Historical people

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.

Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton, the great Antarctic explorer of the Heroic Age

History's greatest mysteriesWhy did Mao’s chosen successor flee China?.

Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin. (Getty Images)

First World War

Did a British agent murder Rasputin?

HistoryExtra Masterclass: Tudor Royal Women with Tracy Borman

Tudor Royal Women with Tracy BormanWomen at Court.

Josephine Baker lounges on a tiger skin around the time she starred in La Revue Nègre

Singer, siren, activist, spy: the incredible life of Josephine Baker.

A follower is reflected on a framed photograph of Bhimrao Ambedkar

Bhim Rao Ambedkar: India’s 'untouchable' hero.

William Hogarth, seen in a self-portrait with his pug

William HogarthThe satirical artist inspired by the teachings of the Bible.

Pragmatist or heartless? A portrait of the young Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492). The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The power behind the throne: women in the Wars of the Roses.

Depiction of a musician and dancing fool in Paris, 14th century

What was life like for a court jester?

Depiction of the battle of Stamford Bridge. Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, seen here wielding a battleaxe, was slain at the battle

Harald Hardrada: why there's more to the last great Viking than his death in 1066

Colourful illustration of 12 historical figures's heads (Winston Churchill, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Thomas Cromwell, Richard III, Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Anne Boleyn, William Marshal, Jane Austen, Hatshepsut, Gandhi and Catherine the Great) shown in a grid pattern.

Top historical figures: 100+ of the most famous people through history – in chronological order

Illustration of Hereward the Wake, the rebel who rose against William the Conqueror

Hereward the Wake: the Anglo-Saxon rebel who became William the Conqueror's nemesis

Johnny Hopper: a nerveless Nazi-killer.

A black and white photo of several 'matchwomen', who went on strike at the Bryant and May's factory in London in 1888.

The 1888 Matchgirls strike: how a group of East End women changed British labour history

Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia

Haile Selassie, last emperor of Ethiopia and architect of modern Africa

An illustration from The Travels of Marco Polo, showing a teenage Marco on the deck of a ship sailing away from Venice

Why are Marco Polo's travels so famous?

A montage of Romans (Photos courtesy of Getty and Alamy)

How ethnically diverse was Roman Britain?.

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace: a visionary of computing

A reconstruction of a Viking church

Vikings in America: the Europeans who arrived 500 years before Columbus.

Illustration of a man without a head, but with his face on his chest. This is one of many creatures Sir John Mandeville claimed to have met on his travels

A knight's (tall) tale: why medieval traveller Sir John Mandeville was more popular than Marco Polo.

Tony Robinson as Private Baldrick and Rowan Atkinson as Captain Blackadder

Q&AWas there a real Blackadder?.

Illustration of the man in the iron mask standing by the window of his cell and guarded by two musketeers

Unmasking the 'man in the iron mask': do we know the identity of the famous prisoner?

John of Gaunt: prince without a throne.

John of Gaunt shown in a c16th-century portrait

John of Gaunt: The man who would be king.