Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

Edward, Prince of Wales, in the rear seat of a Bristol F.2B Fighter with Captain WG Barker of No. 139 Squadron during his flight in 1918, while on a visit to the Italian Front. (Crown Copyright/Air Historical Branch image H1608)

Royal flying

In ‘Venus Uncovered’ on BBC Four, Wednesday 15 November at 9pm, Bettany Hughes investigates the mythological figure of Venus. (© Sandstone Global/Image by Tim Knight)

Bettany Hughes on the symbol of Venus

Drinking history.

Second World War

The Coventry Blitz – Q&A with historian Frederick Taylor

Striking workers carry banners through the streets of Petrograd (St Petersburg) at the start of the February Revolution that brought the fall of the Russian monarchy the next month. (Getty Images)

Russia’s revolutions: How 1917 shaped a century.

How networks shape history.

Niall Ferguson. (Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images)

Niall Ferguson on The Square and the Tower.

General History

10 weird things that have happened in November

Historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes. (Channel 5)

Eight Days That Made Rome: behind the scenes with historian Bettany Hughes

The death of Stalin.

The Gunpowder Plot.

Living with the Gods.

Flagellants or Brothers of the Cross in Netherlands scourging themselves as they walk through streets

QuizHow much do you know about medieval history?

Michael X, (right, foreground) black power advocate, in Hyde Park. (Photo by Terence Spencer/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Michael X and the British war on black power.

The world of the Scythians.

What are Henry VIII powers?

David Starkey on the Reformation.

Tales of war.

The Ukrainian famine.

A c1880 advertisement poster for Coca-Cola. The name derived from its extracts of coca leaves and kola nuts – the former did contain small amounts of cocaine. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

Q&ADid the original Coca-Cola drink really contain cocaine?

King Arthur feasting at Camelot

Q&AHow old is the ‘British Empire’?

A decade of domesticity: how the 1950s made the modern home.

Second World War

The wartime wireless and the lost voice of Cyril Lakin

Migrating to Britain.

The Jarrow March.

Professor Ronald Hutton © Jeni Nott

Witchcraft through the ages.

Woodcut of a meal shared at a witches' Sabbath. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Ronald Hutton on the Witch.

A proponent of same-sex marriage protests outside the Houses of Parliament, 3 June 2013. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The Sexual Offences Act: a gay revolution?.

An illustration of a public execution at Newgate, London, late 18th century. (Photo by Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The LibraryA deadly obsession in Victorian London.

A Calcutta pavement, c1961

After Partition: colony politics and the rise of communism in Bengal.