Painting of Daniel Mendoza

Sport and leisure

Brits abroad: a history.

How ballroom dancing gripped Britain.

Football in the First World War.

World Cup history: everything you wanted to know.

Photo of the display cabinet where the World Cup was stolen

What a pickle: how England lost, found and won the World Cup in a single year

Argentinian midfielder Mario Kempes celebrates a goal in the 1978 football World Cup final between hosts Argentina and Netherlands

Sportswashing: a historical perspective on a current trend

Craig Charles and Muhammad Ali

My history heroCraig Charles chooses Muhammad Ali.

England's Daley Thompson during the high jump event of the decathlon at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Emonton, Canada

A brief history of the Commonwealth Games

Ross Kemp and Jesse Owens

My history heroRoss Kemp chooses Jesse Owens.

Tudors play real tennis, a precursor to the modern game of tennis

Q&AWhat was Real Tennis?

From running marathons to working the nightshift: 8 surprising things women were banned from doing through history.

The Oxford boat on the Thames during first ever Boat Race between between the Oxford and Cambridge university boat clubs, 1829.

Oxford v Cambridge: A history of the boat race

Gladiators: everything you wanted to know.

Curling stones during a match at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah

General History

A brief history of curling – from medieval Scotland to the Winter Olympics

Elitism in cricket: a history.

Hillsborough Disaster floral tributes

A brief history of the Hillsborough disaster and justice campaigner Anne Williams

A statue in Kiev showing a Ukrainian player defeating a Third Reich eagle symbol at the Start stadium's entrance

Q&ADid Nazis guards really play a 'death match' against a Ukrainian football team?.

Cricket as a colonial weapon.

Greek soldier Pheidippides arrives in Athens with news of the Greek victory over the Persians at Marathon, only to die on the spot

Pheidippides: is the ancient Greek marathon runner remembered for the wrong run?

Photo of a man on a penny-farthing

Q&AHow dangerous was the penny-farthing?

The rise of the Paralympics.

A photograph of the England team that faced Australia at the Oval in the 1896 Ashes series

Batting for the British Empire: how Victorian cricket was more than just a game.

Joep de Beer of Holland throws a javelin at the Stoke Mandeville Games

Q&AWhen and where were the first Paralympics held?

A runner is helped across a finish line

21 key moments in the history of the modern Olympics

How the 1964 Tokyo Olympics redefined Japan.

Olympic history: everything you wanted to know.

Medal winners on a podium

Q&AWho won the first Olympic medal? And what was the prize before that?

A man runs on an athletics track with a crowd behind him

Harry Edward: Britain’s first black Olympic hero.

Crown Prince Olav on his ice yacht (Getty Images)

From Hollywood to war heroes: 10 Olympians who were more famous outside sport.

Belgium and the Netherlands compete in a tug of war at the Antwerp Olympic

Olympic oddballs: 5 unusual Olympic sports from the past.