Weird and Wonderful History Week

An illustration of King Arthur's coronation, from the 13th-century Flores Historiarum. Taken from ‘The Island Race’, a 20th-century book written by Sir Winston Churchill that covers the history of the British Isles from pre-Roman times to the Victorian era. (Photo by World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about King Arthur

c1916: British soldiers sitting around a lamp in their trench. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

First World War

10 First World War slang words we still use today

King Ludwig II of Bavaria. (Photo by Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

9 eccentric monarchs through history

Peasants in the Middle Ages at a cattle market. Cows appear to have been difficult to manage in the medieval period, and caused several deaths. (Photo by INTERFOTO /Alamy)

5 strange causes of death in the medieval period

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Tutankhamun: who’s afraid of the pharaoh’s curse?

Musician and dancing fool in Paris, 14th century. (Christophel Fine Art/UIG via Getty Images)

What was life like for a court jester?

Heck cows, the result of Nazi breeding experiments. Seven Heck cows had to be put down in January 2015 after they tried, on multiple occasions, to attack Devon farmer Derek Gow. (Photo by Jim Wileman/Alamy Stock Photo)

Nazi super-cows and defamed Gods: 7 strange and forgotten moments in history

People gather around the Mona Lisa painting on January 4, 1914 in Paris France, after it was stolen from the ouvre by Vincenzo Peruggia in 1911. (Photo by Roger-Viollet/Getty Images)

6 weird things that have happened in August through history

German women carrying children believed to be part of the Lebensborn programme, which aimed to raise the birth rate of blonde-haired, blue-eyed ‘Aryan’ children through interbreeding. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Second World War

The woman who gave birth for Hitler

Coca cola bottles from the 1990s

From Velcro to Viagra: 10 products that were invented by accident

While young ladies may have been daydreaming of handsome film stars such as Cary Grant, pictured here kissing the cheek of Ingrid Bergman in a publicity still for the 1946 film ‘Notorious’, agony aunts were keen to bring them back down to earth. (Photo by John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

How to be a man: tips from 1930s agony aunts

A woodcut print depicting the stocks, a form of Elizabethan punishment. Dated 16th century. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

“Damn your blood”: Swearing in early modern English

Chastity belt decorated with a flower design and a heart pierced with arrows. (SSPL/Getty Images)

13 weird historical facts

In this painting from c1650, a witch wields a broomstick as demons and 'familiars' (helpers of witches) congregate before her. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

History quiz – witchcraft and superstition

The reconcilliation between Thomas Becket and Henry II. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

From the handshake to the high-five: a brief history of gestures