Illustration of strange creatures

Weird and wonderful history

A painting by Dutch artist Hendrick Danckerts shows Charles II’s gardener, John Rose, presenting the king with a pineapple

Pineapples, tulips and follies: 10 status symbols from history.

A montage of Adolf Hitler and a purple starry sky

Second World War

ConspiracyDid Hitler escape from his bunker and live in Argentina after WW2?

City of fur and feather: the animals of medieval London.

Q&AWhat are the roots of dentistry?.

A medieval illustration showing a doctor bleeding a patient

General History

A history of medicine14 surprising facts

Egyptologist Howard Carter crouches near the golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun's remains

Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun: was the tomb really cursed?

Glass men & killer doubles: a history of delusions.

Illustration showing woman receiving a caesarean section

General History

Q&AWhat are the origins of the caesarean section?

Q&AWhich king thought he was made of glass

Saint Michael and the DragonSaint Michael and the Dragon

DragonsFrom mythological beasts of history to the firebreathers of fantasy.

A real and a virtual Tycho Brahe surveys the heavens next to his mural quadrant in the frontispiece to ‘Machines of the New Astronomy’. (Photo by DEA/G.DAGLI ORTI via Getty Images)

A history of science in 10½ objects.

c1400 farmer ploughing a field.

6 of the most catastrophic weather events in British history

The vanishing inventor.

Newspaper front page with headline 'Gen. Ramey Empties Roswell Saucer'

Why we should rememberThe Roswell Incident.

Woman wearing a bikini

Why we should rememberThe launch of the swimsuit that scandalised the world

Max Schreck took the title role in the 1922 German silent film 'Nosferatu', inspired by Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'. The film enjoys a cult following. (Photo by ullstein picture / ullstein picture via Getty Images)

“Ghoul-like beyond nightmare dream, they were the living dead”: belief in Vampires through history.

Q&AWere vampires buried with a stake through their heart?

General History

The history rich list: the 10 wealthiest people ever

A drawing depicting a German monoplane dropping bombs on Paris during the First World War

First World War

Creating fake Paris: how one man built a mock city to fool WW1 German bombers

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, at dusk

9 places where British astronomy flourished.

An illustration of Colonel Blood

What happened to Colonel Thomas Blood?.

Haitians celebrate Kanaval, which takes place in the run-up to Lent. Later, over Easter, Haitian secret societies will use brooms to ‘sweep up’ zonbi spirits. (Photo by Jessica Obert/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Zombies of the Caribbean: your guide to zonbi spirits.

A 20th-century image depicts a ‘witch’ being burned alive in Munich. In reality, most suspects had already been killed before being set alight (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images)

8 popular misconceptions about the history of witchcraft in Europe.

Picture of a court jester

10 April Fools pranks through history that went wrong.

A young woman sat in front of a mirror applies lipstick, 1967

The price of beauty: the dangerous cosmetics used until the 20th century

A drawing of a Georgian woman in a wide dress and a towering wig

How to survive in the Georgian court.

Louis Wain, c1900, with one of his pet cats. Photo by Ernest H. Mills/Getty Images)

Louis Wain: the cat-loving artist who forever changed the way that we see our feline friends.

Language of flowers postcard

Q&AWhat was floriography?.

A lobbycard for the 1923 film Is Conan Doyle Right? (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

The supernatural interests of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

18th century French caricature satirising the fashion for enormous wigs

Q&ADid Rococo wigs really have mice?.