Culture

Wolfson Prize winner 2020 David Abulafia. (Photo by Fran Monks)

Exclusive podcast David Abulafia on The Boundless Sea

Huge sun setting over power lines and palm trees in California. (Photo by Getty Images)

California’s century of change

A bust of Ludwig van Beethoven before the original handwritten score for his Piano Sonata no. 28 in A major, Op. 101. The composer stood at the vanguard of a new artistic movement that celebrated emotion and nature. (Getty Images/Alamy/Dreamstime)

The soundtrack of Beethoven’s life

Globe Theatre illustration

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

Mel Gibson in a scene from the film 'Braveheart'

Good drama, bad history: 11 historically inaccurate films you need to watch

How much do you know about the Vikings? Test your knowledge with our quiz. This mid-19th century painting shows Viking ships on the River Thames. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

History quiz: How much do you know about the Vikings?

Statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson in Trafalgar Square London

Should we judge historical figures by the morals of today?

(Photo by Michele Falzone via Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about ancient Egypt

English author, poet and philosopher Geoffrey Chaucer, c 1343, Bodleian Library (Photo by Getty Images)

The cosmopolitan Chaucer

David Olusoga in the Bristol house featuring in series 3 of A House Through Time (Photo by BBC–Twenty Twenty Productions–Mark Bourdillon)

David Olusoga on A House Through Time

Rutger Bregman. (Rutger Bregman (Photo by Maartje ter Horst)

Rutger Bregman’s optimistic history of the world

Portrait of Isabella d'Este in Red by Pieter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). (Photo by Getty Images)

Rethinking the Renaissance

10 February 1840: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on their return from their wedding at St James's Palace, London. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

Why do brides wear white dresses? Plus the history behind 3 more wedding traditions

Miners work hard in cramped conditions at the pit face in Ellington Colliery, Northumberland, 1951 (Photo by Getty Images)

The Northumbrians: from Bede to Geordie Shore

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

“A wonder of the world”: Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition at the famous Crystal Palace