Social history

A portrait of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c1340-1400), who modern literary scholars credit for turning Valentine into the patron of love. Chaucer was a major influencer in his day – after him, everyone began calling their beloved “Valentine” and writing love poems on 14 February, says Lisa Bitel. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Who was Saint Valentine? A history of the figure’s origins

Padraic X Scanlan discusses how slavery fuelled the British empire and explores the complicated motivations of abolitionists. (Image by Getty Images)

How slavery fuelled the British empire

Margarette Lincoln reveals how a century that saw plague, fire, revolution and civil war transformed England’s capital. (Image by Getty Images)

17th-century London: a city shaped by catastrophe

Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley responds to listener questions about everyday life in ancient Egypt, from governance to dental care and cat mummies. (Image by Getty Images)

Daily life in ancient Egypt: everything you wanted to know

Volunteers shovel sand in Fulham in 1941, filling bags used to protect windows from bomb blasts. Our clichés of the Blitz don’t tell the whole story, writes Lucy Worsley. (Photo by Mary Evans)

Second World War

Lucy Worsley on Blitz Spirit: the courageous stories of six Londoners

A mother receives her newborn baby in a c1490 text written for Henry VII. Childbirth in the Middle Ages exposed both mother and child to great peril but, writes Elma Brenner, midwives had the expertise to intervene when complications arose. (Photo by Bridgeman)

The medieval childbirth guide: 6 tips for pregnant mothers in the Middle Ages

Juliet Nicolson reveals how the frozen winter of 1962 helped change Britain for good. (Image by Getty Images)

1962: London’s big freeze

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the US

Elizabeth Blackwell: the pioneering ‘first female doctor’, who entered medicine to prove a point

Jeremy Crang investigates reports on British morale made during the Second World War and considers what they can tell us about the ‘Blitz spirit’. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Blitz spirit or broken morale?

An account of the story of James Allen, whose sex at birth was revealed only by an autopsy conducted after their death

‘Female husbands’: the secret lives of 18th-century transgender pioneers

Smokey the bear is presented with a firefighter's helmet

The paratrooper, the poet’s pet and the real Winnie: 10 famous bears in history

Sutton Hoo helmet Anglo-Saxon

The discovery at Sutton Hoo: when the Dark Ages were lit up

World leaders (l-r) Georges Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson and Lloyd George after signing the treaty of Versailles at the end of the First World War. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images)

How well do you know Year 9 history?

Partnered content Pearson

Queen Victoria smiling

Q&A Did Queen Victoria really say “We are not amused”?

Historian Ian Mortimer discusses how a vast chasm between rich and poor marked society in the early 19th century. (Image by Getty Images)

Rich vs poor in Regency Britain