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

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

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

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

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

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

Winston Churchill on roller skates

How the roller skating craze caught Churchill

More weird and wonderful

Weird & wonderful Q&As

Historians take on questions about bizarre history…

Manchester dog show, c1909

The surprising history of Victorian dog shows. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

President Joe Biden delivers a speech

General History

Life after the White House: what the US presidents did next

Tales from history's toilets. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A man holds his head in his hands as he is visited by the ghostly apparition of a woman. A photographer's assistant is visible at centre, right.

General History

Halloween stories10 terrifying tales from medieval to modern history

Hoaxes and hijinks

Frances Griffiths poses with the fairies

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

5 Georgian ghost hoaxes

Henry VIII, Princess Mary and William Somers

Playing the fool: Tudor jesters

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)

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

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

The quest for the Loch Ness Monster

UFO history10 top sightings and a timeline