Weird and wonderful history

Learn all about weird, yet wonderful, events that happened in history through in-depth history articles, podcasts, video and more…

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

General Modern

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

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Supernatural stories: 9 unusual British folktales. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from the German film 'Ways to Strength and Beauty', 1925. (Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)

Second World War

Germany’s naked truth: the 19th-century nudism movements co-opted by the Nazis

An architectural grotesque of a woman displaying her vulva

Medieval

How naughty was the past? The hidden depths of the medieval church

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A woodcut showing the interior of a kitchen in Elizabethan England. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Hold your noses: the smells, sounds and sights of Elizabethan England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Winston Churchill on roller skates

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How the roller skating craze caught Churchill. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

More weird and wonderful

Weird & wonderful Q&As

Historians take on questions about bizarre history…

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A medieval manuscript illustration showing a mule being led forward

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What can you do with a medieval ass? Here are 9 uses that are bound to surprise you. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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An illustration shows three men using a communal Roman latrine, seated on wooden benches with openings above a stone water channel. One man holds a sponge-tipped stick, while the others sit with their garments lowered around their legs.

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Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Digital photo collage depicting a cluster of wild bolete mushrooms, with a black-and-white portrait of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin superimposed onto the stem of the central, largest mushroom

20th Century

Why did Lenin turn into a mushroom? Inside the bizarre prank that fooled Soviet Russia

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MembershipaudioWhy we believe in the supernatural. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hoaxes and hijinks

Frances Griffiths poses with the fairies

20th Century

Fairies, rabbit births and an 'ancient' tiara: what are the greatest historical hoaxes?

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5 Georgian ghost hoaxes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Henry VIII, Princess Mary and William Somers

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Playing the fool: Tudor jesters. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Monsters and aliens

Soldiers of the Third Reich surround a huge bonfire during a winter solstice festival in December 1936. The Nazis attempted to use elements of pagan beliefs to promote a Germanic ‘national religiosity’. (Photo by Getty Images)

20th Century

Witches, werewolves and vampires: the Nazi's quest for the supernatural

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A photo which was believed to be of the Loch Ness Monster

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The quest for the Loch Ness Monster. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General Modern

UFO history10 top sightings and a timeline