People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

The LibraryThe Duke of Wellington and Alfred the Great. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie), the grandson of James II and VII. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The LibraryWhere history happened: The Jacobites. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Operation Barbarossa, which began on 22 June 1941, saw more than three million German troops surge into the Soviet Union along a front of more than 1,000 miles. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Barbarossa and Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Schoolchildren helping workmen construct a new estate of pre-fabricated houses in Watford, Hertfordshire in 1946 following the devastation of the Second World War. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images)

Postwar squatters: a very British uprising

Sir Alec Clegg was the founder of Bretton Hall College (pictured), a West Yorkshire college specialising in arts and performance. (Photo by Memitina/Getty Images)

My history hero: Sir Alec Clegg (1909-86). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

German Spring Offensive: reserve troops in Saint Quentin on their way to the front, March 1918. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

How the war was won. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Lyveden New Bield, Northamptonshire

Prehistoric village people: exploring the Orkney Islands

BBC History Magazine

The Pneumatic Despatch Company

Dover War Tunnels

BBC History Magazine

The BBC Story

White Rock Copper Works, Swansea

BBC History Magazine

The BBC Story

St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury

What are the origins of the British taste for black pepper?

The surprisingly long history of humanity's political development

In search of the Dunkirk spirit

News for the BBC's Domesday Project and the future of the National Archives. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 17th chart or map shows reefs and hazards to ships.

The notorious Captain Kidd

BBC History Magazine

Playing the part of queen for the day

The A to Z of royal weddings with Tracy Borman

A woodcut showing the Globe Theatre, one of London's most famous landmarks and the venue most closely associated with Shakespeare's plays. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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

5 of the worst smells in medieval London

BBC History Magazine

What are the origins of the word ‘Blighty’ when used to describe Great Britain?

Westminster Abbey, London

BBC History Magazine

From pop to politics, the ancient world is here to stay

A colossus at war

A big day in history: the debate on whether Britain should join the European Community

My history hero: Samuel Johnson (1709-84). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryThe Elizabethan big society