Weird and wonderful

Rotten boroughs cartoon

9 general election curiosities through history

Tourists at Stonehenge

General prehistory

Stonehenge: a prehistoric tourist trap

Tom Smith's Surprise Cosaques, Christmas Crackers 1878. (Image by Getty)

The history of Christmas crackers

British mystery writer Agatha Christie, c1926. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie

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)

Vikings didn’t wear horned helmets, plus 7 more Viking myths busted

Roman toilet

Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z

Despite popular belief, Gladiatorial fighting was not the most popular entertainment in Ancient Rome. (Photo by Alamy)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Romans

Halloween postcard

10 things you didn’t know about the history (and mystery) of Halloween

Elizabeth Woodville with her husband, Edward IV. According to one medieval document, their marriage only came about “by Sorcerie and Wichecrafte, committed by the said Elizabeth, and her Moder Jaquett Duchess of Bedford”. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Medieval royal witches: from Elizabeth Woodville to Queen Joan of Navarre

Simon the cat

10 top cats in history

Trick photograph. (Photo by LM Melander and Brothers) entitled 'The Haunted Lane,' depicts a pair of men terrified by a female ghost, mid-to-late 19th century. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)

5 historic hauntings for Halloween

In 1733, as part of a plot to blow up a Protestant church, a group of Catholics claimed they were being terrorised by a poltergeist… or so the story went. (Illustration by Ben Jones for BBC History Magazine)

5 Georgian ghost hoaxes

An illustration of a group of supposed witches

A very brief history of witches by Suzannah Lipscomb

Cariad Lloyd, Suzannah Lipscomb and Greg Jenner

General ancient history

“A history podcast for people who don’t like history”: Greg Jenner on his new podcast You’re Dead To Me

President Nixon making final TV address

The 5 most notorious presidents in US history