Weird and wonderful

A portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

12 facts about the Stuarts

Sam Willis and James Daybell. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC History Magazine)

The extraordinary history of ordinary things

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor playing Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII in the 1963 film, Cleopatra. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

The 7 best couples in history

Historians Sam Willis (left) and James Daybell. "We challenged ourselves to write the histories of things we weren't necessarily even sure had a history," says Willis. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC History Magazine)

Books interview with Sam Willis and James Daybell: “Everything has a history. And we mean absolutely everything”

From The Library

A woodcut of a woman thought to be baking bread, printed in 1497. In the Middle Ages baking was a luxury few were able to enjoy, but those who could afford a wood-burning stove would start with bread. In the 15th century Britain saw explosion of expensive spices, such as saffron, and sweetened dough became popular. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

A brief history of baking

Viking Berserker figures. The one on the left is wearing a helmet with horns. His companion wears the mask of a wolf or bear. Sweden, 6th century. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

The truth about Viking berserkers

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

President Nixon making his final televised address as president of the United States, 9 August 1974. Nixon became the first, and so far the only, president to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal. (Photo by Getty Images)

The 5 most notorious presidents in US history

A view of the Reculver Towers, Reculver, England. (Photo by Loop Images/UIG via Getty Images)

8 of Britain’s most mysterious ruins

The gatehouse of Lancaster Castle

History explorer: the Pendle witches

From The Library

The first baby is born to English settlers in the Americas. (Illustration by Lynn Hatzius)

A big day in history: The first baby is born to English settlers in the Americas

Perkin Warbeck, an imposter and pretender to the English throne, being humiliated in the stocks before his execution in 1499. Warbeck was used by Henry VII’s Yorkist enemies in an unsuccessful plot to threaten the new Tudor dynasty. (Getty Images)

Imposters in history: 16 famous con-artists and pretenders

Mrs Frederica Bell, photographed with her children Freda, Roy and 'King' on the Pacific island of Raoul. (Photo courtesy of Lydia Syson/Mr Peacock's Possessions)

A real Swiss Family Robinson?

History Extra’s top 10 podcast episodes