20th Century

Scientists monitor control panels aboard HMS Campania during the countdown to the test of the first British atomic bomb in the Montebello Islands off north-west Australia on 3 October 1952. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Britain’s nuclear past: the fallout from the High Explosive Research programme

The 30th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1958. (Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

13 remarkable moments in the history of the Oscars

Joanna Bourke explores what ideas about ‘evil women’ can tell us about societal values through history. (Image by Getty Images)

Why are we fascinated by ‘evil women’?

Jonathan Dimbleby revisits the dramatic, murderous struggle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union

Second World War

Barbarossa: Hitler’s greatest gamble

Alex von Tunzelmann responds to your questions on the 1956 Suez Crisis: a diplomatic debacle that dealt a serious blow to Britain’s standing in the postwar world. (Image by Getty Images)

The Suez Crisis: everything you wanted to know

Babies from a nursery are walked in a pram, c1953

A nation in numbers: 100 years of British life in 7 statistics

Roland Philipps tells the story of Mathilde Carré

Second World War

Traitor or triple agent? The WW2 spy Mathilde Carré

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, back to back

‘Two steps behind’: male royal consorts through history

The Imperial State Crown

Second World War

Q&A Where were the crown jewels kept during World War II?

To mark HistoryExtra’s 1,000th episode, Dan Jones takes us on a whistlestop tour through the last millennium of British history. (Image by Steve Sayers)

Dan Jones on 1,000 years of British history

Charles Sobhraj (centre) pictured in 2011, while trying to sue the Nepalese government for unlawful imprisonment

The real history of The Serpent: the true story of Charles Sobhraj

Vladimir Ilyich Ulianov

Vladimir Lenin and his lust for power

Sean McMeekin discusses his revisionist new history of the Second World War, which places Josef Stalin at the centre of the conflict. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Stalin: the real victor of WW2

Troops pictured during the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War

First World War

Gallipoli: 5 reasons why the First World War campaign was a failure

In 1961 cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to journey into space. Stephen Walker delves into the supercharged battle between the Soviets and Americans to reach this milestone. (Image by Getty Images)

Sending the first man into space