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David Olusoga“The Victorians constructed a great empire of abstinence”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

History heroAndrew Marr chooses Charles Darwin (1809–82). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

One of the burial mounds at Sutton Hoo

How dark were the Dark Ages?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portchester Castle in Hampshire was intended as a coastal defence against raiders. (Photo by Getty Images)

The collapse of Roman Britain: what happened, plus 9 places which tell us more. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Fishbourne Roman Palace, plus 5 more Roman mosaics you can explore in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

George Washington Carver in a laboratory

History heroGillian Burke chooses George Washington Carver (c1864–1943). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Wrens operating the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park, 1943

Second World War

Your guide to Bletchley Park, the key WW2 decryption centre

This 15th-century painting from a manuscript shows men fishing in a river. In medieval England, eels were both meals and de facto currency. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Fishing for gold: how eels powered the medieval economy

The death of John Lennon: what happened?

Almond Hedgehog: A debonair addition to the hostess’s armoury in the Georgian period. (Illustration by Clair Rossiter for BBC History Magazine)

What was the best meal in history?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jane Austen's fiction: an accurate portrayal of life in Georgian England?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Fern Riddell.

Fern Riddell"Can we call the suffragettes terrorists? Absolutely". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rushton Triangular Lodge was ostensibly a warrener's lodge but the biblical references that adorn its three exterior walls tell a different story. (Photo English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

History explorer: Catholic resistance to Elizabeth I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Alfred Nobel (Bettmann/Getty Images)

The history of the Nobel Prizes

This engraving by William Hogarth shows the final instalment of a sequence of artworks called 'The Four Stages of Cruelty' (1751). In it, the fictional Tom Nero is being dissected for anatomical studies at Cutlerian theatre near Newgate prison after being hanged for murder. Nero looks like the Dead-Alive, as though he can see and smell his own executed body on the dissection table. The chief physician sits in the centre on a high-backed chair, resembling a high court judge. He is surrounded by various medical men, including penal surgeons, who did gallows work. The skeletons of dissected criminals were usually refused a Christian burial and so were displayed as specimens, as can be seen top left and top right. (Photo by Guildhall Library/Getty Images)

Surviving the gallows: the Georgian hangings that didn't go to plan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The colonial secrets of Britain’s stately homes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Even the ancient Egyptian played board games – this fresco from the tomb of Nefertari shows the queen playing Senet

8 of the best historical board games for history lovers

'Merry Christmas' Victorian illustration of Santa Claus holding toys and blowing on a trumpet, chromolithograph, 1915. (Illustration by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Father Christmas and Santa Claus: a brief history of two Christmas champions

David Olusoga“Desks went from a niche furniture item to the work station of millions”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Zwarte Piet: the history behind the Christmas controversy

Illustration showing Roman Saturnalia banquet. (Photo by Alamy)

Saturnalia: the origins of the debauched Roman 'Christmas'

Second World War

Caught off guard: why didn't America see Pearl Harbor coming?

A 19th-century engraving of Francis Grose

History heroSusie Dent chooses Francis Grose (1731–1791)

A Victorian Christmas

What was Christmas like in the Victorian era?

Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat: what happened next?

Chess players in the 14th century

Ancient board games: which ones did people play for fun in the past?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A brief history of turkeys, plus why we eat a turkey dinner at Christmas

The Trojan Horse – seen in the 2004 film Troy

How much of the legend of Troy is real?

Actress Lily James and actor Michael Huisman looking at each other in a still from the film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Life under Nazi rule: the occupation of the Channel Islands. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The future King George VI playing at the Wimbledon tennis championships, 1926

How George VI's sheer ordinariness made him the darling of the nation