsea in 1861 and pioneered some of the most revolutionary designs of sanitary engineering in the 19th century – but he didn't 'invent' the toilet

The legend of Thomas Crapper, the man who didn't invent the toilet

The British Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the day of George VI's coronation

Britain’s May Queen: your guide to Queen Mary of Teck

A portrait of Katherine Parr in a jewelled head dress and finery

Q&AWhat happened to Katherine Parr’s daughter, Mary Seymour, after her mother’s death?

Chernobyl nuclear power plant a few weeks after the disaster

What was the Chernobyl Disaster?