Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

Madness, property and power: the strange case of Mary Davies.

Portrait of Carlo Broschi (stage name Farinelli), the most famous opera singer of the 18th century. (Photo By DEA/A. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

Castrated Georgian opera stars: the stars of the 18th century.

Soldiers from the Women's Royal Army Corps

Second World War

A brief guide to VE Day

'Sanditon' - an adaption of Jane Austen's unfinished novel of the same name – is currently airing in the UK on ITV. Pictured: Clara Brereton (played by Lily Sacofsky), Esther Denham (Charlotte Spencer), Lady Denham (Anne Reid) and Edward Denham (Jack Fox). (Photo by RED PLANET/ITV)

Your guide to Sanditon, Jane Austen’s last unfinished work

A red herring on a plate

Q&AWhy do we say ‘red herring’?

A portrait of Napoleon

Napoleon: a life in 10 objects

A statue of the Roman emperor Augustus in Augsburg, Germany. (Image by Alamy)

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

A cartoon of Napoleon and King George III.

Q&AHow tall was Napoleon Bonaparte?

Prohibition: everything you wanted to know.

Britain’s great postwar party.

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

QuizProhibition: 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)

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

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

A 12th-century Celtic round tower at Clonmacnoise, County Offaly

“The power of the Irish over the Britons is great”: Fergal Keane on Britain's Irish roots.

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

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.

Michael Lewis and David MusgroveWhat's missing from the Bayeux Tapestry?.

Britain’s nuclear past: the fallout from the High Explosive Research programme.

Bloodied feet, outrageous breasts and the sinister power of a hair cut: a history of the body.

Two garden gnomes on grass

A brief history of garden gnomes

5 facts about the history of football

What are the challenges of telling LGBTQ history?.

Babies from a nursery are walked in a pram, c1953

A nation in numbers: 100 years of British life in 7 statistics.

Roland Philipps tells the story of Mathilde Carré

Traitor or triple agent? The WW2 spy Mathilde Carré.

17th century engraving showing the execution by hanging of four witches. (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images)

QuizWould you have been accused of witchcraft?.

A broker looks at his screens at Frankfurt's stock exchange on 15 September 2008. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images)

The 2008 financial crisis explained

A 1782 cartoon by James Gillray that depicts Buller as ‘Judge Thumb’. (Photo by Library of Congress)

Q&AWhy do we say ‘rule of thumb’?

The bigamy trial that scandalised Georgian England.