Illustration of strange creatures

Weird and wonderful history

BBC History Magazine

Pleb: a history of the word that sparked ‘plebgate’

Tudor dining: a guide to food and status in the 16th century

Beat the teacher quiz: could you pass Year 7 history?

9 astonishing deaths reported in Victorian newspapers.

6 beds that made history

BBC History Magazine

In pictures: at home in a doll's house

5 things beards tell us about history.

A brief history of tattoos.

Germany through the centuries and Hitler’s cocaine habit.

10 strange historical facts about Finland.

The history of Sherlock Holmes - in pictures

A painting in the cave of Altamira, Spain

The rise of Homo sapiens.

Second World War

Amazing history pictures: Hitler in disguise

BBC History Magazine

Old news: A tiger braves the mean streets of east London

Secret lives of ancient Egyptians revealed by CT scans of mummies

Picture of Chrysippus of Soli

Q&AHas anyone ever died of laughter?

Hitler’s jazz band: how the Nazis used swing as propaganda.

17th-century 'Great British Bake Off' recipes.

BBC History Magazine

Top five hauntings in history

The bloody world of Georgian female boxing.

10 astronomers you’ve (probably) never heard of

An illustration of a Tudor street

“Mooke, fylthe and other vyle things”: Tudor dirt and dung.

7 Victorian jokes have been given a modern twist - and they're hilarious

The Stygian Lake in the Fifth Circle of Hell from from Dante’s epic poem 'The Inferno'. The phrase "Paint the town red" may originate from the sentence in the poem "we are they who painted the world scarlet with sins". (Photo by Getty Images)

Q&AWhy do we say ‘Paint the town red’?

The decline of the pub: what can we learn from history?

Revealed: the secrets of the Tudor cross-dressers

Incent's House as it stands today on the Berkhamsted High Street. (Creative Commons)

The hunt for the Tudor hitman.

A mosaic depicting the poet Virgil writing the Aeneid. (Photo By DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

How to succeed in Ancient Rome.

Victorian burials and the history of psychology.

Top 10 strange history stories