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A big day in history: a royal icon is stabbed through the heart

Ptolemy World map. Artist: Germanus, Donnus Nicolaus (ca. 1420-ca. 1490)

Ptolemy’s maps: the father of modern Geography

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A 19th century lithograph showing the town of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. (Florilegius/SSPL/Getty Images)

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Sydney 1848 . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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A British waitress serves American servicemen inside Rainbow Corner, Piccadilly, January 1945. (Getty Images)

Where history happened: life on the home front . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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An illustration titled ‘The petition for abolishing the slave trade’, from Amelia Opie’s ’The Black Man's Lament; or How to Make Sugar’, London, 1826. “Come, listen to my plaintive ditty,/Ye tender hearts, and children dear!/And, should it move your souls to pity,/Oh! try to end the griefs you hear.” (Photo by Photo 12/UIG via Getty Images)

9 key places connected to the abolition of the British slave trade . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Detail of a column showing Norman soldiers, c12th century. (CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)

In search of the Normans: who were they?

The White Tower, one of the oldest parts of the Tower of London complex, was built by William the Conqueror. (Getty Images)

Castles of the Conqueror

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A Victorian drawing room with pictures in heavy frames and ornately covered furniture, c1860. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Where history happened: Victorian collectors . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Illustration by Jonty Clark.

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Bruges 1386 . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The battle of the Nile, fought at night in the Abu Qir Bay near Alexandria. (Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Second World War

Britain’s 10 most significant naval battles

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Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was a British Conservative politician who served twice as prime minister. (Chris Hellier/Corbis via Getty Images)

My history hero: Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sebastian Coe, a track and field athlete, winning the 1,500 metres gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. (Bettmann via Getty Images)

Moscow 1980: going to the games

Scenes of frivolity in the 16th century. (Culture Club/Getty Images)

Bad sports? Puritan attempts to ban games in 17th-century England

Woodcutting depicting the beheading of Charles I. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Britain’s civil wars: the 15 key moments

An illustration depicting medieval pilgrims. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Library Medieval tourism: pilgrimages and tourist destinations