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General Modern

ExploreYangon, Myanmar: City of Golden Pagodas.

Bottles of snake oil

Q&ADid salesmen really sell snake oil?

The humble G&T truly sustained the troops of the British Empire. (Photo by ahirao_photo/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Q&AWhen did people start drinking gin and tonic?

Photo by Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images

Top tips for studying history at university

US President John F Kennedy gives his first State of the Union address to Congress at the House of Representatives, Washington DC, 30 January 1961. Kennedy is one of eight presidents to have died during their term in office. (Photo by NASA/SSPL/Getty Images)

Q&AHow many US presidents died in office?

Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico's left-wing president who in 1940 legalised drugs. (Photo by Henry Guttmann/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The year Mexico legalised drugs.

An 1824 cartoon depicting the drinking escapades of Oxford students. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The history of student life: 7 things you didn’t know.

Why black hair matters.

One of the earliest and most famous examples of extremism comes from ancient Rome. Starting in 264 BC and continuing for more than a century, Rome engaged in a series of wars with neighbouring Carthage. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of extremism – from ancient Rome to al Qaeda.

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Have nuclear weapons helped to maintain global peace?

Prime ministers Robert Walpole and Boris Johnson

From Walpole to Boris: a brief history of Eton College and the 20 prime ministers it has produced.

Making history funny: is any historical topic off-limits?.

For our forebears, the secret to a good night's sleep lay in the contents of your gut. (Photo by Leemage/UIG via Getty Images)

6 sleeping tips and tricks from history.

The ‘Surgeon’s Photo’, taken in 1934, which claimed to depict the Loch Ness Monster. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

5 facts about the Loch Ness Monster

A 15th-century map of the world illustrating a Latin edition of Ptolemy's the 'Geography'. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

12 alternative giant leaps for mankind – from carnivorism to Magna Carta.

Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark. The BBC television drama is putting Cornwall’s coastline at risk of "over-tourism” as visitors flock to the area to visit the show's scenic filming locations, tourism chiefs have warned. (Photo by BBC/Mammoth Screen/Mike Hogan)

Poldark, Peaky Blinders and 6 other historical TV shows that have tourists flocking to Britain

4 historical cricketing curiosities.

Illustration by Kate Hazell for BBC History Magazine.

From Churchill and Roosevelt to May and Trump: 75 years of the 'special relationship' between the US and the UK.

The ruins of Dunluce Castle, which sit on the coastal cliffs of North Antrim in Northern Ireland. They are thought to have been the inspiration for CS Lewis’s castle Cair Paravel in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (1950–56). (Photo by Andrea Ricordi/Contributor/Getty Images)

9 of Britain’s best castles.

Explore Buenos Aires, Argentina: infused with Latin beauty.

How wild was the Wild West?

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, last Shah of Iran, pictured in 1967 with his third wife, Farah Diba, and their son Reza. His attempted reforms during his final years in power alienated many of his nation's people. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Iranian Revolution: why 1979's uprising still shapes the Middle East.

'Peter Pan and Wendy' by James Matthew Barrie.

8 of the best dogs in history

10 photographs that made history

Rachel Reeves on women who changed politics.

Sergeant Stubby, an American dog who served as the mascot of America's 102nd Infantry Regiment during the First World War. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

First World War

Sergeant Stubby of the First World War: the heroic story of America’s most decorated war dog

Funeral of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme

Who killed Olof Palme?

Jared Diamond (Photo by Jochen Braun)

Jared Diamond on countries in crisis.

A Victorian lady washing in the nude

In pictures: erotic postcards of the early 20th century

The name Archie was originally a nickname for Archibald, which derived from the Anglo-Saxon name Eorconbeald, and the Old High German name Erchenbald, says Carolyn Harris. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor: the history behind the royal baby name.