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Social history

The capture of the pirate Blackbeard, 1718. Painting by JLG Ferris. One of history’s most notorious pirates, Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach almost certainly had a West Country twang because he was born in Bristol in around 1680. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

Q&A Did most English pirates really talk with a West Country accent?

Hallie Rubenhold.

“The lives of Jack the Ripper’s victims were not what we have been conditioned to believe”: 5 minutes with Hallie Rubenhold

Roman toilet

Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z

'The Last Supper', 1803. A copy of the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s. Some think the superstition about Friday 13th being unlucky is related to the Last Supper, when 13 people were present at the meal before Jesus's crucifixion on Good Friday. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Q&A Why is Friday 13th considered unlucky?

A gamer plays the video game 'Red Dead Redemption II', an action-adventure and multi-platform western video game developed by Rockstar Studios released on October 26, 2018. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire and Battlefield V: the real history behind 3 popular video games

Dinner at Downton Abbey

Could you survive an Edwardian dinner party?

Illustration by Joey Guidone

The big question: has terrorism ever achieved its aims?

King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and their daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret of United Kingdom. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Second World War

The Windsors at war: what did the royal family do during WW2?

The battle of Agincourt, 1415

True-to-scale battle numbers and 15th-century life: look inside the revamped Agincourt museum

A photo which was believed to be of the Loch Ness Monster

The quest for the Loch Ness Monster

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

Robin Hood statue outside Nottingham Castle

The many faces of Robin Hood

The card game cribbage

General Early Modern

Q&A Why do we say ‘level pegging’?

The engine houses of Botallack mine in Cornwall

A visit to Botallack Mine, Cornwall

Bottles of snake oil

Q&A Did salesmen really sell snake oil?