Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

A selection of illustrations of medical procedures, including childbirth and someone vomiting, around a circular chart that depicts flasks of different coloured urine

Marvellous medieval medicine: why their curious cures were better than you think. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The REAL history behind 'All Creatures Great and Small'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Frances Forsyte (Tuppence Middleton) and Jolyon Forsyte Jr (Danny Griffin) of new drama The Forsytes, against a backdrop of 19th-century stockbrokers in London. (Images by Getty Images/Mammoth Productions/Masterpiece)

The real history behind The Forsytes

A landscape image shows a grey and orange stone wall in a semi-circle shape, overlooking a large hill range and a blue sky. On either side of it there are trees

Kavita Puri's hidden histories: the enduring appeal of archaeological sites. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 7Tudor love and sex: inside the 16th-century bedroom. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 4Tudor childhood: what were children's lives like in the 16th century?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 6Keeping clean in the 16th-century: how often did ordinary Tudors wash?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 5What did ordinary Tudors eat?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting shows a topless woman sitting up in bed, holding her hand against the face of the man leaning over her

What did the Tudors think was ‘good’ sex? These tips and tricks were key to relationships in the 16th century

Episode 2Tudor religion: what did people believe?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 1What did Tudor people do for fun?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 3Tudor work: what jobs did people do?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two men stand next to each other holding large guns. They are dressed in black suits and ties with sunglasses and are standing against a blue and black background. Above them, the words "MIB: MEN IN BLACK" are written

Gray Barker: UFO conspiracy theorist. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting five stone hands piled on top of one another, on a small patch of grass, against a pink background

Let’s get things done together, like the builders of Stonehenge did. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anthony Boyle and Louis Partridge star as Arthur and Edward Guinness

Is House of Guinness a true story? Here’s the real history behind the Netflix drama

An illustration shows five women in colourful headscarves sewing a large piece of cloth with soldiers and horses on it

Michael Wood on women's contributions to the Bayeux Tapestry. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woman with blonde hair and wearing a navy T shirt stands looking up towards the top left of the image. She has a large white earring and stands in front of some Roman ruins

Alice Roberts: “Christianity didn’t invent itself as an empire from nothing: it adapted existing Roman structures”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An edited image of a man with long curly hair and a lacy ruff. The right hand side of his face is colour inverted so it appears black with a red eye

The sinister secrets of Samuel Pepys. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A montage of images showing a man standing in the ruins of Hiroshima; a man dressed smartly wearing circular glasses; and a Japanese family with two parents sitting down with five children around them

Senkichi Awaya: the lost mayor of Hiroshima. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

an illustration of a pale blue gravestone with several small drawings on it, including a moon, a heart, a ring and some flowers. Around the gravestone there are flowers and it is set against a bright blue background

Why we should be better about talking about death, with Dr Helen Gittos. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A black and white photograph shows a group of Japanese military men on a train, while some young women prepare to get on the carriage. A young woman looks back over her shoulder

Kavita Puri on VJ Day: "We don't talk about the war in Asia – which was a messy, complicated conflict". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A man wearing a blue jumper and black trousers stands in front on a large mural of an airport

Kavita Puri's hidden histories: "A UK museum that tells the long, rich history of migration is long overdue". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of a woman in a gold and red dress walking on a tightrope while balancing a pair of scales on her head. The scales hold an angel on one side and a devil on the other. Behind her on the tightrope, there is a cat. Below her, there is a town and a factory, with some houses submerged in water

Michael Wood on lessons on good government from medieval Siena. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

On a green background, there is a sketch of a human pyramid of people in togas, all balancing fruit on their heads, arms and feet

Be neighbourly like a Pompeian. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A picture of Freddie Mercury. He is wearing a white vest top with white jeans and he is holding a guitar behind his head. At the top of the guitar, a bright white light shines

The Age of Spectacle: Live Aid at 40. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hug a tree like a pagan from the margins of Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A multicoloured photo collage, including an Indian soldier in WW1 military uniform, a woman dressed in dark jacket, cap and tie

"There's little understanding of the shared history of Britain and the subcontinent" | South Asian Heritage Month. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A monk with ginger hair and beard, dressed in blue, sits on.a bench with a book. He is against a pink background and around him are a fork, a yellow pencil and a brush

Riddle like an Anglo-Saxon monk. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In a white hexagonal frame, there is a black and white image of a playground, with a young boy on a white rocking horse. The background is green

Swings and roundabouts: a history of Britain's playgrounds. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

From fatal foliage to the perils of ploughing: the Tudor calendar of death. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.