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Culture

Chatsworth House, where Elizabeth I ordered for Mary, Queen of Scots to be imprisoned after she abdicated and fled from Scotland to England in 1567. (Photo by Chatsworth House Trust)

Britain’s 7 most amazing stately homes

This is an American flag with waves folding over the blue field of stars and red and white stripes. (Photo by Visions of America/UIG via Getty Images)

Revealed: the history of America’s national anthem

A view of the Globe Theatre, Bankside, London c1600. During a performance in 1613, a set of stage cannons were fired and a piece of flaming material from one of the cannons landed on the theatre’s thatched roof, causing a fire. (Photo by Epics/Getty Images)

The Globe theatre fire of 1613: when Shakespeare’s playhouse burned down

Colour portrait of Jane Austen

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about Jane Austen

The acclaimed English author Charles Dickens. (Photo by Apic/Getty Images)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Charles Dickens and his family home

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From Mary, Queen of Scots to the FIFA Women’s World Cup: a brief history of women’s football

(Image by Bettmann/Getty)

10 photographs that made history

Live Aid stage at Wembley, London, in 1985

When Live Aid rocked the world

Between 1613 and 1754, a legal loophole meant that on-the-spot marriages could be carried out in an area surrounding the Fleet Debtors’ Prison known as the ‘Liberties of the Fleet’. (Photo by Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the history of London

British writer Hilary Mantel photographed at home. (Photo by Lionel Derimais/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images)

Hilary Mantel on the secrets of successful historical fiction

The opening of the Great Exhibition by Queen Victoria on 1 May 1851. (The Print Collector/Getty Images)

A big day in history: Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition at the famous Crystal Palace

The ninth-century Alfred Jewel, adorned with the inscription: "Alfred ordered me to be made". This masterpiece of Anglo-Saxon art is thought to have been an aestel, a pointer used to follow text. (Picture by Alamy)

10 ways the Anglo-Saxons changed the course of British history

Tourists at Stonehenge

General prehistory

Stonehenge: a prehistoric tourist trap

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi.

The big question: should museums return their treasures?

Japanese troops celebrate the capture of a British artillery position, Hong Kong, December 1941 (Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

The lion and the rising sun: Britain and Japan’s 400-year relationship