Period

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

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

Cundill Prize-winner Camilla Townsend on global history.

Toby WilkinsonThe rediscovery of Ancient Egypt.

One of the burial mounds at Sutton Hoo

How dark were the Dark Ages?.

Castro and the trip that shaped the 1960s.

Portchester Castle in Hampshire was intended as a coastal defence against raiders. (Photo by Getty Images)

The collapse of Roman Britain: what happened, plus 9 places which tell us more.

Fishbourne Roman Palace, plus 5 more Roman mosaics you can explore in Britain.

George Washington Carver in a laboratory

History heroGillian Burke chooses George Washington Carver (c1864–1943).

Imperialism on the oceans.

Wrens operating the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park, 1943

Second World War

Your guide to Bletchley Park, the key WW2 decryption centre

This 15th-century painting from a manuscript shows men fishing in a river. In medieval England, eels were both meals and de facto currency. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Fishing for gold: how eels powered the medieval economy

The death of John Lennon: what happened?

Almond Hedgehog: A debonair addition to the hostess’s armoury in the Georgian period. (Illustration by Clair Rossiter for BBC History Magazine)

What was the best meal in history?.

Jane Austen's fiction: an accurate portrayal of life in Georgian England?.

The International Brigades: fighting fascism in Spain.

Fern Riddell.

Fern Riddell"Can we call the suffragettes terrorists? Absolutely".

Rushton Triangular Lodge was ostensibly a warrener's lodge but the biblical references that adorn its three exterior walls tell a different story. (Photo English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

History explorer: Catholic resistance to Elizabeth I.

Alfred Nobel (Bettmann/Getty Images)

The history of the Nobel Prizes

The Glorious Revolution: everything you wanted to know.

The orphan hero who fought at Trafalgar.

England’s sporting obsession.

This engraving by William Hogarth shows the final instalment of a sequence of artworks called 'The Four Stages of Cruelty' (1751). In it, the fictional Tom Nero is being dissected for anatomical studies at Cutlerian theatre near Newgate prison after being hanged for murder. Nero looks like the Dead-Alive, as though he can see and smell his own executed body on the dissection table. The chief physician sits in the centre on a high-backed chair, resembling a high court judge. He is surrounded by various medical men, including penal surgeons, who did gallows work. The skeletons of dissected criminals were usually refused a Christian burial and so were displayed as specimens, as can be seen top left and top right. (Photo by Guildhall Library/Getty Images)

Surviving the gallows: the Georgian hangings that didn't go to plan.

The Huguenots vs France: who were the Huguenots and what did they believe?

The colonial secrets of Britain’s stately homes.

'Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs' by Camilla Townsend

New take on Aztec history revealed as winner of the 2020 Cundill History Prize

How did the Reformation impact Jews?.

Even the ancient Egyptian played board games – this fresco from the tomb of Nefertari shows the queen playing Senet

8 of the best historical board games for history lovers

Scrooge and Marley's ghost

Q&AWhy do we say ‘Bah Humbug’ and what does it mean?

Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret as Prince Charming and Cinderella in a 1941 pantomime

Q&AWhat are the origins of the Christmas pantomime?

'Merry Christmas' Victorian illustration of Santa Claus holding toys and blowing on a trumpet, chromolithograph, 1915. (Illustration by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Father Christmas and Santa Claus: a brief history of two Christmas champions