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Culture

Tokyo Olympics 1964: Yoshinori Sakai prepares to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony. Born on the day that the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, he was a symbol of Japan’s postwar reconstruction and peace

Tokyo Olympics 1964: the Games that defined Japan.

The piano: a musical history.

Bronwen Everill discusses the Benin Bronzes

The battle over the Benin Bronzes.

Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle

Q&AWho wrote the French national anthem?

The Enlightenment: everything you wanted to know.

A man digs a grave in Sarajevo for victims of the war in Bosnia, 1992

Yugoslavia: why shared Slavic identity couldn’t save an idealised nation from fracture and bloodshed.

Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (Photo by Alamy)

Ravenna: from Roman powerhouse to artistic hub.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Arrives Japan

Q&AHave the Olympic Games ever been cancelled?

A young girl reading a book. We recently asked our Twitter followers which historical fiction book inspired them as a child. (Photo by Terry Vine via Getty Images)

Historical fiction recommendations for children: the best history books for kids

Play Reading

Anne Hathaway, Hamnet and Judith: who were William Shakespeare's family?

Portrait of Carlo Broschi (stage name Farinelli), the most famous opera singer of the 18th century. (Photo By DEA/A. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

Castrated Georgian opera stars: the stars of the 18th century.

French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant holding the skull of Yorik

The wisdom of Shakespeare: 5 famous quotes explained.

Festival of Britain official programme. The event was held in 1951 on London's South Bank

The 1951 Festival of Britain: banishing the gloom of postwar Britain.

How Machiavellian was Machiavelli?.

A portrait of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare: a guide to the life of England's greatest playwright

Peter O’Toole (top) plays Henry II alongside Richard Burton

"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" The truth behind Henry II's notorious lament

Virginia Woolf, writer and critic. (Image by Getty Images)

Virginia Woolf: a brief guide to the writer's life.

Madame Tussaud's exhibition at Baker Street, London. But who was her first waxwork? (Photo by Bettmann, via Getty Images)

Q&AWho was Madame Tussaud’s first waxwork?

Cary Grant: from humble beginnings to Hollywood icon.

Actor Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster in James Whale's classic 1931 film

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: the birth of a gothic monster

The inner courtyard of the old pottery factory at Gladstone Pottery Museum, with its five towering bottle ovens. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

History explorerThe Gladstone Pottery Museum.

An Australian Sea Shanty band, c1988

A brief history of sea shanties

When British pop invaded America.

The city Bhaktapur looming over the Kathmandu valley

The hippy trail: a pan-Asian journey through history

The Renaissance: everything you wanted to know.

Extract from Domesday Book.

Your guide to the Domesday Book: the most important document in English history?

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie in profile: facts about her life

Editor’s pick: Ron Chernow on Alexander Hamilton.

The death of John Lennon: what happened?

Alfred Nobel (Bettmann/Getty Images)

The history of the Nobel Prizes