Location

Bear fat, false rumps and arsenic makeup: 7 of the most bizarre beauty trends from the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An open Bible on an altar

General ancient history

A history of the BibleWho wrote it and when?

A spiritual swastika on a lotus background.

Second World War

Why did Hitler choose the swastika as a Nazi symbol?

A man stands on a platform in front of a crowd

Second World War

Why Schindler’s List remains relevant decades on

Sarah Biffin: the brilliant artist who found fame and royal favour – despite having no arms or legs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of William 'Buffalo Bill' Cody standing in front of his saddle, holding a rifle behind his back.

13 famous cowboys and gunslingers from the history of the American Wild West

St Paul's Cathedral photographed through the smoke after a night when the German air force bombed London

Second World War

"War's greatest picture"? Inside the night St Paul's Cathedral survived the Blitz

The ancient Roman goddess Venus with the gods Vulcan and Cupid, in a painting by Italian artist Sebastiano Ricci (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Roman gods and goddesses: 17 of the most important deities of ancient Rome

Jack O'Connell as Paddy Mayne in SAS Rogue Heroes season 2

Second World War

SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 preview: "They’re very much thumbing their noses at authority"

Zeus, king of the ancient Greek gods, seen in a 16th-century fresco by Pietro Bonaccorsi at Villa del Principe in Genoa, Italy

Zeus's children: who were the offspring of the god with a libido that couldn’t be contained

Women in WW2 army uniform march in front of an airplane

Second World War

Is The Six Triple Eight a true story? The real WW2 history, as told by the movie’s historical consultant

January 2025 issue of BBC History Magazine out now!

Thomas Cromwell shown in a c1533 portrait after Hans Holbein the Younger (Photo by Penta Springs Limited/Alamy Stock Photo)

Thomas Cromwell's death – a rapid descent from the pinnacle of power

Annie Gray (Photo by Melissa Rodrigues)

“Leisure was built into the whole shopping experience” | Annie Gray on the history of the high street. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving of John Milton in 1670. By that time he’d been blind for nearly two decades – but continued to express strong views on religion and the monarchy in his writing (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Long road to paradise: the life of John Milton and how he created his masterpiece, Paradise Lost. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Holy sites of multiple religions stud Jerusalem’s skyline, including the Dome of the Rock (Photo by KiyechkaSo/Shutterstock)

“I don’t underestimate how difficult it is to satisfy everybody” | Simon Sebag Montefiore on writing the history of Jerusalem. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Christine de Pizan, pictured speaking to a trio of inspirational women in an illustration in her Book of the City of Ladies, written around the turn of the 15th century (Photo by Album/Alamy Stock Photo)

Medieval influencers: 4 women who brought change to the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Lord Lucan and his wife Veronica, shortly after becoming engaged in 1963. It is thought that Lady Lucan was the intended target of the attack in 1974 (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Murder and vanishing without a trace: the mysterious case of Lord Lucan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How to celebrate a Victorian wedding. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mary I. (Getty Images)

Mary I: your guide to the life and rule of Henry VII's daughter – plus a timeline and 7 little-known facts

Leper Crusaders: how disease-stricken knights forged an army in the Holy Land. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A procession of cardinals file into the Vatican

General History

Conclaves explained: what happens when a pope dies?

What working-class autobiographies can tell us about the Industrial Revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A late 19th-century image shows a group of ‘pit lasses’, employed to work at the surface of coal mines. An earlier law had explicitly banned women from working below ground. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Industrial revolution

From family to factory: women's lives during the Industrial Revolution

A portrait of King John of England

9 of the worst monarchs in history

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall: The Mirror & the Light

“He’s making choices that we would perceive as ruthless” | Wolf Hall’s researcher on Thomas Cromwell. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Fess Parker, an American actor, as Davy Crockett

The man in the coonskin cap: your guide to Davy Crockett

Victorian healthcare | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The opthalmoscope revolutionised ophthalmology, allowing physicians to examine the inside of the human eye. (Image by Getty Images)

Victorian medicine: why the 19th century was a time of seismic medical change

The surgeon Robert Liston prepares to cut open a patient in the first half of the 19th century. Known as the “fastest knife in the west end”, Liston could remove a leg in less than 30 seconds. For most patients, however, the agony was more prolonged. (Wellcome Library, London)

An appointment at the house of death: the horror of the early Victorian hospital. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.