20th Century

PT Barnum and General Tom Thumb

The greatest show on earth? The myths of the Victorian freak show

Thomas Ellis charted the frantic efforts to bring the crew of Apollo 13 home. (Image by Getty Images)

The race to save Apollo 13

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Rosa Parks (right) riding on a bus following the Supremacial segregation on Montgomery's public transit system. (Photo by Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images)

History hero Gabby Logan chooses Rosa Parks (1913–2005) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Photo of flu patients during the First World War

First World War

Q&A Why was the 1918-19 pandemic known as Spanish Flu?

(L-R) Marjorie Christel Johansson, Pearl Janssen, Jennifer Hosten, Jillian Jessup, Irith Lavi – the top five contestants in Miss World 1970. (Image by BBC/Shutterstock)

Misbehaviour at Miss World: what happened at the 1970 beauty pageant?

Shoppers crowd a Woolworths store in 1955

Q&A Has there always been panic buying? And when have people panic shopped through history?

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Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: what might we learn from pandemics in the past? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: a historical perspective . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth II and Prince Philip with their third son, Prince Edward, on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of royal mothers and childbirth

17th September 1936: The British minister of health, Sir Kingsley Wood, watches nurses weighing newborn twins during a visit to Southmead Hospital in Bristol to see the work local authorities were doing for the maintenance and improvement of health and housing conditions. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Mum hacks: 5 tips for new mothers from history

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Hadley Freeman.

Secrets of a 20th-century Jewish family: Hadley Freeman on her book House of Glass . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Princess Arthur of Connaught (in black) was very much a traditional member of the royal family, quite reserved, with one exception: her passion for nursing. (Image by Getty Images)

A nurse, a banker and… a TV producer? The royals through history who have held other jobs

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The Millennium Centre in Cardiff. (Photo by Dreamstime)

Wales’s turbulent 20th century . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Immigrant children are examined by a city health officer upon arrival at the battery from Ellis Island during a Typhus scare, c1911. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

A short history of quarantine

German women carrying children believed to be part of the Lebensborn programme

Second World War

The woman who gave birth for Hitler