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(Photo by Getty Images)

Why do brides wear white dresses? Plus the history behind 3 more wedding traditions

Picture of the Battle of Beziers

In a nutshell The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade

A monk and his mistress

Monks behaving badly

Black and white image of the Victorian memorial statue of Florence Nightingale 1820-1910 in London, England, UK who was an English nurse known as 'the lady with the lamp, who cared for wounded soldiers in the Crimean War

Why Florence Nightingale was so much more than the ‘Lady with the Lamp’

Picture of Luddites destroying machinery

Industrial revolution

Your guide to… The Luddite movement

Sir Barry Cunliffe and a team of archaeologist roll up a Roman mosaic at Fishbourne Roman palace

Roll up, roll up: how the Roman mosaics at Fishbourne Palace were saved

Queen Victoria c1870

What did Queen Victoria really look like?

Painting of Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great and Edington: how the King of Wessex became great

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Harold Wilson in 1971, after his first period as prime minister. He would take power again in 1974. (Photo by Getty Images)

History hero Jason Watkins chooses Harold Wilson (1916–95) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Marble statue of a young Roman girl

Everything you wanted to know about Roman Britain – but were afraid to ask

Postcards from the past competition

Postcards from the past: Aged between 6–13? Enter our exciting lockdown competition

A 10th-century silver coin minted in a Danish settlement

The global millennium: how the year AD 1000 was more globalised than we might think

Peter Mayhew, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness and Mark Hamill, on-set of the film Star Wars

Star Wars: why did the film make history?

8 May 1945: Crowds celebrate VE Day in London, at the end of World War 2. (Photo by Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“Hooray! The war is ended”: 5 people’s recollections of VE Day

Expelled Germans leaving Poland's western territories

“The war without an end”: what happened in Europe after VE Day?