20th Century

HMT Empire Windrush arrives at Tilbury Docks

Bound for Britain: your guide to the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush

An Indian soldier, emaciated after internment by the Japanese, aboard the British hospital ship 'Oxfordshire' in 1945 (Keystone/Getty Images)

The untold story of India’s WW2 prisoners of war

Premium

Adrian Wooldridge explores meritocracy’s role in forging the modern world, and weighs up its challenges and advantages. (Image by Getty Images)

The merits of meritocracy . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Kate Vigurs discusses the female agents of Britain’s Special Operations Executive, who carried out resistance work in France during the Second World War

Women secret agents in Nazi-occupied France . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A man digs a grave in Sarajevo for victims of the war in Bosnia, 1992

Yugoslavia: why shared Slavic identity couldn’t save an idealised nation from fracture and bloodshed

Illustration by Eleanor Shakespeare

“Make love not midnight snacks”: a social history of slimming clubs

Premium

Biographer Frances Wilson discusses a pivotal decade in the turbulent life of writer DH Lawrence. (Image by Getty Images)

Censorship, contradiction & controversy: a decade in the life of DH Lawrence . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Britain's Greatest Prime Minister Podcast Series From HistoryExtra

Who was Britain’s greatest prime minister? Episode 9: Secrets of being a successful leader . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Tim Maltin answers listener questions about the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. (Image by Getty Images)

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

Premium

Judith Mackrell explores the experiences of six women war correspondents who broke some of the key stories of the Second World War. (Image by Getty Images)

Women reporters of WW2 . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Eric Liddell winning the 400-metre final at the 1924 Olympic Games

History hero Dan Walker chooses Eric Liddell (1902–45) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

On the evening of 13 March thousands of people in Phoenix, Arizona, and surrounding areas see a triangular formation of lights drifting above the city. Fife Symington, the governor of Arizona at the time, was one of the witnesses and he described the UFO as “otherworldly”. This image shows something similar to what was reported at the time. (Photo by Alamy)

UFO history 10 top sightings and a timeline

Premium

Britain's Greatest Prime Minister Podcast Series From HistoryExtra

Who was Britain’s greatest prime minister? Episode 8: Margaret Thatcher . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Leah Garrett tells the story of X-troop, a group of Jewish commandos who became one of Britain’s most potent weapons against the Nazis. (Image by Getty Images)

Britain’s secret Jewish commandos . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Prisoners exercise and play sport in the courtyard of the Fleet Prison, circa 1872

Timeline: a history of prisons in Britain