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The official website for BBC History Magazine, BBC History Revealed and BBC World Histories Magazine

Animals

A photo which was believed to be of the Loch Ness Monster

The quest for the Loch Ness Monster

Bottles of snake oil

Q&A Did salesmen really sell snake oil?

A lithographic Victorian trade card promoting the Forepaugh circus' new white elephant, Buffalo, New York, circa 1880. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)

Q&A Why do we say ‘white elephant’?

Simon was found with his whiskers burned off and hurt by four pieces of shrapnel. The medical officer thought he wouldn’t survive the night (Photo by Keystone Pictures USA / Alamy Stock Photo)

10 top cats in history

The ‘Surgeon’s Photo’, taken in 1934, which claimed to depict the Loch Ness Monster. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

5 facts about the Loch Ness Monster

Illustration by Glen McBeth.

Q&A When did the leopards on the royal arms of England become the lions depicted today?

Vintage postcard showing Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and a pet corgi. (Photo by the History Press)

8 of the best dogs in history

Members of the Home Guard train racing pigeons as messengers in Blackburn, July 1940. Soon, carrier birds like this would be supplying vital intelligence on German arms factories and troop movements in occupied Europe. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The pigeons’ war on Hitler

Sergeant Stubby, an American dog who served as the mascot of America's 102nd Infantry Regiment during the First World War. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

First World War

Sergeant Stubby of the First World War: the heroic story of America’s most decorated war dog

Peasants in the Middle Ages at a cattle market. Cows appear to have been difficult to manage in the medieval period, and caused several deaths. (Photo by INTERFOTO /Alamy)

5 strange causes of death in the medieval period

c1943: Soldiers enjoy a baseball match at Wembley Stadium in London between the United States Army and Canadian Forces. With them sits Bobby, the mascot of the Canadian Highland Scottish regiment. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Animals at war: 12 amazing pictures

The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Illustration by Kate Greenaway, 1888. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

In pictures: fairytales through history

Roman mosaic of a dog, bearing the legend 'Cave Canem' underneath, from Pompeii, from Naples National Museum's collection, 1st century. (Photo by CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 things you (probably) didn’t know about animals in ancient Rome

Queen Victoria and her dog Looty. (© Look and Learn/Bridgeman Art Library)

10 famous people in history and their bizarre pets

Queen Victoria with her daughter Princess Beatrice at Balmoral Castle. Dogs seem to have been Victoria's favourite animal, writes Richard Sugg. (De Agostini Picture Library)

Queen Victoria’s pets and animals