Weird and wonderful

Woodcut of a woman who may be stoking a furnace or baking bread, printed in the 15th century. (SSPL/Getty Images)

What was life like for a medieval housewife?

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

The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Illustration by Kate Greenaway, 1888. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

In pictures: fairytales through history

Queen Victoria and her dog Looty. (© Look and Learn/Bridgeman Art Library)

10 famous people in history and their bizarre pets

A man helps his partner to dress by lacing her corset. (Photo by Frank Martin)

Love in Georgian times

An Art Deco mechanical valentine (moving the cape causes the arms to move up and down) from the 1930s. (Photo by Alan Mays)

In pictures: creepy historical Valentine’s Day cards

Cesare Lombroso, described as the 'father of criminology'. (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

The ‘born criminal’? Lombroso and the origins of modern criminology

A portrait of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c1340-1400), who modern literary scholars credit for turning Valentine into the patron of love. Chaucer was a major influencer in his day – after him, everyone began calling their beloved “Valentine” and writing love poems on 14 February, says Lisa Bitel. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of Valentine’s Day – from the patron saint of epilepsy to Chaucer’s love tales

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A brief history of Valentine’s Day cards

York Minster's south transept rose window features 16th-century Tudor Roses white on red (left) and Lancastrian Roses, red. The Tudor Rose became known as “the flower of England” and is today England's national flower. (Angelo Hornak/Alamy Stock Photo)

A brief history of the English rose

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

The mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie

Engraving of frost fair on the frozen Thames, 1897. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

6 of the most catastrophic weather events in British history

Heck cows, the result of Nazi breeding experiments. Seven Heck cows had to be put down in January 2015 after they tried, on multiple occasions, to attack Devon farmer Derek Gow. (Photo by Jim Wileman/Alamy Stock Photo)

Nazi super-cows and defamed Gods: 7 strange and forgotten moments in history

c60 AD, Queen Boudica of the Iceni holding a spear. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

8 things you may not know about British history

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The history of the calendar