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

The space race: everything you wanted to know

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

Sathnam Sanghera discusses where we can see the legacy of imperialism in Britain today

Sathnam Sanghera on how modern Britain is shaped by empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The big questions of LGBTQ history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US marines advance up Iwo Jima's beaches

Second World War

The battle for Iwo Jima: why did it happen and why was it so hard fought?

A painting of Henry IV, housed in the National Portrait Gallery, London. English earls, Scottish kings, French dukes and a Welsh prince all tried to unseat Henry, yet this most resilient of medieval monarchs prevailed over them all. (Photo by Getty Images)

Henry IV: the usurper king

Chaos & communism: China’s 1949 revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch

Henry VII: your guide to the first Tudor king

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: poet, activist, trailblazer, runaway. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An Athenian red-figure kylix (cup) dating from around 510–500 BC depicts a young pentathlete pulling his older lover towards him for a kiss. In many of the city-states of ancient Greece, sex between a man and a youth was an accepted – even idealised – form of love, its virtues extolled in works by writers including Plato. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Pride and prejudice: same-sex relations through history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Is “Blitz Spirit” a myth?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Tudors: 51 moments that shaped the royal dynasty

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

Dr Jenna Dittmar, who has been studying medieval skeletons, reveals what her findings can tell us about injuries and violence in the era. (Image by Getty Images)

Fatal accidents and violent injuries in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A women drives oxen pulling a loaded wagon train through the Black Hills (in South Dakota or Wyoming) in 1887

From the real Calamity Jane to 'Madam Moustache': pioneer women of the Wild West. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Lord Fiske, chairman of the Decimal Currency Board, makes a purchase at a Woolworths using the new currency on Decimal Day, 15 February 1971

Decimal Day: when Britain said farewell to the shilling

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

The forgotten mothers of civil rights leaders. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A decoy rubber tank such as those used by the Allies during WW2.

Masters of disguise: the story of the Allies' WW2 'Ghost Army'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The tapestry was most likely embroidered by women in Norman England in a workshop setting using four embroidery stitches – stem stitch; split stitch; chain stitch; and laid work, sometimes called ‘Bayeux Stitch’, says Dr Alexandra Lester-Makin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Bayeux Tapestry: what is it, why was it made and what story does it tell?

Paul Delaroche's impression of Lady Jane Grey's execution

Who was Lady Jane Grey? The tragic story of the 'Nine Days Queen'

Dark side of fashion: a 1910 portrait of a woman wearing a hat adorned with ostrich plumes and a stuffed bird. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, owning hats like this was a sign of status for many women. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

A hatful of horror: the Victorian headwear craze that led to mass slaughter

Sex, romance and rights: women's lives since 1950. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of Despite being outnumbered, the Greeks gained vital supremacy at sea over the Persians at the battle of Salamis in 480 BC

The Peloponnesian War: Athens fights Sparta for dominance in ancient Greece

Otto von Bismarck, pictured on horseback, was instrumental in the creation of a unified German state and was among the most influential politicians of late 19th-century Europe.(Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Otto von Bismarck: a brief guide to the ‘founder of modern Germany’

Victorian pet cemeteries: animals in the afterlife. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A c1520–40 portrait of Henry VI

The miraculous afterlife of Henry VI. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Norman cavalry on the charge in the Bayeux Tapestry. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

Why the Nazis fell in love with the Bayeux Tapestry. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How slavery fuelled the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, pictured in 1854. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert: what was their relationship like?