Social history

A red herring on a plate

Q&A Why do we say ‘red herring’?

Irish people demonstrate in Downing Street in London in 1921. The partition of Ireland between the six north-eastern counties and the rest of Ireland took place on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

A brief history of the partition of Ireland

A portrait of Napoleon

Napoleon: a life in 10 objects

A statue of the Roman emperor Augustus in Augsburg, Germany

The fall of Roman Britain: how life changed for Britons after the empire

A cartoon of Napoleon and King George III.

Q&A How tall was Napoleon Bonaparte?

Historian Timothy Hickman answers listener questions about the ban on booze in 1920s America, from speakeasies and moonshine to Al Capone’s shady dealings. (Image by Getty Images)

Prohibition: everything you wanted to know

Harriet Atkinson takes us back to 1951’s Festival of Britain, a celebration of a nation rising from the ashes of war. (Image by Getty Images)

Britain’s great postwar party

Alcohol is poured away into a New York sewer during the prohibition era, c1920

Prohibition quiz: how much do you know about the US ban on booze?

The death of Wat Tyler', 1859. Tyler was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England, which saw a group of rebels march on London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and demand economic and social reforms. He was killed by officers loyal to King Richard II during negotiations at Smithfield, London. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Your guide to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381

Zdeněk Burian’s painting from 1952 offers a sympathetic portrayal of Neanderthals practising cannibalism. Self-assurance, even contentment, emanate from “It appears as a calm response to death, rather than murderous carnage,” writes Rebecca Wragg Sykes. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

General prehistory

Neanderthal in the mirror: our changing perceptions of these ancient humans

The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a key moment in the reign of King Richard II. New research is revealing just how well-organised an operation it was. (Image by Getty Images)

The Peasants’ Revolt: who were the rebels of 1381?

Life in the workhouse podcast with Peter Higginbotham

Life in the workhouse: everything you wanted to know

At dinner, St Marylebone Workhouse, London, c1901 (1903)

The rise and fall of the workhouse

St George’s Day: 11 things you might not know about England’s patron saint

Opulent headquarters East India House in London, 1850. From inside this grand building, the East India Company directors oversaw the governance of India and its associated territories (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

1838: A year in the life of the British empire