Sport and leisure

St David painting in stained glass window, Ceredigion, UK. Exact date unknown. (Photo by David Angel/Alamy Stock Photo)

16 things you (probably) didn’t know about St David’s Day traditions

A scene from an early rugby union game

The history of rugby: when was the sport invented?

British from the 11th Brigade 4th division and German soldiers at Ploegsteert in Belgium on Christmas Day 1914. (Photo by The Art Archive/Alamy)

First World War

Did the First World War Christmas truce football match really happen?

Robert Colls discusses the importance of sport to English society over the past 200 years. (Image by Getty Images)

England’s sporting obsession

Chess players in the 14th century

General ancient history

Ancient board games: which ones did people play for fun in the past?

Ed Caesar on the HistoryExtra podcast.

An extraordinary Everest adventure

Tom Cribb lands a punch on Tom Molineaux while Molineaux's trainer, Bill Richmond, looks on. Molineaux got the upper hand in the pair's first fight – which ended in controversy when a mob stormed the ring – but was defeated in this, the 1811 rematch. (Edward Gooch/Edward Gooch/Getty Images)

The ‘Black Terror’: the story of Britain’s first black sports star

In 1926, 19-year-old New Yorker Gertrude Ederle made history by becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel – and in a faster time than the five men who had already achieved the feat. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Gertrude Ederle: the first woman to swim the English Channel

Sunbathers on Blackpool beach in 1954. (Credit: John Chillingworth/Getty Images)

Caravans, spa towns and seaside resorts: a brief history of British holidays

A view of Mount Everest

Mystery on Everest: did Mallory and Irvine reach the summit in 1924?

Crowds flock to the beach at Hastings in August 1938. (Photo by Photo12/UIG/Getty Images)

Summer holiday revolution: when were Britons first allowed to take paid holiday?

Hillsborough Disaster floral tributes

A brief history of the Hillsborough disaster and justice campaigner Anne Williams, ahead of ITV drama Anne

Spartacus is now associated with political upheaval, as in the 1919 Spartacist uprising.

Who were the gladiators of ancient Rome? Plus Spartacus, Crixus and 8 more fighters you should know

Edward the Confessor

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Anglo-Saxons

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Arrives Japan

Q&A Have the Olympic Games ever been cancelled?