People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

Civil rights campaigner Ida B Wells, acclaimed composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; and footballer Walter Tull.

Black Victorians: the hidden Britons who helped shape the 19th century

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?

John Brown leading Queen Victoria on a horse.

Queen Victoria and John Brown: the controversial relationship between sovereign and servant

The Great Smog of London: what caused the 1952 crisis?

Pat Smith of Mari Arts and the Mari Lwyd (Photo by Western Mail Archive/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

General History

Welsh Christmas traditions through history

City of fur and feather: the animals of medieval London. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Men of the SAS returning from a three-month trip behind enemy lines during the war in North Africa. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“They changed the way war is run”: Ben Macintyre on the early SAS. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

St Andrew, in St Andrew chapel, depicted at his crucifixion displayed in the manner known as the Saltire cross

St Andrew’s Day: 11 things you might not know about Scotland’s patron saint

Sæberht of Essex, who oversaw the building of London’s original church of St Paul’s (Photo by The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo)

How to survive the Dark Ages in Britain: 6 crucial tips. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mary, Queen of Scots: The Scottish years. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Photo of the display cabinet where the World Cup was stolen

What a pickle: how England lost, found and won the World Cup in a single year

This statue of Alfred the Great stands in Winchester, the former 'capital' of his kingdom (Photo by TonyBaggett via Getty Images)

What if...Alfred the Great lost to the Vikings at the battle of Edington?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Stained glass in Exeter Cathedral depicting King Æthelstan. (Dreamstime)

VideoMichael Wood on the astonishing Æthelstan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hidden livesVictorian fasting girls

David Dimbleby commands the studio during the May 1997 general election

BBC at 100Into the digital age. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Prince Philip played by Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip and Natascha McElhone as Penelope Knatchbull

The Crown S5 E2 real history: Prince Philip’s ‘keeper of secrets’ and Andrew Morton’s book on Princess Diana

Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Dominic West as Prince Charles in episode one of season five of The Crown.

The Crown S5 E1 real history: ‘Queen Victoria Syndrome’ and a second honeymoon

King Henry V (left) in a late-16th- or early 17th-century portrait by an unknown artist; and his son Henry VI (right) in a c1500s portrait (Photos by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Why Henry VI’s reign was such a disaster

The queen – dressed in dark clothing – stands up from a table to deliver a speech

Annus HorribilisWhat happened in the Queen’s horrible year?

The letter that betrayed the gunpowder plotters. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving of a prison hulk at Deptford, from a c1826 painting. (Photo by: Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Floating hell: the brutal history of prison hulks

Photo of the SAS in North Africa

Second World War

How the early SAS became heroes of the Second World War

Prime minister Edward Heath

A brief history of U-turns. 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.

A scene from the Luttrell Psalter, c1330, gives an idealised insight into everyday life in 14th-century rural England

Life as a medieval peasantHow accurate are depictions on screen?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Protesters gather outside the Royal Courts of Justice during the 2003 Hutton inquiry into claims, broadcast on the BBC, that the case for war in Iraq had been “sexed up”.

BBC at 100Rocked by scandal. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anthony Eden addresses BBC cameras in 1956

BBC at 1001950s friction between government and the BBC. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Industrial revolution

Q&AWhy do we say ‘get the sack’?

The Unesco world heritage site of Hadrian's Wall. (Photo by Getty Images)

Black British historyBlack Britannia. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Harry Lloyd (Richard III) and Sally Hawkins (Philippa Langley) in The Lost King

The Lost KingThe difficult art of turning a true story into a movie