Q&A

Relief of a charioteer

Q&A Who was the highest-paid sportsman in history?

Photo of Uruguay football players celebrating victory

Q&A Who won the first FIFA World Cup?

How did it become a gesture of well-wishing to say to an actor before they go on stage

Q&A Why do we say ‘Break a leg’?

The Stygian Lake in the Fifth Circle of Hell from from Dante’s epic poem 'The Inferno'. The phrase

Q&A Why do we say ‘Paint the town red’?

American assault troops debark from their landing craft at a beachhead on D-Day. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Q&A D-Day: How did a weather forecast change the fate of the war?

Photo of Chelsea Pensioners

Q&A Could you really once be hanged for impersonating a Chelsea Pensioner?

Portrait of Henry VIII

Q&A Which of Henry VIII’s wives was his best match?

Napoleon in exile

Q&A Why was Napoleon exiled to St Helena?

Photo of red wine

General prehistory

Q&A Where and when was wine first made?

Photo of cat in cat flap

Q&A How old is the cat flap?

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1987: Sweden, Gotland, Detail of stone relief representing the divine triad: Odin (chief god), Thor (god of thunder) and Freyr (god of fertility). (Photo By DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini via Getty Images)

Q&A Were the pagan English gods the same as the Viking gods?

Illustration of the Zodiac Man

General ancient history

Q&A Why did physicians ‘bleed’ their patients?

Picture of the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus

Q&A What happened to the last emperor of Rome?

Picture depicting the Articles of Union being presented to Queen Anne

Q&A Why did Scotland join the 1707 Union with England?

Rubicon

Q&A What does it mean to 'cross the Rubicon'?