Social history

Engraving of frost fair on the frozen Thames, 1897. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

6 of the most catastrophic weather events in British history

A scene from an early rugby union game

The history of rugby

Medieval punishments, Toulouse, 14th century. (Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

How bloody was medieval life?

Queen Victoria, who “displayed a healthy enjoyment of food and drink throughout her life”, says food historian Rebecca Earle. (Getty Images)

Queen Victoria’s voracious appetite for food and sex

Jews waiting on a Warsaw street for the deportation to a concentration camp.(Photo by Imagno/Getty Images) [Holocaust: Warten von Juden auf einer Warschauer Stra?e auf den Abtransport in ein deutsches Vernichtungslager. Polen. Photographie. Um 1944.]

Second World War

Should more be done to remember the Holocaust in Britain?

Viking sailors make the long voyage across the Atlantic between Europe and America, in order to bring back timber, circa 1350. The Vikings are thought to have discovered America in around 1000 AD, but never attempted full colonization of the new land, due to the hostile natives. Painting by NC Wyeth. (Image by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

8 Viking myths busted

In a photograph taken at Bishop's Stortford railway station in Hertfordshire, 1972, resettled Ugandan Asians wait for the train that will take them to their new home. (Photo by Alamy)

Fleeing Idi Amin: the long journey to a new life

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History graduate Steve Humphries' 1998 film explores the stories of women who worked in Magdalene laundries such as St Mary's Training School, Dublin (pictured here in 1935–38). (Photo by BNPS)

How my history degree led to my dream job

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The reconstructed Castle Square offers a glimpse of how Warsaw would have looked in the past. (Photo by Alamy)

My favourite place: Warsaw, Poland

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The unemployed scramble for soup tickets in an engraving from 'The Illustrated London News'. Elizur Wright observed the plight of the poor with a horrified fascination. (Photo by Massachusetts Historical Society/ Bridgeman)

A Victorian Bill Bryson: Elizur Wright’s letters from Great Britain

The 30th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1958. (Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

13 remarkable moments in the history of the Oscars

Mass meeting of Chartists on Kennington Common, London, 10 April 1848

9 places connected to the Chartism movement

Heck cows, the result of Nazi breeding experiments. Seven Heck cows had to be put down in January 2015 after they tried, on multiple occasions, to attack Devon farmer Derek Gow. (Photo by Jim Wileman/Alamy Stock Photo)

Nazi super-cows and defamed Gods: 7 strange and forgotten moments in history

A 19th-century illustration showing interior of the House of Commons while in session. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

9 things you didn’t know about the history of parliament