Period

Historian Fern Riddell

15 minutes of fameFern Riddell chooses Charley Wilson

Second World War allies Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin (left to right) at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. East and west would soon become bitter rivals, however

The Cold War: 9 key questions

George C Marshall, architect of the Marshall Plan, which pledged billions of dollars to help rebuild war-torn Europe

What was the Marshall Plan?

President Truman, seen here in 1948

What was the Truman Doctrine?

Police disperse a mob attacking a Hindu temple in Calcutta (now Kolkata) during the violence of Direct Action Day, 1946

Why we should remember…Direct Action Day

Countryside campaigners: four women who fought for our green spaces

A portrait of William IV

Your guide to William IV, the ‘sailor king’

Craig Charles and Muhammad Ali

My history heroCraig Charles chooses Muhammad Ali

Boris Johnson announces his resignation as leader of the Conservative party

Behind the newsWhy PMs get the push

Hollywood history: everything you wanted to know

Troops clear damage after the Lynmouth flood disaster of 1952

Britain’s flood disasters: a brief history

A refugee family in a camp in Pakistan after the partition of British India in 1947

Enduring trauma: the legacy of partition

What to read nextThe latest history books reviewed

The Sahara: a green and pleasant land

Painting of the Battle of Blenheim

The battle of Blenheim: how did the Duke of Marlborough triumph on the Danube?

Youths throw stones at the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the Catholic Bogside area

Why we should remember…The battle of the Bogside

Episode 6Secrets of the pharaoh's mummy

Portraits of William III and Mary II, the only joint sovereigns in British history

Your guide to William and Mary, the only joint sovereigns in British history

Is Queen Henrietta Maria’s rotten reputation deserved?

Historian Leanda de Lisle photographed at her home with her dog Millie

Leanda de Lisle“Henrietta Maria has been looked at far too much through the male gaze”

Reverend Spencer Parsons, head of the Chicago branch of the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS), an interfaith group dedicated to helping women obtain abortions before 'Roe v Wade'

The American clergy who helped women get abortions before Roe v Wade

Measurement: an unexpected history

Richard Nixon at the White House with his family following his resignation as president, 9 August 1974. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Richard Nixon's final address: the day the president departed the White House

Pompey flees after the battle of Pharsalus

The battle of Pharsalus: how Julius Caesar defeated Pompey

Holbein's portrait of Edward VI

Edward VIWhy the forgotten Tudor king had the makings of a monster

Composer and conductor Igor Stravinsky rehearses with the BBC Symphony Orchestra ahead of a concert to be broadcast on the Third Programme, 1958

BBC at 100The Third Programme: a cultural institution

15 minutes of fameHakim Adi chooses Alice Kinloch

A British poster dated 1917 designed by Bert Thomas. (Photo by Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo)

A brief history of smoking

England's Daley Thompson during the high jump event of the decathlon at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Emonton, Canada

A brief history of the Commonwealth Games

First World War poets: everything you wanted to know