People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

History of Harrods: a brief guide to the Knightsbridge landmark

The weird and wonderful world of Victorian entertainment.

Martin Luther (centre) preaching. With one hand he points to popes, monks and cardinals going down the mouth of hell; with the other he points to the crucifix. (Getty Images)

Books interview with Eamon Duffy: "You could call the Reformation the original Brexit".

British comedian and actor Arthur Askey at the London Palladium, February 1968. (Photo by David Cairns/Daily Express/Getty Images)

History Hero: Arthur Askey (1900–82).

Illustration by Hugh Cowling

Will history survive the digital age?.

Terracotta vicar and Moses, c1770, in the Victoria And Albert Museum, London. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Vicars on the liquor.

Irish national hero Hugh O'Neill, the 2nd Earl of Tyrone, makes a formal submission to the English following the suppression of his Irish rebellion, 1603. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The LibraryHugh O'Neill: Elizabeth I’s Irish nemesis.

From bats and brawls to new links between colonies: the origins of Australian cricket.

Bribes, gifts and scandal: 7 stories of corruption that shocked Britain.

The Reformation.

Charles Darwin sports his trademark bushy beard in 1877. (Photo by Corbis Historical/Getty Images)

From Charles Darwin’s beard to George Eliot’s right hand: 4 famous Victorian bodily quirks.

A revolutionary engineer and Victoria’s Indian confidant.

A drawing of surgeon James Barry (c1789–1865) in uniform. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Dr James Barry: a surgeon with a secret.

British leader of the Labour Party Clement Attlee leaves the Treasury, 27 May 1945. (Photo by AFP/Getty Images)

My history hero: Clement Attlee (1883–1967).

Bombay, the East India Company's port on the Malabar Coast of India, 1755. Company trading vessels are depicted in the foreground and quayside warehouses and buildings behind. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The chaotic conquest of India.

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley of the River Dee, near Wrexham, North Wales. The aqueduct was built by Thomas Telford. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Thomas Telford: the man who built modern Britain.

The Duke of Wellington and his ‘Dearest Georgy’.

The impact of war and a zoological institution.

James Sadler: From pastry cook to first English aeronaut.

King James II of England and VII of Scotland (1633 - 1701), c. 1680. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A king without a crown: James VII and II’s years in exile.

(Photo by Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo)

Who were 'Stella' and 'Fanny'?

Vintage family photo album and documents. (Getty Images)

How to become a local historian

The Temple Church, London, a late 12th-century church built for and by the Knights Templar. (Photo by LatitudeStock - David Williams/Getty Images)

History explorer: The Knights Templar.

History quiz - daughters and dukes.

A woodcut print of the medieval town of Pisa.

History quiz – shambles, soldiers and medieval towns.

6 strange newspaper stories that shocked Victorian Britain.

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn: the first Prince of Wales?.

Section of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting a woman and child fleeing from a burning house. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Anglo-Saxons’ last stand.

Mince pies date back to the Crusaders during the Middle Ages. (Photo by Laura Kate Bradley via Getty Images)

Q&AWhen were mince pies first made?

Pevensey Castle, England. First fortified by the Romans, William the Conqueror famously landed his army there in 1066 and a Norman castle was developed during the century after the Norman Conquest. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

The LibraryQ&A: How did the Normans learn to build castles?