People watching the Royal Wedding

United Kingdom

Why we should remember…Charles Babbage's Difference Engine

Lucy Worsley on three extraordinary livesThe survivor, the 'incurable' and the scapegoat. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Closeup of Henry VIII's face

The slow death of Henry VIII

Princess Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour (Photos by Getty and Alamy)

Did Thomas Seymour sexually abuse the teenage Princess Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Gaskell: a voice of the Victorians. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of William Shakespeare

History quiz – language and literature. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 6Cultures lost and found. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Robert Louis Stevenson, the 19th-century English poet and novelist perhaps best known for his books 'Treasure Island' and the 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson: novelist, playwright, poet, traveller. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

1842 self-portrait of Sarah Biffin

The armless artist who wowed Queen Victoria. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woman reading a vintage thesaurus

Q&AWho wrote the first thesaurus?

A stained glass portrait of Dr Samuel Johnson in 17 Gough Square, London Inns court c1989.

"A useful time-capsule of Georgian life": Samuel Johnson and his remarkable dictionary. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Queen's century of change. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II in 2006 film 'The Queen'

Screen QueenElizabeth II on film

Episode 5An identity crisis?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Elizabeth II, in March 2022 - the year of her platinum jubilee (Photo by Getty Images)

QuizQueen Elizabeth II and her reign

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip mark the diamond jubilee in 2012 by watching the Jubilee River Pageant, where a seven-mile flotilla sails past them (Photo by Eddie Mullholland - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

From silver to platinum: a history of Queen Elizabeth II's jubilees. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Elizabeth II, in March 2022 - the year of her platinum jubilee (Photo by Getty Images)

Britain's golden jubilees: from George III to Elizabeth II. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Marriage à-la-mode: 2. The Tête à Tête.

What great paintings sayMarriage à-la-mode: 2. The Tête à Tête by William Hogarth, c1743–45. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 4Religion and belief. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 5Change & innovation in 60s Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The effigy of King John on his tomb in Worcester Cathedral

Your guide to King John, the monarch who issued Magna Carta

A lodger disputes his bill with his landlady in this 1812 print by Thomas Rowlandson

What was it like being a renter in Georgian London?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Irish people demonstrate in Downing Street in London in 1921. The partition of Ireland between the six north-eastern counties and the rest of Ireland took place on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920

A brief history of the partition of Ireland

Aerial view of Piccadilly Circus in London.

London history quizTest your knowledge. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Great Seal of the Commonwealth of England

The Interregnum: Britain's republican decade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, at dusk

9 places where British astronomy flourished. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of James, Duke of Monmouth, the 36-year-old illegitimate son of Charles II. (Photo by Alamy)

England's greatest royal rebel: why the Duke of Monmouth was a 17th-century hero. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

A modern image depicts Caratacus attending a tribunal in Rome, having been captured by Claudius’ soldiers in Britain

Who were the rebels of Roman Britain?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 2Life in the late imperial age. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.