Period

William Shakespeare: life of the week.

Episode 7Tudor love and sex: inside the 16th-century bedroom.

Episode 4Tudor childhood: what were children's lives like in the 16th century?.

Episode 6Keeping clean in the 16th-century: how often did ordinary Tudors wash?.

Episode 5What did ordinary Tudors eat?.

A painting showing a man dressed in armour, with a blue and red flag over him, riding a white horse amongst a busy battlefield

5 things you (probably) didn't know about the Tudors.

Tudor life with Ruth Goodman.

Who laid the fuse for the Gunpowder Plot?.

A portrait of F Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby who evoked the glamour and restlessness of the Art Deco era in his fiction.

Glitz, glamour and Gatsby? Not quite. Here’s why the Art Deco movement is darker than you think

A montage of moments and faces from history.

General History

What are the best history podcasts? These picks are the perfect way step into the past

Reagan's plan to 'make America great again'.

Beyond the podcastThe Gunpowder plot

A detail of a depiction of a lavish pageant staged in Paris in 1514 celebrated the royal entry of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, on her marriage to King Louis XII of France.

Tudor England had no standing army, but this humble hobby kept its people ready for war

This portrait shows Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Baroness Holland (1771–1845), a prominent figure in early 19th-century British political and social circles. As the wife of Whig politician Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, she was known for her intelligence, influence — and for the controversy surrounding her affairs.

She held wealth, power and prestige: so why did this Georgian aristocrat fake her daughter’s death?

How enslaved people fought for freedom across the Atlantic.

Aneurin Bevan: life of the week.

A collaged picture shows a marble statue of Elizabeth I wearing a large crown on the left, and a portrait of King James I, dressed in a red and white robe and crown on the right

The lie of succession: did James I steal Elizabeth I's crown?.

Bandits & blasphemers: crime in 17th century Scotland.

This replica painting from the Cave of Altamira in northern Spain recreates some of the remarkable Upper Palaeolithic images created by early humans between 35,000 and 14,000 years ago. Celebrated for their vivid depictions of animals and handprints, Altamira’s cave paintings are among the earliest known examples of human artistic expression.

General prehistory

Think men were always the hunters? Stone Age women took down mammoths too – and that's not all

How Julius Caesar's funeral drama fuelled the mob.

This 1st-century BC mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii depicts a tragic dramatic mask, a powerful symbol of Roman theatrical culture. Masks like this were central to performances, allowing actors to embody gods, heroes, and emotions on stage.

Ancient Roman theatre was a powerful weapon of empire, so why were actors' lives so tragic?

Isabel Allende and Inés Suárez

My history heroIsabel Allende chooses Inés Suárez.

A painting shows a topless woman sitting up in bed, holding her hand against the face of the man leaning over her

What did the Tudors think was ‘good’ sex? These tips and tricks were key to relationships in the 16th century

HistoryExtra AcademyTudor life, with Ruth Goodman

Episode 2Tudor religion: what did people believe?.

Episode 1What did Tudor people do for fun?.

Episode 3Tudor work: what jobs did people do?.

Ask the Tudor expert! Join our live Q&A with historian Ruth Goodman.

Four small terracotta masks in a line. The two in the middle have black hair and beards, one with a white face and the other with an orange face. The ones on either end are plain beige faces.

The making of Rome's monster.

The dark side of Samuel Pepys.