Social history

PT Barnum and General Tom Thumb

The greatest show on earth? The myths of the Victorian freak show

James Shapiro discusses Shakespeare and America. (Images by Getty)

Shakespeare and America

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet

Jane Austen’s tips for “health and happiness”

Greg Jenner. (Photo by Frank Monks)

Books interview Fame, fortune and falls from grace: Greg Jenner on the rise of celebrity culture

Jesus appears before Pontius Pilate in a crowd scene from Oberammergau's 2010 Passion Play. The Bavarian town stages the mammoth production once every ten years, with a cast made up entirely of local residents. (Photo by Brigitte Maria Mayer Passionsspiele Oberammergau 2020)

Travel to: Oberammergau, Germany

Portrait of Madam CJ Walker, America's first female millionaire. (Photo courtesy of Madam Walker Family Archives/A'Lelia Bundles)

Self Made: the real story of Madam CJ Walker, America’s first black female millionaire

Historian Helen Birkett photographed at Corfe Castle.

News in the Middle Ages

Shoppers crowd a Woolworths store in 1955

Q&A Has there always been panic buying? And when have people panic shopped through history?

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: a historical perspective

Though green dominates the celebrations today, the colour blue was first associated with St Patrick. The earliest depictions of the saint show him in blue garments, as in this 13th century folio, La Vie des Sains. ( Image ©The British Library Board/Leemage / Bridgeman Images)

Your guide to the history of St Patrick’s Day

'The Poor Actress's Christmas Dinner', a painting by pre-Raphaelite artist Robert Braithwaite Martineau, says much about the way Victorians had begun to understand the problem of loneliness. (Photo by Bridgeman Art Library)

The invention of loneliness: why being ‘unhappy alone’ is a surprisingly modern idea

Elizabeth II and Prince Philip with their third son, Prince Edward, on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of royal mothers and childbirth

17th September 1936: The British minister of health, Sir Kingsley Wood, watches nurses weighing newborn twins during a visit to Southmead Hospital in Bristol to see the work local authorities were doing for the maintenance and improvement of health and housing conditions. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Mum hacks: 5 tips for new mothers from history

The Duchess of Richmond's ball

Before Waterloo: what happened at the Duchess of Richmond’s ball?

The reconcilliation between Thomas Becket and Henry II. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

From the handshake to the high-five: a brief history of gestures