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Between 1613 and 1754, a legal loophole meant that on-the-spot marriages could be carried out in an area surrounding the Fleet Debtors’ Prison known as the ‘Liberties of the Fleet’. (Photo by Getty Images)

General History

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the history of London

The killing zone: This photograph by Robert F Sargent, known as ‘Taxis to Hell – and Back – into the Jaws of Death’, shows American troops wading towards Omaha Beach on the morning of 6 June 1944. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

D-Day: 24 hours that changed the world

Troops of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade (Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry Highlanders) going ashore, Normandy, France, 6 June 1944. (Credit: Gilbert Alexander Milne/Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/PA-122765)

Second World War

“Free people everywhere should remember them”: the Canadians’ role in D-Day

A 19th-century painted glass rolling pin and wooden pastry jigger. (Photo ©Emma Kay)

Biscuit tins and pastry jiggers: the history of 6 baking tools

Holding court: Bernard Montgomery briefs reporters on progress in France, 1944. (Photo by Cynthia Johnson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

In defence of Monty: James Holland on the Allied commander’s D-Day decisions

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Troubled waters: American soldiers rest on a decorative bridge during the crucial, bloody battle for Saipan in the Pacific Ocean. Victory put Japan in range of the US heavy bombers. (Photo by Peter Stackpole/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Beyond Normandy: the global war . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Peasants in the Middle Ages at a cattle market. Cows appear to have been difficult to manage in the medieval period, and caused several deaths. (Photo by INTERFOTO /Alamy)

5 strange causes of death in the medieval period

A Spanish publisher works on cloning the illustrated codex hand-written manuscript Voynich. (Photo by CESAR MANSO/AFP/Getty Images)

How the Voynich manuscript hit the headlines

Queen Victoria attends to matters of state. Illustration from 'The Life and Times of Queen Victoria' by Robert Wilson, (1900). (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

What was it like meeting Queen Victoria? 6 royal encounters as told by famous Victorians

In 1937, Amelia Earhart, one of the world’s most famous aviators, apparently disappeared without a trace during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

From Jack the Ripper to Amelia Earhart: 17 unsolved historical mysteries

Funeral of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme

Who killed Olof Palme?

In his native Como, Pliny the Younger's fame is reflected in his statue on the city cathedral's imposing west front, which was built in the 15th century. (Image by AKG Images)

Pliny’s Rome: Vesuvius, vice and vestal virgins

British troops learn to swim in full kit on a training course in May 1944.

D-Day: why the training was deadlier than the assault

A portrait of Fridtjof Nansen, taken after his daring expedition across Greenland. (Image by Alamy)

My history hero Paul Rose chooses Fridtjof Nansen

A 1954 illustration of a woman wearing nylons. Lightweight, easy to conceal and fiercely sought after, stockings were a favourite with smugglers. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Nylon pirates: the postwar craze for cut-price stockings