Period

Episode 2Why did Britain industrialise first? It’s more complicated than you think. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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History crossword6 March. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Life on the mean streets of 19th-century London. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Composite image showing a medieval cesspit excavation alongside historic coins found within the deposit.

From health to wealth, here are the strange secrets medieval toilets reveal about life in the Middle Ages

Trailblazers and troublemakers: women who made French history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of French military officer Charles de Gaulle in uniform wearing a decorated kepi hat against a teal background.

Second World War

Meet the embattled French WW2 leader who withstood the Nazis – and Winston Churchill

Episode 1Could YOU survive Henry VIII’s reign?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Vladimir Lenin: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A cartoon-style rubber date stamp with a red top and a yellow crown sits on a stack of three yellow books labeled 1, 2, and 3. The stamp’s rotating number bands are visible, and the books are arranged like steps against a plain background.

What was the most important year in history? We asked 9 experts – and this is what they said. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Why Britons rejected fascism in the 1930s. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detailed Persian miniature painting showing a central figure seated on a raised platform beneath a decorated canopy, surrounded by a halo of flames. Attendants and courtiers in colourful robes and turbans sit or stand around them, with trays of food, vessels, and fans arranged in the scene. Stylized hills, flowers, and animals fill the background, all rendered in intricate patterns and bright colours.

12 modern trends with surprisingly ancient roots. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 1Young Elizabeth I: the making of a queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Classical Greco-Roman-style statue lifting a modern dumbbell against a coloruful sky background.

Is this the best routine to boost your health? Yes, according to an ancient Roman intellectual

A seated person wearing an elaborate costume poses with one hand resting on their face. They wear a large, ornate headdress with wing‑like extensions and pearls, and a richly decorated outfit with detailed embroidery and an eagle motif on the chest.

"It wasn't very open about its queer connections": the hidden history of the National Trust. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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History crossword27 February. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A poetic history of England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Why do we still ban books?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval miniature illustration showing people looking from windows of neighboring houses while a man squats in a courtyard below.

Were medieval toilets as filthy as you think?

A pair of glasses with light brown and yellow frames and pink lenses. Below them is a reflected shadow of the same pair of glasses, against a beige background

From Stranger Things to communist cars: why we can't resist nostalgia. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Were the Victorians the luckiest people in history?

The hidden history behind Mount Rushmore. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Juana Ines de le Cruz in a banner for the 'life of the week' HistoryExtra podcast series.

Juana Inés de la Cruz: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A monochrome woodcut-style illustration of a small camp. Several conical tents stand in the background. In the foreground, three people are engaged in different tasks: one person carries a large bundle on their back, another kneels beside a small fire as if cooking or tending it, and a third lies on the ground wrapped in a blanket, appearing to rest. The scene emphasises daily life and work within the camp

Inside Britain's first refugee camp: a 300-year history of immigration. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The forgotten wars that redefined Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A group of boys from the BBC adaptation of Lord of the Flies stand in tall grass on a tropical island, some holding sharpened wooden spears. Their clothes and faces are smeared with dirt, and they look ahead with wary, hardened expressions, palm trees and a rocky outcrop rising behind them.

What inspired the darkness of Lord of the Flies? The disturbing history behind the novel

A large statue of a man in a long military-style coat and cap, standing on a pedestal in a forest. Tree trunks in the foreground partially obscure the figure. The statue shows the man with a stern expression, one hand holding the lapel of his coat. Tall trees and undergrowth surround the statue, giving the scene a secluded, wooded setting.

I’ve just been to Europe’s weirdest theme park – and came face to face with Josef Stalin. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 4Does Magna Carta matter today?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Statue of Queen Victoria with a humorous added cartoon smile and speech bubble reading “We are amused.”

Think the Victorians were prudes? Their filthiest jokes will shock you

A whimsical, detailed drawing of a person with curly hair and glasses standing on a wooden platform, holding a magnifying glass and pointing toward a stream of long paper scrolls. The scrolls flow from a large, fantastical machine on the right, built from gears, pulleys, tubes, and compartments. Several gloved hands emerge from the machine, performing tasks such as ironing, cleaning, inserting coins, and feeding paper into different mechanisms. The scene suggests a playful, surreal process of sorting or transforming information, with papers looping, curling, and cascading between the person and the machine

"Forget AI – never has the role of the historian been more urgent". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of Hannibal leading soldiers and war elephants across snowy Alpine mountains during his campaign against Rome.

General ancient history

Have archaeologists just found proof of ancient Carthage's legendary anti-Roman war weapon?