People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

Margaret Thatcher surrounded by British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Hampshire Regiment, during a surprise visit to the Falkland Islands, January 1983. Britain has "ceased to be a nation in retreat," declared the prime minister in the wake of the victory over Argentine forces.

How the Falklands War fired up Britain.

Secret listeners.

1651, Charles Prince of Wales (1630 - 1685) (later King Charles II of England) meets Sir Henry Lee near Oxford during the Civil War, while escaping after the Battle of Worcester.

How Charles II put Britain back together after the Civil War.

Billy Fullerton, gang chief of the Glasgow gang the Billy Boys

Who were the real Billy Boys, the Glasgow gang in Peaky Blinders?

William Dalrymple on the East India Company.

War criminal? William the Conqueror shown on horseback in the Bayeux Tapestry. The king's Harrying of the North was a military success but a human catastrophe – one that even appalled chroniclers traditionally sympathetic to the Norman regime. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Was William the Conqueror a war criminal? The brutal story of the Harrying of the North

A cartoon from 1862 shows a pair 'garroters' attacking a victim. (Photo by The Cartoon Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Gangs and knife-crime fears: how has Britain responded through history?.

Giant of literature: A page from the 'Beowulf' manuscript. The story is fictional but some of the characters within it were real people, and others were believed to be the ancestors of Anglo-Saxon and Danish kings. (Photo by Alamy)

Beowulf: The Anglo-Saxons' action hero

Half-timbered medieval cottages, Water Street, Lavenham, Suffolk, England, (Photo by Getty Images)

History explorerA wealth of history: Laversham, Sulfolk

William Dalrymple is an award-winning writer and historian based in India. (Photo by Bikramjt Bose)

“This was a corporation that could topple kings”: William Dalrymple on the East India Company.

British journalist Tom Wintringham (1898–1949), the candidate for the Christian Socialist Commonwealth Party. (Photo by Haywood Magee/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

History heroPeter Tatchell chooses Tom Wintringham (1898–1949).

Cardinal John Henry Newman

How to become a saint.

The murder of Thomas Becket

Q&A: What happened to the assassins who killed Thomas Becket?

Queen Elizabeth II

The differences between UK and US governments: a brief guide

This 1867 magazine illustration shows a group of children preparing for Halloween. (Photo by American Stock/Getty Images)

The origins of Halloween: tricks, treats and cobbled streets.

5 reasons why the King James version of the Bible matters.

Henry Hemming.

Fake news in World War Two.

A portrait of George V's wife, Queen Mary, who was born Princess Mary of Teck.

Was Queen Mary, wife of George V, a kleptomaniac?

Cariad Lloyd, Suzannah Lipscomb and Greg Jenner

"A history podcast for people who don't like history": Greg Jenner on his new podcast You’re Dead To Me.

In 1992, Betty Boothroyd was voted in as Speaker of the House of Commons, with cross-party support by 372 votes to 238, asking the House “to elect me for what I am, not for what I was born”. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)

A brief history of the Speakers of the House of Commons.

A portrait of prime minister Lord Frederick North. His government was the first to be brought down by a vote of no confidence, in 1782. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Vote of no confidence: a brief history.

A painting by Italian painter Defendente Ferrari (c1480-1540) showing a Saint performing a miracle.

Medieval saints and sinners: tales of saintly miracles in the Middle Ages.

The cast of Downton Abbey in front of Highclere Castle

Downstairs in Downton: a guide to the life of an Edwardian servant.

An A-Z guide to the history of executions.

A student party, c1824: Oxford undergraduates drinking together. drinking escapade.

The Georgian guide to university life.

Max Hastings by Fran Monks

Max Hastings on the Dambusters.

Highclere Castle

The secrets of Downton Abbey’s Highclere Castle.

Baked loves of bread

Q&AWhy are there 13 items in a Baker's Dozen?

The historical differences between Scottish and English Law, and what it means for Brexit.

A dinner scene from Downton Abbey, with large candlesticks on the table

Could you survive an Edwardian dinner party?