People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

North East Aircraft Museum, Sunderland

Scenes of frivolity in the 16th century. (Culture Club/Getty Images)

Bad sports? Puritan attempts to ban games in 17th-century England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Executed queen

Woodcutting depicting the beheading of Charles I. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Britain’s civil wars: the 15 key moments. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Fort George

BBC History Magazine

Guinness o'clock

An illustration depicting medieval pilgrims. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The LibraryMedieval tourism: pilgrimages and tourist destinations. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The replica of 'The Matthew' arriving at Douarnenez, France in 1998. It was on the original 15th-century vessel that John Cabot travelled to North America. (Getty Images)

Where history happened: Tudor smuggling. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Peover Hall, Cheshire

BBC History Magazine

The BBC Story

Second World War

German bomber insurance

General prehistory

St Fagans, Cardiff

Procession portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

How Elizabeth I used parties as a weapon against the Catholic threat to her throne. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Arundel Castle, West Sussex

BBC History Magazine

Burst bubble

BBC History Magazine

Circulation: William Harvey’s Revolutionary Idea

A photograph of J Meade Falkner, c1915. He "had an extraordinary mind, the type you don't come across often," says Chris de Burgh of the novelist. (Public Domain)

My history hero: J Meade Falkner (1858-1932). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Durham Cathedral on a sunny day. Taken near to the water of the River Wear. (Dreamstime)

Where history happened: pilgrimage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard I (also known as Richard the Lionheart) frequently dated documents with the 'regnal year'. An example of this might be "Winchester on the 23 day of April in the fifth year of our reign", which would translate to 23 April 1194. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

A legacy of the lionheart. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The charge of the Scots Greys at the battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815, was immortalised in this famous painting of 1881 by Lady Elizabeth Butler (1846-1933). (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Fighting Scots. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

The BBC Story

Pickering Castle, North Yorkshire

Tiw’s company

General prehistory

Clearwell Caves, Gloucestershire

Provost Skene's House, Aberdeen

Major Roy Farran (seated, centre) at a press conference on his return from Palestine, 1947. (Bentley Archive/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Trouble in Palestine. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Members of the royal family on board the royal barge 'Spirit of Chartwell'. (Rota/Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)

The LibraryThe Thames triumphant: royal parties on London's grandest street

A cartoon depiction of mythical Luddite leader Ned Ludd. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Where history happened: Luddites. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Landscape gardener, architect and writer John Loudon. "I just wish I had a fraction of his vision," says Mark Easton of one of the first people to champion green space in Britain's cities. (Public Domain)

My history hero: John Loudon (1783–1843). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two medieval men thresh a sheaf of wheat in this 14th century illustration. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Michael Wood on the history of you and me. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.