Illustration of a Medieval Scribe

Literature

Rudyard Kipling: life of the week.

Video podcastLife writing: how to create a Victorian bestseller.

Katherine Graham, owner of the Washington Post, and Truman Capote

The real story of Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball

Video podcastAlexandria: the first modern city.

Regency Masterclass, with Dr Lizzie Rogers.

Portrait of Scottish poet Robert Burns

Robert Burns: 7 facts about the life and work of Scotland's national bard

Employees operate power looms at a cotton mill in Lancashire (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Reading between the lines: the real-life events that inspired Jane Austen.

VideoRegency culture.

Jane Austen, c1790

Becoming Jane Austen.

A Regency gentleman greets a row of ladies

Everything you wanted to know about Jane Austen's England.

Regency quiz - week 2

QuizRegency culture.

The Bloomsbury Group: everything you wanted to know.

Sherlock Holmes: the real history that inspired the detective stories.

Simon Ward as the Duke of Buckingham and Faye Dunaway as Milady de Winter in the 1973 film 'The Three Musketeers', 1973

The mystery of the ‘real’ Milady de Winter of The Three Musketeers

Lucy Worsley. (Photo by BBC Studios)

Lucy WorsleyThe love-hate relationship between Sherlock Holmes and his creator: "Conan Doyle felt upstaged by Holmes".

Shakespeare: Past Master8. The Tempest.

Shakespeare: Past Master7. The Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare: Past Master6. Macbeth.

Shakespeare: Past Master2. Titus Andronicus.

Shakespeare: Past Master1. Hamlet.

Du Fu: China's greatest poet.

Shakespeare: Past Master5. Julius Caesar.

Video podcastDu Fu: China's greatest poet.

The dark side of Dickens.

Shakespeare: Past Master4. Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare: Past Master3. Henry V.

George Orwell’s forgotten wife.

A painted portrait of William Blake

William BlakeRomantic visionary

William Caxton shows off his new press in Westminster to Edward IV in a 19th-century painting (Photo by Artepics / Alamy Stock Photo)

How William Caxton printed the first-ever book in English.

Geoffrey Chaucer5 key things to know