Money

The debtors’ exercise grounds at Newgate prison in 1809. The debtors’ prison was a feature of everyday life in 18th-century England (Photo by Rischgitz/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Inside debtors’ prisons: what life was like for people jailed in Georgian Britain

A painting by Dutch artist Hendrick Danckerts shows Charles II’s gardener, John Rose, presenting the king with a pineapple

General History

Pineapples, tulips and follies: 10 status symbols from history

Howard Hughes makes preparations for the historic flight of the Spruce Goose.

Howard Hughes: the troubled tycoon

The House of Commons in Sir Robert Walpole's administration

Your guide to The South Sea Bubble

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Pod Alex Wakelam WL

Debtors’ prisons: Dickensian horrors or economic successes? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Pod Anne Murphy WL

General History

The Bank of England: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Pod Miri Rubin et al WL

What can one woman reveal about Jewish life in medieval England? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles V of Spain depicted on a 16th-century gold coin

Kwasi Kwarteng "Wars are bloody expensive – so the only way nations can buy what they need is by printing their own money"

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Pod Andrew Roberts WL

The Napoleon of Fleet Street . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A loan transaction being recorded in a ledger, shown in a work by Marinus Van Reymerswaele

Medieval money tricks and the modern world

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Pod Stephen Tuffnell WL

Gold rushes: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

Cartoon from American satirical magazine Puck, c1885, showing American millionaires playing Monopoly with the country's assets

Who were the tycoons of the Gilded Age? Meet the ruthless ‘robber barons’ who made millions

John Duval Gluck, Jr, 'the Santa Claus man', pictured left, visiting the General Post Office to promote the Santa Claus Association’s benefit show

The con man who saved Christmas

A broker looks at his screens at Frankfurt's stock exchange on 15 September 2008. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images)

The 2008 financial crisis explained