A Red Cross worker in the United States, 1918

Q&A

How did Spanish Flu get its name? When did our ancestors start using toilet paper? Why did the famous Crystal Palace burn down? And where was the WW1 Armistice signed? Here, your most burning questions about history are answered by historians and experts…

Perhaps the most charming idea about the origins of the festive tradition of kissing under the mistletoe derives from a Viking myth of Frigg, goddess of love and marriage, and her ill-fated son Balder. (Photo by Jurg Waldmeier/StockFood Creative/Getty Images Plus)

Q&AWhy do we kiss under the mistletoe?

Q&AWhat are the roots of dentistry?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Prime minister and king in black and white photo

Q&APrior to 2022, has there ever been a new monarch and prime minister in Britain in the same week?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Photo of Ginger Rogers

Q&AWhen did people start wearing sunglasses?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration showing woman receiving a caesarean section

General History

Q&AWhat are the origins of the caesarean section?

Q&AWhich king thought he was made of glass

A 1779 cartoon showing the United States as a horse, unseating its rider, George III

Q&ADid George III read the American Declaration of Independence?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tudors play real tennis, a precursor to the modern game of tennis

Q&AWhat was Real Tennis?

The fourth earl of Sandwich, contemplating a sandwich in a thought bubble

Did the Earl of Sandwich invent the sandwich?

A woman reading a vintage thesaurus

Q&AWho wrote the first thesaurus?

Q&AWere vampires buried with a stake through their heart?

Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, better known to history as the Ladies of Llangollen

Q&AWho were the Ladies of Llangollen?

Dancers perform in a Cinco de Mayo celebration

Q&AWhat does Cinco de Mayo commemorate?

A wall mosaic of Picasso’s Guernica painting.

Q&AWhy did Pablo Picasso paint Guernica?

Photo of Holy Trinity Church

Q&AWhere is William Shakespeare buried – and is there a curse on his grave?

The coats of arms of the kingdoms of Scotland and France

Q&AHow old is the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland?

Scene of the Peterloo Massacre

Q&AWhy do we say "Read the Riot Act"?

Men marching with bagpipes wearing tartan kilts

General History

Q&AWhen did the Scots start wearing tartan – and what did it mean?

The Trojan Horse is pulled in the city of Troy

Q&AWhat is the Trojan Horse and why do we say 'Beware the Greeks bearing gifts'?

Claudia Severa’s preserved party invitation from Vindolanda

Q&AWhat was written on the Vindolanda Tablets?

A painting of the Coniston, a ship that befell tragedy

Q&AWhat is the greatest mishap caused by someone not realising the clocks had moved forward or back?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor meet for a dance in Bridgerton

Q&AHow did people learn to dance in Baroque and Regency times?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Picture of a 19th-century bloomer costume

Q&AWhen did women start wearing trousers?

Molotov cocktails, Ukraine

Q&AWhat is a Molotov cocktail?

An illustration depicting a woman lying in bed who has recently given birth to twins. Other women busy themselves with tasks around her, such as stoking a fire and holding one of the babies.

General History

Q&AWhere does the word ‘gossip’ come from – and what has it got to do with childbirth?

First photo of baby Charles Lindbergh Jr

Q&AWho was the Lindbergh baby?

Photo of fence and barbed wire

Q&AWhat does Iron Curtain mean, and who popularised the term?

Welsh flag, featuring a dragon. The red dragon of Wales dates back to Roman times. (Photo by Getty Images)

Q&AWhy does the Welsh flag feature a red dragon?

Wales' fans celebrate victory at the 1957 Five Nations Tournament, France vs Wales, holding the Welsh symbol, the leek. (Photo by Universal/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Q&AWhy is the leek associated with Wales?

Portrait of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany

Q&AWho was the Grand Old Duke of York?