General Modern

Cover of the Voyages Extraordinaires series by the French science fiction writer Jules Verne.

The phantom menace: 10 milestones in science fiction

Malcolm X chats with Eric Abrahams – the Oxford Union president who vowed to “fill the room with blacks” – before giving his famous address on 3 December 1964. (Getty)

Malcolm X in Oxford: Black power amid dreaming spires

Picture depicting the Dogger Bank Incident

Q&A What was the 'North Sea Outrage'?

Picture of a hand holding a candle

Q&A Why do we say ‘can’t hold a candle to…’?

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A brief history of tattoos

Morris dancers perform

Steps in time: Dancing through history

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10 weird and wonderful historical newspaper stories

A portrait of Ian Lancaster Fleming, the creator of the character James Bond

The spy who loved Jamaica

01 Jul 2014, Ar Raqqah, Syria --- Militant Islamist fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic

The historians’ take on… the future of Iraq

Danish astronomer Ole Romer (1644–1710). (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

10 astronomers you’ve (probably) never heard of

A still from the set of 'Westward the Women', directed by William A Wellman. (Photo by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)

How the Wild West was spun

Crowds in Coronation Park, Delhi, celebrate the coronation of King George V in 1911. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Library Did Britain make the modern world?

How did it become a gesture of well-wishing to say to an actor before they go on stage

Q&A Why do we say ‘Break a leg’?

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The decline of the pub: what can we learn from history?

Destroyer escorts fire depth charges against submarine raiders in the Atlantic during the Second World War. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

What the modern navy did for us