Social history

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor playing Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII in the 1963 film, Cleopatra. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

The 7 best couples in history

A postcard showing for women hunting for a man with guns and dogs.

Why do women propose in a leap year?

Confronting evils.

Confronting evils

Bottle of 'love potion'

General ancient history

Spanish fly, holy bread and mashed worms: history’s weirdest aphrodisiacs and love potions

Charles Manson stares out from fabric on sale in San Francisco

The afterlife of Charles Manson

Day of the God, painted by Paul Gaugin. (Image by Alamy)

A year in pictures: 1894

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A history of Valentine’s Day celebrations – from fertility festivals to the first cards

Women 'take the air' in an attempt to ward off the Spanish Flu

First World War

When Spanish Flu hit Britain

A French 15th-century covered market

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Middle Ages

Henrietta Boyle

Fashion history: dressing to impress in the 17th century

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)

A brief history of Valentine’s Day – from the patron saint of epilepsy to Chaucer’s love tales

John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon

Does history show that age affects US presidents’ performance? Plus, how old is too old?

An Athenian red-figure kylix (cup) dating from around 510–500 BC depicts a young pentathlete pulling his older lover towards him for a kiss. In many of the city-states of ancient Greece, sex between a man and a youth was an accepted – even idealised – form of love, its virtues extolled in works by writers including Plato. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

General ancient history

Pride and prejudice: same-sex relations through history

January 1973: Londoners reading the newspapers headlining Britain's entry into the Common Market.

When did the UK join the European Economic Community (EEC) and why?

(Illustration by Davide Bonazzi for BBC History Magazine)

The big question: has the European Union been a success?