Explainer

The (not so) stinky Middle Ages: why medieval people were cleaner than we think

Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret: why did their marriage break down?

A postcard showing for women hunting for a man with guns and dogs.

Why do women propose in a leap year?

Youths salute Adolf Hitler

Second World War

Hitler Youth: how the Third Reich used children’s organisations to wage war

Child survivors at Auschwitz

Second World War

A brief history of Auschwitz

Princess Margaret wearing a fur coat

The Queen's "rebel sister": 13 facts about Princess Margaret

"A great social experiment”: a brief guide to prohibition

A c1860 depiction of Wentworth Works steel manufacturer in Sheffield

Why Britain punched above its weight

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The tapestry was most likely embroidered by women in Norman England in a workshop setting using four embroidery stitches – stem stitch; split stitch; chain stitch; and laid work, sometimes called ‘Bayeux Stitch’, says Dr Alexandra Lester-Makin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The making of the Bayeux Tapestry: who made it, how long did it take, and how has it survived?

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the death of King Harold II during the battle of Hastings in 1066. (Photo by Getty Images)

Where did the battle of Hastings actually take place? 8 facts about the 1066 battle

Illustration of pirate John Ward

Pirate John Ward: the real Captain Jack Sparrow

Billy Fullerton, gang chief of the Glasgow gang the Billy Boys

Who were the real Billy Boys, the Glasgow gang in Peaky Blinders?

Queen Elizabeth II

The differences between UK and US governments: a brief guide

Great Pyramid of Giza

5 facts about the Great Pyramid of Giza

A sculpture dedicated to King Leonidas of the Spartans in Thermopylae, Greece. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Q&AWere there really only 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae?

Medieval trepanning

General prehistory

Q&AWhat is trepanning?

Illustration by Glen McBeth.

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

Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, during the D-Day landings, 6 June 1944. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

Your guide to D-Day: what happened, how many casualties were there, and what did it accomplish?

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

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

Your guide to Karl Marx: who was he, what was the Communist Manifesto and why is he important?

English countrywoman (right) with a lady of the court. From ‘Civitates Orbis Terrarum’, 1572. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Tudor women: what was life like?

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

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in 'The Favourite'. (Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Entertainment Pictures)

The Favourite: the real history behind the new Queen Anne film

Frogmore Cottage

Your history guide to Frogmore Cottage

An illustration depicting the Heiji Insurrection of c1159 - one of the first samurai battles. (Photo by Alamy)

A brief history of samurai warfare

An Aztec priest performing the sacrificial offering of a living human's heart to the war god Huitzilopochtli. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

General ancient history

Q&AHow many people did the Aztecs sacrifice?

A painting in the tomb of Inherkha – a priest wearing the mask of Horus is performing the opening of the mouth ritual. The purpose was to restore to the deceased the use of the senses, thus restoring life in the next world. Ancient Egyptian 20th dynasty c1186-1070 BC. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Why was mummification used in Ancient Egypt, and why did they leave the heart in the body?

A First World War silk screened poster c1918 showing a frightening German soldier holding a bloodied bayonet. Caption reads: "Beat back the Hun with Liberty Bonds". (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

First World War

Why did the Allies call Germans 'Huns' during World War I?

The real history behind ‘The White Princess’

A portrait of James Gordon Bennett, Jr (1841–1918), by Alexis Joseph Perignon, 1867. (Photo by The New York Historical Society/Getty Images)

Q&AWhy do we say ‘Gordon Bennett’?