Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

Dark side of fashion: a 1910 portrait of a woman wearing a hat adorned with ostrich plumes and a stuffed bird. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, owning hats like this was a sign of status for many women. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

A hatful of horror: the Victorian headwear craze that led to mass slaughter

How slavery fuelled the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Aerial view reconstruction drawing of Maiden Castle

A brief guide to the British Iron Age

17th-century London: a city shaped by catastrophe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Daily life in ancient Egypt: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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)

Lucy Worsley on Blitz Spirit: the courageous stories of six Londoners. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

1962: London’s big freeze. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

Elizabeth BlackwellThe ‘first female doctor’, who entered medicine to prove a point

Blitz spirit or broken morale?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

QuizHow well do you know Year 9 history?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria smiling

Q&ADid Queen Victoria really say "We are not amused"?

Rich vs poor in Regency Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from an early rugby union game

The history of rugby: when was the sport invented?

Spectacular discoveries at Sutton Hoo. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The inner courtyard of the old pottery factory at Gladstone Pottery Museum, with its five towering bottle ovens. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

History explorerThe Gladstone Pottery Museum. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Persian empire: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rebuilding Europe after WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

‘Inkhorn’ was the term for an inkwell made out of a small horn and became a nickname for the new words being created by playwrights and poets, such as William Shakespeare. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

The evolution of the English language

RuPaul – who produces and presents the reality TV show bearing his name – performs during a Gay Rights March in Washington, DC, April 1993. Over 500,000 LGBTQ+ activists and allies participated in a gathering organised to end discrimination. (Photo by Porter Gifford/Liaison)

From Fanny and Stella to Ru Paul's Drag Race: a short history of drag. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Domesday Book: medieval big data. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Renaissance: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Extract from Domesday Book.

Your guide to the Domesday Book: the most important document in English history?

Muslim women embrace after Ramadan ends, 2012

"Does every generation have to prove itself in Britain?" Kavita Puri on the experiences of South Asians in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Was the 1990s a golden age for British South Asians?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Editor’s pick: Ian Kershaw on postwar Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Women queue for potatoes in a greengrocer's shop in London, c1945. (Photo by Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer/IWM via Getty Images)

Saving food, saving lives: rationing in the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Brexit’s long historical roots. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.