Historical people

"A great social experiment”: a brief guide to prohibition

A portrait of Louis XIV in 1701.

From musketeers to Macron: 10 remarkable facts about the Sun King, Louis XIV

Ragnar Lothbrok. (Illustration by Georgie Gozem for BBC History Magazine)

Ragnar Lothbrok: the legend of the immortal Viking and his sons

Einstein on the run

Einstein on the run: when the brilliant scientist fled to England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Isabella I of Castile. (Photo by PHAS/UIG via Getty Images)

Isabella I of Castile: Europe’s greatest queen?

British writer Roald Dahl

Second World War

Roald Dahl11 things you might not know about the children's author

Charles I's great weakness was that he made a strict distinction between his role as king, in which he could not compromise, and his personal role, which was entirely pleasant and courteous, says Sean Lang. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

8 of the nicest kings in history

The murder of Thomas Becket

Q&A: What happened to the assassins who killed Thomas Becket?

Ramesses II holding prisoners

Was Ramesses II really that great?

A real Peaky Blinder mug-shot

In pictures: what did the real Peaky Blinders look like?

Emperor Nero and the fire in Rome

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

A 16th-century map showing Magellan's ship

A voyage from hell: how Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world changed history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How wild was the Wild West?

9 eccentric monarchs through history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Lucrezia Borgia with her father Pope Alexander VI

Lucrezia Borgia: is her bad reputation deserved?

In 1937, Amelia Earhart, one of the world’s most famous aviators, apparently disappeared without a trace during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

From Jack the Ripper to Amelia Earhart: 17 unsolved historical mysteries. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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.

How historically accurate are film portrayals of Jesse James?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Perkin Warbeck, an imposter and pretender to the English throne, being humiliated in the stocks before his execution in 1499. Warbeck was used by Henry VII’s Yorkist enemies in an unsuccessful plot to threaten the new Tudor dynasty. (Getty Images)

Imposters in history: 16 famous con-artists and pretenders. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Scottish soldier and Field Marshal Douglas Haig (1861 - 1928) visiting the troops during the First World War. (Central Press/Getty Images)

First World War

Field Marshal Haig: a man much misunderstood?

In only two years, Hernán Cortés brought about the downfall of an efficient military civilisation through a combination of diplomacy, warfare, tactics, luck and sheer force of personality, writes Caroline Dodds. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Cortés and Montezuma: the conquering of Tenochtitlan

Is it true that an angry mob of Dutchmen killed and ate their own prime minister in 1672? (Illustration by Glen McBeth)

Q&AIs it true that an angry mob of Dutchmen killed and ate their own prime minister in 1672?

"For those of noble birth who were condemned to die, execution by beheading (which was considered the least brutal method of execution) was used until the 18th century," says criminologist and historian Lizzie Seal. This illustration depicts the execution of Charles I in January 1649. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of capital punishment in Britain

Bill Edwardes, who at the age of 16 joined the army to fight during WW2.

Second World War

The boys who lied about their age to fight in WW2

Marble bust of Agrippina the Younger

Agrippina the Younger: the first true empress of Ancient Rome

Catherine Hanley tells the story of Empress Matilda, whose battle for the English throne became known as ‘the anarchy’. (Photo by Jeni Nott for BBC History Magazine)

Empress Matilda: Medieval warrior queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Fidel Castro addresses delegates of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, September 1960. (Photo by Tommy Weber/AFP/Getty Images)

How should history remember Fidel Castro?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Cesare Lombroso, described as the 'father of criminology'. (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

The ‘born criminal’? Lombroso and the origins of modern criminology

The former Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, for whom Edward gave up the throne in 1936, sparking a crisis that rocked the British monarchy. The couple are pictured here in 1939. (Photo by Keystone-France\Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The 7 most romantic moments in history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850) was a British statesman who twice served as Conservative prime minister, between 1834–35 and 1841–46. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

5 facts about Sir Robert Peel. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.