Georgian - Getty Images

Georgian

A 17th chart or map shows reefs and hazards to ships.

The notorious Captain Kidd

The A to Z of royal weddings with Tracy Borman

My history hero: Samuel Johnson (1709-84). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Geevor Tin Mine, Cornwall

A woman puts a foundling, or her own unwanted child, into a revolving doorway in a hospital or orphanage wall, intended for unwanted children. (Getty Images)

A mother's love: tokens left with London's foundling babies

8 reasons to visit historic Chelsea

At the edge of reason: shaving and razors in 18th-century Britain

George III at the end of his reign. He "represented the uncontrollable aspects of humanity that the Enlightenment could not explain," says Stella Tillyard. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Uncertainty and unrest: the madness of the Regency period. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Why is the American city of Cincinnati named after a hero of ancient Rome?

Pride and Prejudice takes the top spot

Visit historic Lichfield

Q&A: Why didn't Napoleon invade the Channel Islands?

The man best associated with the new style of landscape gardening was William Kent (c1686–1748), a Yorkshire-born artist and architect. (Public domain)

The English landscape garden. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Théveneau de Morande: an 18th-century French spy in London

A ship in a storm

How did Britain come to rule the waves?

‘Battle of Quiberon Bay' (c1765), from 'Old Naval Prints' by Charles N Robinson and Geoffrey Holme (The Studio Limited, London), 1924. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

The battle for Britain 1759

Portrait of Captain William Bligh. (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

My history hero: William Bligh (1754–1817). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of the English explorer Samuel Hearne. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

My history hero: Samuel Hearne (1745–92). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

9 reasons to visit Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryAn adulterous scandal and a grisly end. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Robert Burns and Francis Bacon. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of William Hogarth, whom Simon Jones admires for possessing an extraordinary eye for pictorial detail and social nuance. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

My history hero: William Hogarth (1697–1764). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting inhabitants of Hawaii making an offering to Captain Cook

The LibraryThe mystery of Cook’s lost journal

A 1950s illustration of Vladimir Lenin on the sealed train between Switzerland and Russian. (Alamy)

10 ways to start a revolution

A painting of a shipwreck

Hard lives on the high seas

The Duke of Wellington. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Antique print of the Boston Massacre from the American Revolutionary, by Paul Revere (American, 1734-1818) (hand-colored engraving), 1770. The title of the print is 'The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Reg't'. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

The plot to kidnap King George III

The 10 worst Britons in history