Period

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784 - 1865), the British Liberal statesman who served almost continually as Prime Minister between 1855 and 1865, pictured circa 1860. (Photo by Herbert Fry/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Lord Palmerston: the people’s champion. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration from 1883 shows the phrenology chart of the skull

The Victorian phrenology craze. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Notre Dame of Paris at first light (Photo by Captblack76-Dreamstime.com)

Notre-Dame. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anita Anand, photographed in London. "My grandfather was in Amritsar on the day of the massacre. This story has been woven into my DNA," she says. (Photography by Alastair Levy)

Books interview with Anita Anand: “Singh hoped that he would be the catalyst for a revolution”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Seeking to remove opponents who questioned his right to be head of church and state, Henry VIII was ruthless in his pursuit of those he deemed traitors. (Image by Alamy)

Henry VIII's hitmen: the Tudor king's secret hunt for traitors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The west Cornish tomb Lanyon Quoit, which dates to the Neolithic period (3500–2500 BC). The Anglo-Saxons believed that ancient burial sites were cursed – and guarded by dragons. (Image by Dreamstime)

Giants, dragons and Middle Earth: the Anglo-Saxon fear of the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A protester in a headlock, Southall, April 1979, when a member of the Anti-Nazi League died after being struck on the head. (Images by Getty Images)

1979: Britain in meltdown. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Thatcher holds up two shopping bags to show how much less a pound would buy due to inflation under Labour. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Are we still living in Thatcher’s Britain?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A souvenir for a burlesque adaptation of the classic opera 'Carmen' at the Gaiety Theatre, 1890. (Image by Bridgeman)

Victorian burlesque: cheap thrills for the chattering classes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Empire Cinema and Casino, Leicester Square, London. It was originally a theatre and ballet venue, before reopening as a music hall in 1884. (Image by Alamy)

History explorer: The birth of British cinema. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The photogenic Trevi Fountain is a highlight of most visits to Rome. (Image by Getty Images)

My favourite place: Rome, Italy

Wilfred Thesiger in Oman, c1946. "He was able to cope without sleep, and aI don't think he knew pain," says Frank Gardner. (Image by Bridgeman)

My history hero: Frank Gardner chooses Wilfred Thesiger. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn's childhood home in Kent. (Photo by Prisma Bildagentur/UIG via Getty Images)

8 must-visit castles with Tudor connections

Blenheim Palace in a c1880 print from ‘A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland’, edited by Reverend FO Morris, Volume I, William Mackenzie, London. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

10 things you might not know about Blenheim Palace

Melvyn Bragg speaks to the History Extra podcast about the 12th-century love story of Heloise and Abelard. (Photo by Awakening/Getty Images)

Melvyn Bragg on Heloise and Abelard. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A battle of wills: why the South lost the American Civil War

President Abraham Lincoln visiting soldiers encamped at the Civil War battlefield of Antietam in Maryland, 1 October 1862. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

The American Civil War: 7 facts and fictions. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

On the latest History Extra podcast, Christopher Somerville discusses his experiences of visiting some of Britain’s historic cathedrals, including Wells Cathedral, pictured. (Photo by Roger Utting | Dreamstime.com)

Exploring Britain’s cathedrals. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

c1943: Soldiers enjoy a baseball match at Wembley Stadium in London between the United States Army and Canadian Forces. With them sits Bobby, the mascot of the Canadian Highland Scottish regiment. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Animals at war: 12 amazing pictures

Hardian's Wall, a world heritage site. (Photo by Getty Images)

A tale of two walls: how Hadrian's Wall inspired Game of Thrones. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The food served at the wedding of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell may be inspired by accounts of ancient Roman excess, says Ayelet Haimson Lushkov. (© Home Box Office, Inc/Sky Atlantic)

Power plays and scheming queens: the ancient history behind Game of Thrones. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Gerald Heard had a peculiar idea that the UFOs then being sighted all across the globe, as such as this ‘sighting’ in Sicily, were piloted not by humanoid ETs, as you may have presumed, but by alien super-bees from Mars. (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

6 of history’s strangest ever theories about outer space. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Edward IV, the first Yorkist King of England.

Edward IV: facts about his life, death and reign

Old Crofters Cottage, near Broadford, looking North, Isle of Skye, Scotland. (Photo by Getty Images)

The Scottish Clearances. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

What is the nature of Margaret Thatcher's legacy?

A US soldier teaching two junior 'rookie' recruits how to clean a gun during the First World War

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about America’s entry and involvement in the First World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A joint Franco-Native Indian raid left 56 residents of Deerfield, a small township in north-western Massachusetts, dead. (Alamy)

America: Brave new world or accident?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

1949: Clementine with husband Winston Churchill at Epsom racecourse for the Derby. (Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

6 surprising facts about Clementine Churchill

Portrait of a young woman believed to be Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Did Catherine Howard commit adultery?

Professor Nicholas Vincent discusses the life and reign of King John. (Photograph by Mr Christopher Guy, Worcester Cathedral Archaeologist, reproduced by permission of the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral)

King John: medieval monster. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.