People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

Restoring women’s voices. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An 1870s illustration of a typical London artisan terraced houses with washhouses, privies and yards leading on to an alley, all dominated by railway viaducts. (Photo by Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Victorian London’s East End: what can a foul murder tell us about life in the city?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General Sir Douglas Haig (left) and Sir Henry Rawlinson are largely to blame for the failure of the battle of the Somme, says historian Hugh Sebag-Montefiore. (Photos by Hulton Archive/Getty Images and Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

The British generals whose infighting lost the battle of the Somme. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Keith Thomas on how ideas of civilisation shaped society 500 years ago.

The history of manners. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Why ‘Bad King John’ was actually good

Edward I in parliament with the Archbishop of Canterbury; King Alexander III of Scotland; the Welsh Prince Llywelyn ab Gruffydd and the Archbishop of York. From the Wriothesley MS, 1523, published in ‘The Island Race’, a 20th-century book written by Sir Winston Churchill covering the history of the British Isles from the pre-Roman times to the Victorian era. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Edward I: man of principle or grasping opportunist?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Young women labour on a farm during the First World War. The radio series Home Front explores life in Britain during the conflict. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Sanitising the past: should historical drama reflect modern sensibilities?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde in 'The Happy Prince'. "The image of Wilde in Paris at the end of the 19th century is full of fantasy and sadness, tragedy and humour," says Everett. (Lionsgate)

The Happy Prince: Rupert Everett on Oscar Wilde's life in exile. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

Mona Baptiste, a Trinidad-born blues singer

“London is the place for me”: David Olusoga on the Windrush generation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A councillor and architects discuss plans for the Moss Heights development in Glasgow, 1953. Proponents of high-rise flats believed that they would provide

The LibraryHave high-rises ever been the answer to our housing woes?

English philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images)

My history hero: Angela Burdett-Coutts. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sunlight dapples a clearing in Sherwood Forest, which was an essential resource for peasants centuries before it became a tourist attraction (Photo by Alamy)

Where history happenedAncient forests. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Keith Thomas. (Photo by Fran Monks)

Books interview with Keith Thomas: “The world was divided into the ‘civil’ and the ‘barbarous’”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Vera Brittain, who worked as a nurse during the First World War and went on to become one of the leading writers of the interwar years. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Love, loss and distorted memories. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Grenfell Tower: from hope to tragedy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Harold Godwinson’s two eldest sons fled to Ireland after the Battle of Hastings, where they lived as guests of the King of Leinster. (Photo by Duncan1890 via Getty Images)

Q&AWhat happened to Harold Godwinson’s children after the Battle of Hastings?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Britain’s Catholic emancipation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Winston Graham’s central relationship – between the gentlemanly Ross Poldark and Demelza Carne, an illiterate young kitchen maid – is highly unusual. But was there a real ‘Ross and Demelza’ in history? (Photo by Mammoth Screen/BBC)

Poldark series 3 recap – what happened and what is the real history behind the hit TV series?

(Photo by Bryn Colton/Getty Images)

Top teacher tips for GCSE history exam students 2018

The mystery of Donald Maclean. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

London traffic. (Photo by Popper Ltd./ullstein bild via Getty Images)

The history of Britain’s roads

A female computer programmer demonstrates a new computer in the 1960s.

The changing role of women in British computing. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s favourite queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian John Ashdown-Hill

Richard III historian John Ashdown-Hill dies

Scene depicting rural life in Stuart Britain. (via Getty Images)

Stuart Britain: what was life like for ordinary people?

London & North Western Railway locomotive, 1848. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

8 ways railway travel changed everything for Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bearded Victorian man. (Photo by Getty Images)

A brief history of beards

A portrait of actress Nell Gwynn, longtime mistress to King Charles II.

From Nell to Meghan: 10 romances between actors and royals. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Georgian painting depicting children leaving for school

The Georgian guide to perfect parenting. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.