General History

The New Year’s resolutions Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I and Franklin D Roosevelt should have made…. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General History

7 real moments in history you might think are made up

Three medieval carol singers, image dated 1911

Christmas carols: the history behind 9 festive favourites

A Victorian Christmas card

HistoryExtra's Christmas history quiz

Anna Whitelock's Talking PointsFriends or enemies?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Still Life of Game Birds, oil on canvas. Birds such as goose, swan and peacock were often on the late medieval festive menu

The roasts of Christmas past: 5 festive dinners from British history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woman on a bike cycles in front of a castle

General History

A real castle for Christmas: 5 places to explore and stay this festive season

Supernatural stories: 9 unusual British folktales. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of the Red Dragon of China

Has China always been the world’s greatest superpower?

Everything you wanted to know about Canadian history

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

What are the challenges of telling LGBTQ history?

Young woman gets hair cut in to a bob

A brief history of changing hairstyles

Eadwine the Scribe, c mid-12th century. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

A history of left-handed writing. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Terracotta plaque which is believed to show the poet Sappho rejecting an amorous advance by her contemporary who is also from the island of Lesbos. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

From Sappho to It’s a Sin: 9 LGBT+ histories, chosen by experts

View of a gay pride parade in Boston, Massachusetts, c1977. (Photo by Spencer Grant/Getty Images)

From the ancient world to the 1969 Stonewall Riots: a brief guide to LGBT+ history

Historians have chosen their favourite historical novels.

22 of the best historical fiction novels to help you escape to the past

An Australian Sea Shanty band, c1988

A brief history of sea shanties

‘Inkhorn’ was the term for an inkwell made out of a small horn and became a nickname for the new words being created by playwrights and poets, such as William Shakespeare. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

The evolution of the English language

Edward Jenner performs a vaccination, in an 1802 cartoon that lampoons the notion that being vaccinated will turn you into a cow

The race for a cure: how we found vaccines for 4 of history's most dangerous diseases

(L to R) Isaac Newton, Henry VIII and Bal Gangadhar Tilak

How did people cope with ‘lockdowns’ of the past? And were they really all so productive?

Sobriety, royal presents and Victorian-era musings on failure: an unexpected history of New Year

2020 Christmas history podcast quiz. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Almond Hedgehog: A debonair addition to the hostess’s armoury in the Georgian period. (Illustration by Clair Rossiter for BBC History Magazine)

What was the best meal in history?

The colonial secrets of Britain’s stately homes

Even the ancient Egyptian played board games – this fresco from the tomb of Nefertari shows the queen playing Senet

8 of the best historical board games for history lovers

'Merry Christmas' Victorian illustration of Santa Claus holding toys and blowing on a trumpet, chromolithograph, 1915. (Illustration by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Father Christmas and Santa Claus: a brief history of two Christmas champions

Claudia Jones at the Brixton offices of 'The West Indian Gazette'

Black British historyBritain's black trailblazers

Roman toilet

Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z

Glamis Castle is said to be the most-haunted castle in Scotland. (Photo by mpalis via Getty Images)

A royal ghost tour: 5 haunted sites around Britain

A photograph of the Tower of London, from the river

Anne Boleyn, Beefeaters, Guy Fawkes and the princes: a brief history of the Tower of London