England

A portrait of Samuel Pepys, English writer and diarist. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Samuel Pepys

An East India Company official riding on an elephant

The East India Company: how a trading corporation became an imperial ruler

Alexander Ludwig as Bjorn Ironside, son Ragnar Lothbrok and king of Kattegat

Vikings Season 6: plot recap, plus 8 historical questions answered

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What happened when Thomas Becket, was brutally murdered in his cathedral? (Image by Getty Images)

Thomas Becket: from murder to martyrdom . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rege-Jean Page as Simon Basset and Phoebe Dynevor as Daphne Bridgerton

Bridgerton season one: “A period drama like no other”

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Lauren Johnson responds to listener questions about the Wars of the Roses. (Image by Getty Images)

The Wars of the Roses: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Dickens used his novels as a platform from which to attack the injustices that he believed blighted 19th-century Britain. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Charles Dickens: prison reformer, scourge of capitalists, champion of the poor

Workers repair Fleet sewer in 1854. London’s creaking sewer network sparked anxieties over what lay beneath the sprawling capital. (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Living in fear: the dangers of Victorian London

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Telling spooky tales at Christmastime is a very old tradition. Francis Young explains the origins of this custom and what it tells us. (Image by Getty Images)

Christmas ghost stories . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The effigy of Eleanor of Castile on her tomb

The love lives of medieval queens

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Fern Riddell explores some of the darker aspects of the campaign for votes for women, in this episode from our archive. (Image by Getty Images)

Were the suffragettes terrorists? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Kathryn Smithies discusses the economic and cultural significance of donkeys in the Middle Ages. (Image by Getty Images)

Ten things to do with a medieval donkey . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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View of a copy of the Magna Carta and seal of King John. (Photo by Getty Images)

Magna Carta: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard III

Richard the radical: was Richard III a champion of the people?

Nelson's passion for Emma – with whom he had a six-year affair – is writ large in his letters

Nelson in his own words