20th Century

Steve McQueen stars in the 1963 film that turned the 'Great Escape' into a symbol of Allied pluck and ingenuity. (Image by Alamy)

Second World War

The not-so Great Escape

Frances Griffiths poses with the fairies

Fairies, rabbit births and an ‘ancient’ tiara: what are the greatest historical hoaxes?

US Army 7th Division's tanks equipped with flame throwers climbing a ridge on Okinawa. (Photo by W. Eugene Smith/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

Second World War

Okinawa: the battle and the bomb

Princess Margaret attends the premiere of Captain Horatio Hornblower, Leicester Square, 1951. (Photo by Ron Burton/Keystone/Getty Images)

The Queen’s “rebel sister”: 8 facts about Princess Margaret

The clocks change at South Station in Boston, Massachusetts. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

A brief history of daylight saving time

American soldiers in Vietnam

The war that America could never win? Opposition, dissent and the Vietnam War

Listening in: a doctor uses a stethoscope to examine a patient in 1948. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

The birth pains of the NHS: how Britain’s National Health Service was created

The US assault on Okinawa

Second World War

The WW2 battle of Okinawa: the bloodiest assault of the Pacific War

Two American soldiers wait for the second wave of combat helicopters of the 1st Air Cavalry Division during Operation Pershing during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War defined America in the second half of the 20th century. (Photo by Patrick Christain/Getty Images)

Your guide to the Vietnam War – plus 7 surprising facts you might not know

Soldiers from the Women's Royal Army Corps

Second World War

A brief guide to VE Day

A Red Cross worker in the United States, 1918

Spanish flu: the virus that changed the world

Charles and Camilla, 1979

Prince Charles and Camilla: a history of their romance

Walt Disney uses a baton to point to sketches of Disneyland

The history of Disneyland: How Walt Disney created the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’

Simon Wiesenthal, who became famous after World War II for his work as a 'Nazi hunter'. (Photo by: SeM/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The real Nazi hunters: how the infamous escaped – and those who brought them to justice

London during the Blitz - the systematic night-time bombing of the British by the Luftwaffe in 1940 - 1941. (Photo by Getty Images)

Rationing, school closures and ‘Blitz spirit’: how did people cope in WW2?