Period

An illustration of King Arthur's coronation, from the 13th-century Flores Historiarum. Taken from ‘The Island Race’, a 20th-century book written by Sir Winston Churchill that covers the history of the British Isles from pre-Roman times to the Victorian era. (Photo by World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about King Arthur

Stonehenge

General prehistory

Britain’s key archaeological discoveries

A Victorian lady washing in the nude

In pictures: erotic postcards of the early 20th century

A lithographic Victorian trade card promoting the Forepaugh circus' new white elephant, Buffalo, New York, circa 1880. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)

Q&A Why do we say ‘white elephant’?

c50 BC, Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, the last and most famous of the Ptolemaic dynasty. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 things you (probably) didn’t know about Cleopatra

In 1358, women finally gained full knightly acceptance in England when they began to be admitted to chivalric orders. (Photo by Eugene Antonov/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Q&A Could a woman become a knight in medieval times?

A cartoon of Napoleon and King George III.

Q&A How tall was Napoleon Bonaparte?

Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown on Andrew Carnegie

Emperor Nero and the fire in Rome

Q&A Did Emperor Nero really play the fiddle while Rome burned?

The leaning tower of Pisa

Q&A Why does the Tower of Pisa lean to one side?

Pilgrim Fathers boarding the Mayflower

5 facts about the Mayflower

An aerial view of Tintagel Castle, Cornwall. (Photo by David Goddard/Getty Images)

Explore Tintagel Castle and the legend of King Arthur

Now a protected species in many countries, the hedgehog was once also a health food. A German cookbook dating from the mid-15th century recommends the meat of a hedgehog as useful for leprosy and urinary retention. (Photo by Yuri SmityukTASS via Getty Images)

General ancient history

Hedgehogs, cannabis bread and horse placenta: 13 weird and wonderful health foods in history

Criminal register photographs at Wormwood Scrubs prison, around 1890. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Prisoner dilemmas