Illustration of a Medieval Scribe

Literature

Clare Jackson with her Wolfson History Prize winning book, Devil-land

General History

The story of England’s turbulent Stuart century wins the Wolfson History Prize 2022

Your guide to George Orwell and his visions of dystopia.

Elizabeth Gaskell: a voice of the Victorians.

A portrait of William Shakespeare

History quiz – language and literature.

Oscar Wilde pictured around 1882.

Oscar Wilde's tragic end

Robert Louis Stevenson, the 19th-century English poet and novelist perhaps best known for his books 'Treasure Island' and the 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson: novelist, playwright, poet, traveller.

A woman reading a vintage thesaurus

Q&AWho wrote the first thesaurus?

A stained glass portrait of Dr Samuel Johnson in 17 Gough Square, London Inns court c1989.

"A useful time-capsule of Georgian life": Samuel Johnson and his remarkable dictionary.

Dracula at 125: what can a vampire tell us about Victorian Britain?.

Jack Lowden as Siegfried Sassoon in Terence Davies’ feature film Benediction.

First World War

Benediction: a case of Sassoon the man v Sassoon the legend

First World War soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon In uniform

First World War

Poetry and protestWW1 poet Siegfried Sassoon

Stasi poets: creative writing & the Cold War.

Despatches on dictators: US reporters in 1930s Europe.

Anne Frank writing at her desk, c1942

Why we should remember…the translation of Anne Frank’s diary.

Libraries: a book lover’s history.

Photo of Holy Trinity Church

Q&AWhere is William Shakespeare buried – and is there a curse on his grave?

The NorthmanHow the real Viking prince Amleth inspired Shakespeare

Oxford: from wild student parties to the shadow of war.

The Three Musketeers sitting at a table

The real three musketeers: the historical Athos, Porthos and Aramis (and d’Artagnan) revealed

Amelia Earhart, Princess Diana, Emmeline Pankhurst, Rosa Parks and Marie Curie. (Photo by Getty Images)

20 inspirational quotes from women through history

Portrait of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany

Q&AWho was the Grand Old Duke of York?

Shakespearean deaths: swordfights, snakebites & poison.

Children's author Beatrix Potter as a young woman, c1892

Why the real Beatrix Potter was more than her children’s tales.

Margery Kempe HistoryExtra podcast

Margery Kempe: medieval mystic.

The Gothic: from Dracula to The Shining.

(Illustration by Glen McBeth for BBC History Magazine)

Q&AWhat is the origin and meaning of the pirate expression ‘shiver me timbers’?

Nineteenth century engraving depicting raining cats and dogs

General Early Modern

Q&AWhy do we say 'raining cats and dogs'?

Plan of the island of Utopia, from Thomas More's work of the same name depicting an ideal state

Thomas More's Utopia – what lessons did it have for Tudor England?.

How Shakespeare inspired terrorists.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry, Ron and Hermione on the set of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Photo by Peter Mountain/Warner Bros. Pictures/THA)

The real magic of Harry Potter: 15 details the wizarding world borrows from history