Social history

An ink drawing of a London 'rag fair' where old clothes and textiles were traded, c1800. (Image by Alamy)

Regency inequality: the gap between rich and poor in Georgian Britain

A scene from an early rugby union game

The history of rugby: when was the sport invented?

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

History explorer The Gladstone Pottery Museum

Paul Betts explores how postwar regeneration after 1945 was inspired by the contested concept of civilisation. (Image by Getty Images)

Rebuilding Europe after WW2

An illustration of the head of Louis XVI

The French Revolution through 7 severed heads

‘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

Stephen Baxter on the Domesday Book (Image by Getty Images)

Domesday Book: medieval big data

Jerry Brotton on the Renaissance. (Image by Getty Images)

The Renaissance: everything you wanted to know

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

Kavita Puri on the HistoryExtra podcast

Was the 1990s a golden age for British South Asians?

Ian Kershaw on the Second World War. (Image by Fran Monks for BBC History Magazine)

Editor’s pick: Ian Kershaw on postwar Europe

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

Second World War

Saving food, saving lives: rationing in the Second World War

Robert Tombs on Brexit's long historical roots. (Image by Getty Images)

Brexit’s long historical roots