General Modern

Pancake day celebrations

The history of Shrove Tuesday: why do we eat pancakes?

GettyImages-187574416-2-2edce12

A history of Valentine’s Day celebrations – from fertility festivals to the first cards

Historians have chosen their favourite historical novels.

22 of the best historical fiction novels to help you escape to the past

Smokey the bear is presented with a firefighter's helmet

The paratrooper, the poet’s pet and the real Winnie: 10 famous bears in history

Margaret MacMillan gives a lecture on the reasons for conflict throughout history – and how warfare has shaped the human story (Photo by Getty Images)

Why do we fight wars?

An engraving depicting London's Piccadilly Circus heaving with crowds on their way to The Great Exhibition of 1851. A banner reading 'God save the Queen and Prince Albert' has been strung across the street. Within the Crystal Palace some 100,000 objects were displayed – taking up ten miles of space – the work of 15,000 contributors. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

From the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain: the decline and fall of the British empire

Mary, Queen of Scots

9 of the worst monarchs in history

Richard Nixon resigns

A brief history of presidential impeachment

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie in profile: facts about her life

Winston Churchill on roller skates

Second World War

How the roller skating craze caught Churchill

Elizabeth I preferred thoughtful new year gifts suited to her own tastes such as cloth, personal jewellery and trinkets. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Sobriety, royal presents and Victorian-era musings on failure: an unexpected history of New Year

HistoryExtra Christmas quiz 2020

Our 2020 Christmas quiz

A Victorian Christmas card

HistoryExtra’s Christmas history quiz 2020

Chris Harding gives a lecture on Japan’s attempts to carve out a place for itself in a world dominated by western power and culture

Japan and the west

Richard III, Queen Victoria and Henry VIII. (Photos by Getty Images)

Monarchy history quiz: test your knowledge of these kings and queens