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A 19th-century depiction of HMS Erebus in the ice, by François Etienne Musin. What exactly happened to the ship and its crew remains a mystery. (Picture by Alamy)

The Franklin Expedition: what happened on the ill-fated Victorian voyage?

The women who fought back against Hollywood.

Spitfires under construction at the Vickers Supermarine works in Southampton, around 1940

The difficult birth of the Spitfire – and how the WW2 fighter almost missed the battle of Britain.

The assassination of Julius Caesar

What if…Julius Caesar had not been assassinated?.

6 articles about…the Victorian era

Rivalries and romances: couples that shook up history.

Picture depicting the Cato Street conspirators

To kill the cabinet: the Cato Street Conspiracy of 1820.

An engraving of the thin Red Line, depicting the 93rd Regiment at the battle of Balaklava

Q&AWhat was the Thin Red Line?

Engraved portrait of George Washington, the first president of the United States of America

George Washington: your guide to the war hero, founding father, first US president and slave owner

The Vikings’ global connections.

Terracotta plaque which is believed to show the poet Sappho rejecting an amorous advance by her contemporary who is also from the island of Lesbos. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

From Sappho to It’s a Sin: 9 LGBT+ histories, chosen by experts.

The space race: everything you wanted to know

The space race: everything you wanted to know.

Sathnam Sanghera discusses where we can see the legacy of imperialism in Britain today

Sathnam Sanghera on how modern Britain is shaped by empire.

The big questions of LGBTQ history.

US marines advance up Iwo Jima's beaches

Second World War

The battle for Iwo Jima: why did it happen and why was it so hard fought?

A painting of Henry IV, housed in the National Portrait Gallery, London. English earls, Scottish kings, French dukes and a Welsh prince all tried to unseat Henry, yet this most resilient of medieval monarchs prevailed over them all. (Photo by Getty Images)

Henry IV: the usurper king

Chaos & communism: China’s 1949 revolution.

A portrait of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch

Henry VII: your guide to the first Tudor king

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: poet, activist, trailblazer, runaway.

An Athenian red-figure kylix (cup) dating from around 510–500 BC depicts a young pentathlete pulling his older lover towards him for a kiss. In many of the city-states of ancient Greece, sex between a man and a youth was an accepted – even idealised – form of love, its virtues extolled in works by writers including Plato. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Pride and prejudice: same-sex relations through history.

Is “Blitz Spirit” a myth?.

The Tudors: 51 moments that shaped the royal dynasty

View of a gay pride parade in Boston, Massachusetts, c1977. (Photo by Spencer Grant/Getty Images)

From the ancient world to the 1969 Stonewall Riots: a brief guide to LGBT+ history.

Dr Jenna Dittmar, who has been studying medieval skeletons, reveals what her findings can tell us about injuries and violence in the era. (Image by Getty Images)

Fatal accidents and violent injuries in the Middle Ages.

A women drives oxen pulling a loaded wagon train through the Black Hills (in South Dakota or Wyoming) in 1887

From the real Calamity Jane to 'Madam Moustache': pioneer women of the Wild West.

Lord Fiske, chairman of the Decimal Currency Board, makes a purchase at a Woolworths using the new currency on Decimal Day, 15 February 1971

Decimal Day: when Britain said farewell to the shilling

The Dissolution: everything you wanted to know.

The forgotten mothers of civil rights leaders.

A decoy rubber tank such as those used by the Allies during WW2.

Masters of disguise: the story of the Allies' WW2 'Ghost Army'.

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The tapestry was most likely embroidered by women in Norman England in a workshop setting using four embroidery stitches – stem stitch; split stitch; chain stitch; and laid work, sometimes called ‘Bayeux Stitch’, says Dr Alexandra Lester-Makin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Bayeux Tapestry: what is it, why was it made and what story does it tell?