Historical people

Suffragettes armed with materials to chain themselves to railings

Suffragettes history facts: 10 things you might not know about the Votes for Women campaigners

Suffragette Annie Kenney

8 famous suffragettes and votes for women campaigners

Emily Davison, photographed a few days before she was fatally injured after stepping in front of the king's horse during the Derby

Emily Davison: the suffragette who stepped in front of the king's horse

An African samurai: the tall, strong African man who acquired the name Yasuke in Japan was at first an object of curiosity but soon became a prized samurai warrior serving a powerful warlord in the violent intrigues that wracked the country during that volatile era. ((Illustration by Lynn Hatzius for BBC World Histories)

Who is Yasuke? The true story of the African who became Japan's first black samurai

Oleg Gordievsky

Oleg Gordievsky: the double agent who changed the course of the Cold War

Video podcastLord Byron: life of the week.

Painting of Lord Byron and his Muse

“Mad, bad and dangerous to know”: the scandalous life of Lord Byron

The outlaw Johannes Bückler, also known as Schinderhannes

Q&AWho was Schinderhannes and why is he known as the ‘German Robin Hood’?

Lord Byron: 9 objects that defined the infamous poet's life and story.

Video podcastMary Wollstonecraft: life of the week.

British prime minister Harold Wilson, March 1967. (Photo by Michael Stroud/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Harold Wilson: 5 facts about the Labour Party prime minister

Margaret Beaufort, shown in a c16th‐century oil on panel painting

Margaret Beaufort: mother of the Tudors

Portrait of Mary Surratt

The real history of Mary Surratt's controversial role in the Lincoln conspiracy

Mary Villiers and Julianne Moore

Who was the real Mary Villiers?

The real George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and Nicholas Galitzine as George Villiers

Who was George Villiers, favourite of King James VI and I?

Video podcastLife of the Week: Frederick Douglass.

Henry Kissinger

“Whatever you want to say about Kissinger, he had consequence”: the life and legacy of the American diplomat.

Portrait of Scottish poet Robert Burns

Robert Burns: 7 facts about the life and work of Scotland's national bard

Video podcastLife of the Week: Mansa Musa.

Life of the Week: Mansa Musa.

A portrait of George Robert Twelves Hewes

George Robert Twelves Hewes: the shoemaker who became a patriot

Joséphine de Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais: how Napoleon's muse became empress of France

Video podcastLife of the week: Genghis Khan.

A black and white photo showing a group of friends having a picnic, including Josef Mengele (third from the right).

Tracking down the Nazi 'Angel of Death': one man's hunt for Josef Mengele

Illustration of a woman with an insect net looking at some larger-than-life butterflies and moths.

General Early Modern

Eleanor Glanville: the butterfly collector

Anglo-Saxon thegns

Q&AWho was Eadnoth the Staller?

A portrait of Chevalier d’Éon presenting as a woma

Chevalièr d’Éon: the tale of an 18th-century gender non-conforming spy

Images of Sidi Mubarak Bombay

Sidi Mubarak Bombay: the unsung African adventurer behind the European explorers.

A photograph of Albert Einstein looking into the camera

Albert Einstein: facts about his life, death, education and work

Oppenheimer: “destroyer of worlds”.