Location

Victorian healthcare | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture.

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.

Egyptologist Howard Carter near golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun in Egypt in 1922.

Is the mummy's curse real? False tales about ancient Egyptian mummies (plus some true ones).

A mural in Bristol of activist Roy Hackett, one of the primary organisers of the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott (Photo by Steve Taylor ARPS/Alamy Stock Photo)

Hakim Adi | “Racism in Britain has a long history – but so does anti-racism”.

Members of the National Front speak to the press in 1978. Chairman John Tyndall (second from left) was a neo-Nazi who later founded the British National Party (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

From Mosley to the summer riots of 2024: the opportunistic evolution of Britain’s far right.

William Dalrymple (Photo by David Hartley/Shutterstock)

“Like ancient Greece, India is one of the seedbeds of civilisation” | William Dalrymple on putting India back at the centre of global history.

Adolf Hitler and his lover, Eva Braun, relaxing in Berchtesgaden in 1942. The Nazi leader’s private life was more ‘normal’ than some accounts have suggested (Photo by akg-images)

“We need to understand the Nazis as human beings”: Richard J Evans on the motivations of Hitler’s followers.

An 18th-century engraving of Edward, Earl of Warwick. Much of his short life was spent in the Tower of London before his execution for alleged treason (Photo by INTERFOTO/Alamy Stock Photo)

The other prince in the Tower: the tragedy of Edward of Warwick.

Kavita Puri's hidden histories: "Many are turning against prejudice. But we cannot be complacent".

Michael Wood"The making of our new world began in China just over 40 years ago".

One of the hostages of the Iranian Embassy Siege of 1980 escapes across the balcony (Photo by David Levenson/Keystone/Getty Images)

The Iranian Embassy siege of 1980: the six-day crisis that was the making of the SAS.

Victorian education and school | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture.

The Shaftesbury Welcome Ragged School in Battersea , 1899. Classes of 40 were not rare, and they could stretch to 80 during staff shortages. (Photo by Mary Evans)

Class warfare: a day in the life of a Victorian schoolchild.

Caracalla and Geta: the real lives of the mad emperors of Gladiator II

Gladiators do battle in a c320 AD mosaic, housed in the Borghese Gallery in Rome

Blood, guts and spectacle: 6 shocking events from the history of ancient Roman gladiators.

A portrait of Anne Boleyn

Why did Henry VIII send Anne Boleyn to the block?

Visitors promenade alongside a lake with Surrey Zoological Gardens in the background, 1844 (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Victorian zoosAnimal attraction in the 19th century.

Manchester dog show, c1909

The surprising history of Victorian dog shows.

Victorian cricket. (Photo by Getty Images)

Cricket, cocaine and cocoa houses: 5 ways Victorians spent their free time.

London crowds celebrating the signing of the armistice at the end of the First World War.

First World War

Armistice Day: what does it commemorate? Why are poppies worn? Plus 4 more things you need to know

Richard Nixon gives the thumbs-up after his resignation

General History

6 shocking presidential scandals that rocked the White House: from the Petticoat Affair to Clinton-Lewinsky

President Joe Biden delivers a speech

General History

Life after the White House: what the US presidents did next

Week one quiz: Victorian life.

Charlotta Bass, the first black woman to be nominated to the US Vice Presidency

Charlotta Bass: the first woman of colour to run for US vice president

Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy, Al Gore and George W Bush

General History

Lincoln, Adams and George W Bush: 6 disputed presidential elections in American history

Abraham Lincoln

How Abraham Lincoln's 1860 election victory set America on the path to Civil War.

Victorian life | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture.

Gustave Doré's famous engraving, produced to illustrate the 1872 book 'London: A Pilgrimage', depicts (and exaggerates) the squalor of tightly packed terraced houses. Yes, as Rosalind Crone observes, the washing lines in Doré's picture demonstrate that "slum-dwellers were not all very dirty - or, at least, they didn't choose to be". (Photo by Getty Images)

Was Victorian life really so grim? 5 reasons why the Victorians were 'happy'.

Workhouses were meant to be unpleasant. Inmates worked hard (like these women hanging out laundry c1880). (Photo by Sean Sexton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Victorian daily life: what was it like for 'ordinary' Victorians?