Historical people

Domenico Fetti painting illustrating a melancholic woman in the early 17th century

The Anatomy of Melancholy: how Robert Burton helped shape our understanding of the mind

St George’s Day: 11 facts about England's patron saint

The NorthmanHow the real Viking prince Amleth inspired Shakespeare

The Northman stars Alexander Skarsgård as Viking prince Amleth

“You are in their world, not in ours”: How The Northman makes the Viking Age real

Clara Barton sitting at a table

How Clara Barton became the ‘angel of the battlefield’

US socialite Margaret Brown, who posthumously became known as the ‘Unsinkable Molly Brown’ following her Titanic experiences.

Titanic8 stories of passengers who sailed on the liner

A portrait of Anne Lister

The real Gentleman Jack: the secret life of Anne Lister, Britain's ‘first modern lesbian’

Benjamin Franklin: portrait of a revolutionary

The Three Musketeers sitting at a table

The real three musketeers: the historical Athos, Porthos and Aramis (and d’Artagnan) revealed

A cartoon published by Benjamin Franklin c1770 urging the colonies to unite and resist British rule. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Benjamin Franklin: from British patriot to American hero

Suleyman the Magnificent: the 16th-century’s most powerful ruler?

Aelfwynn in season 5 of The Last Kingdom, holding the crown of Mercia that belonged to her mother

The real Aelfwynn of Mercia

A 16th-century portrait of Bess of Hardwick. Bess's talent, ambition and eye for a well-connected husband elevated her to dizzying levels of wealth and power in Tudor England. (Photo by Bridgeman Art Library)

Bess of Hardwick: schemer, social climber, scourge of Elizabeth I

A portrait of Flora MacDonald, who found fame as a Jacobite heroine sailing Bonnie Prince Charlie to safety

Who was Flora MacDonald?

Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, illustrated sitting on a throne

Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians: the warrior queen who crushed the Vikings

A photograph of Al Capone, in a suit, looking into the camera

Your guide to the Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone

A portrait of Caroline of Ansbach

Caroline of Ansbach: why George II's remarkable queen was the first iron lady of British politics

Mrs Caroline Backhouse Astor

Mrs Astor and the Four Hundred

Portrait of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany

Q&AWho was the Grand Old Duke of York?

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in season six of 'Peaky Blinders'

Peaky Blinders: The story so far, plus the real figures to expect in season 6

Children's author Beatrix Potter as a young woman, c1892

Why the real Beatrix Potter was more than her children’s tales

A portrait of King Charles I

Jane Whorwood: the royalists' secret weapon

Mexico’s ill-fated Austrian emperor

A replica of St Edward’s Crown, used in the coronation of British rulers since 1661

General History

Who is Britain’s greatest monarch?

Portrait of Maria Sibylla Merian, by Jacob Marrel, 1679 (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Maria Sibylla Merian: the artist who challenged the natural world

Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark and the first Viking king of England (Photo by Getty)

How Sweyn Forkbeard became the first Viking king of England

Ras Prince Monolulu entertains the crowds at Aintree racecourse, 1931 (Photo by KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Ras Prince Monolulu: the horse-race tipster who transformed himself into an Abyssinian prince

Escaping slavery in the American South

Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma in Bridgerton, next to a Regency portrait of Kitty Kirkpatrick.

Inspiring Bridgerton: the real South Asian women in Regency-era England

A portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, painted during the reign of Charles I

Elizabeth Stuart: the treasonous portrait that touted Charles I's sister for the throne