Early comic panel illustration

England

Guy Fawkes and the men behind the gunpowder plot. Guy Fawkes, best known of the conspirators, is third from the right. (Print Collector/Getty Images)

Why did the 1605 gunpowder plot fail? 9 big questions about the conspiracy to blow up parliament. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Side-by-side portraits of Henry VIII's first two wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon.

Do we have to be ‘Team Catherine’ or ‘Team Anne’ when it comes to Henry VIII’s wives?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Alfred the Great (849–899). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Who was King Alfred the Great?

Gulielma Lister: the female botanist who became the queen of slime moulds. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dinosaur dung became a valuable commodity in 19th century Cambridgeshire. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Dinosaur dung billionaires: the Victorian 'gold rush' for fossilised faeces. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A West Indian immigrant in 1960s Britain: A real lonely Londoner. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A montage of Romans (Photos courtesy of Getty and Alamy)

How ethnically diverse was Roman Britain?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of First World War nurse Edith Cavell with one of her dogs

First World War

Edith Cavell: how the executed British First World War nurse became a symbol of peace

A woodcut showing the interior of a kitchen in Elizabethan England. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Hold your noses: the smells, sounds and sights of Elizabethan England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York

Like father, like son: Richard Plantagenet and Richard III

A statue of Oliver Cromwell stares downwards, against a red background

The dark truth about Oliver Cromwell

John of Gaunt: prince without a throne. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

John of Gaunt shown in a c16th-century portrait

John of Gaunt: The man who would be king. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tostig Godwinson, brother of King Harold II of England, and King Harald Hardrada of Norway receive the submission of the city of York

Hastings, Stamford Bridge and Gate Fulford: three battles that lost England

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: what’s the story?

An illustration of Henry VII, surrounded by Tudor roses. In the background there are shadows of those who challenged for his throne.

Henry VII: the greatest pretender. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Hawker Hurricane of Fighter Command on its way to intercept German bombers as they crossed the south coast of England during the Battle of Britain, 1940. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 Battle of Britain myths. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Peep at St. Peter or The Poet in a Pickle

Q&AWhy do we say 'Peeping Tom'?

An Anglo-Saxon cross from the church of St Michael

Anglo-Saxon conversion: the coming of the cross (at the point of a sword)

A portrait of Princess Elizabeth

The birth of Elizabeth I: everything you need to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Soldiers disembark a landing craft with a battle on the beach beyond

How to win a 20th-century battle

In partnership with Gaijin War Thunder

Workers lower the bodywork of a Standard Vanguard car onto its chassis in a factory

Britain’s motor city: how Coventry's car industry roared to greatness – then went into reverse. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The rise of the Paralympics. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of the England team that faced Australia at the Oval in the 1896 Ashes series

Batting for the British Empire: how Victorian cricket was more than just a game. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Joep de Beer of Holland throws a javelin at the Stoke Mandeville Games

Q&AWhen and where were the first Paralympics held?

British police history: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Working-class girlhood in 1930s Bolton. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The history hidden in British heritage sites. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Thomas Crapper started a plumbing business in Chelsea in 1861 and pioneered some of the most revolutionary designs of sanitary engineering in the 19th century – but he didn't 'invent' the toilet

The legend of Thomas Crapper, the man who didn't invent the toilet

Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I

Henrietta Maria: Charles I’s warrior queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.