Explainer

A 17th-century engraving of the Mount Vesuvius eruption of AD 79, by Athanasius Kircher (Photo by Shawshots/Alamy Stock Photo)

Your ultimate guide to Pompeii, plus 8 fascinating facts about the ancient Roman city

Alicia von Rittberg as Princess Elizabeth in Becoming Elizabeth

Becoming ElizabethThe real history behind the new Tudor drama

An illustration of King Arthur's coronation, from the 13th-century Flores Historiarum

Was King Arthur real? Discover the legend of the 'once and future king'

King Arthur and his knights return to Camelot (Photo by: Christophel Fine Art/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Q&AWhere was Camelot?

Mordred duels King Arthur with swords as they stand over the bodies of fallen men

Who killed King Arthur?

A view of the devastation caused by the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in Japan on 6 August 1945, a bombed-out building in the foreground

Second World War

What happened to Hiroshima after it was bombed in 1945? How many people died?

A photograph of Albert Einstein looking into the camera

Albert Einstein: facts about his life, death, education and work

Illustration of the Children's Crusade of 1212, from the Story of the British Nation, Volume 1, by Walter Hutchinson, c1920 (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

What was the Children’s Crusade, and did it actually happen?

A 1950s illustration imagines a group of mountaineers catching sight of a large Yeti in the Himalayas

General History

The hunt for the Abominable Snowman: what's the history of the Yeti legend?

Illustration of Spartacus, the escaped gladiator who became a leader in the Third Servile War, and his comrades using vines to abseil down the slopes of Mount Vesuvius in preparation of a surprise attack.

The Servile Wars: Spartacus & the rebellions that threatened the Roman Republic

A painting by Vincenzo Camuccini depicting the death of Julius Caesar in the Roman Senate. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

The death of Caesar: do we know the whole story?

Et Tu, Brute?What did Caesar say before he died?

Anne Boleyn during her imprisonment in the Tower of London, a c1835 painting by Édouard Cibot (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn: the Tudor queen’s undying love for her mother

A depiction of Queen Cleopatra, c50 BC

Who was Cleopatra? Her life, her love affairs and her children, plus 6 little-known facts

Composite image of depictions of Queen Cleopatra

The face of Cleopatra: what did she look like, and was she really so beautiful?

La Belle Assemblee - British women's magazine published 1806-1837, founded by John Bell (1745-1831), now best known for its Regency era fashion plates from "Fashions and Fashion Plates 1800-1900", by James Laver. [Penguin Books Limited, London and New York, 1943]. Artist Unknown.

Was the Regency era a good time to be a woman?The truth not seen in Bridgerton

Coronation portrait of Charles II after his crowning at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661 (Image by Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo)

Your ultimate guide to the Restoration period

Bamburgh Castle is an imposing coastal fortress in North-East England

General History

Bamburgh Castle: The Real Bebbanburg of The Last Kingdom

A bloodied Uhtred of Bebbanburg in Seven Kings Must Die

Seven Kings Must Die ending explained: what next for England?

Thousands of Muslims gather in India in 2019 to offer Eid prayers, marking end of holy month of Ramadan

General ancient history

A brief history of Ramadan

Bradley James as Jomsvikings leader Harekr in season 2 of Vikings: Valhalla

JomsvikingsLegendary Viking mercenaries or men of myth?

ConspiracyDid someone else write the plays of William Shakespeare?

A depiction of Empress Wu Zetian

Empress Wu ZetianThe only woman to rule China

A composite image showing an astronaut on the moon against a purple sky.

ConspiracyDid NASA fake the Moon landing?

King Edward VII in his coronation robes.

Edward VIIA guide to the king who ruled over the Edwardian age

Lawn tennis was a popular activity amongst the upper classes in the Edwardian period.

Daily life in the Edwardian era: from hobbies to gadgets

Billy the Kid, also known as William H Bonney, was one of the most notorious gunslingers in the Wild West

Billy the KidThe Wild West's most wanted gunslinger

ConspiracyDid Anastasia survive the massacre of the Romanovs?

A montage of Adolf Hitler and a purple starry sky

Second World War

ConspiracyDid Hitler escape from his bunker and live in Argentina after WW2?

Illustration of Major Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate

Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate: how a mid-life crisis created the 'worst pirate of all time'