Period

c1954: A photo-fiction serial telling the story of a young couple on honeymoon in the South of France. The parts are played by actors Mark Hashfield and Simone Lovell. (Photo by Kurt Hutton/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of honeymoons (and how the post-wedding holiday got its name)

Rjukan Hydro Plant

Spying in WW2: how wartime espionage was just as dramatic as fiction. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin: working-class warrior. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victoria, Albert and their children admire the royal Christmas tree

ExploreThe history of Christmas

Henry Fitzroy

Henry Fitzroy: how Henry VIII’s “bastard son” rocked the Tudor court

A portrait of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler

Second World War

Why did WW2 happen?

Postcards from the past competition: the winners

WW2 surrender signed, 2 September 1945

Second World War

How and when did WW2 end?

The 1851 Great Exhibition’s west wing

The 1851 Great Exhibition: inside the Victorian spectacle

Illustration for BBC History Magazine.

How potatoes conquered the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mary Seacole as seen in a contemporary photo. Although she became famous for her nursing work in the Crimean War, her story subsequently became largely forgotten. (Photo by Alamy)

History heroBernardine Evaristo chooses Mary Seacole (1805–1881). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Afua Hirsch in Kenya. (Photo by Clear Story/BBC)

Afua Hirsch: "The prejudice still surrounding Africa is absolutely rooted in a racist past". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference. (Photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donald Trump: a president without precedent?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A late 18th-century painting of British and French sailors going head-to-head at war

The uncommon lives of common sailors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Hundred Years’ War: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Exclusive podcastDan Jones on the human stories of the crusades. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mary Toft, perpetrator of the 1726 hoax – in which she appeared to give birth to rabbits

The woman who gave birth to rabbits? How Mary Toft's hoax captured Georgian society

Floral tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales, outside Kensington Palace. (Photo by Liba Taylor/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Princess Diana's death: when grief gripped a nation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Selim I

The extraordinary life of Sultan Selim I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Painting of Masons building a pillar in a church

General Early Modern

Your guide to...the Freemasons

Edward the Confessor (Anglo-Saxon king of England from 1042) on his throne, as shown in the Bayeux Tapestry. (Photo by Getty Images)

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

Engraving depicting a scene from the battle of Crécy, during the Hundred Years' War. Dated 14th Century. (Photo by: Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The battle of Crécy: triumph of the longbow

King George VI and his eldest daughter, Elizabeth

The death of King George VI: what happened?

What are Roman numerals, where do they come from and how do you read them?

The Pilgrim fathers arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts on board the Mayflower. (Photo by Harold M. Lambert/Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

"They decided that God must be leading them to North America": the Puritans journey to the Mayflower. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen In New Zealand, 1970

In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II on tour. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Some of the 5,000 Jewish and non-Aryan German child refugees, the 'Kindertransport', arriving in England at Harwich from Germany, 2 December 1938. (Photo by Getty Images)

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

The tomb of Pharaoh Djoser, built at Saqqara

Timeline: the evolution of ancient empires. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

As seen in this early 19th-century depiction of an initiation, Masons have long used secrecy to "create a sense of awe and specialness around their rituals". (Image by Alamy)

A history of Freemasonry: from Enlightenment ideals to satanic conspiracy stories

Old Norse sages describe Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir as 'the loveliest of women and nobel in every trait'. But this far-travelled Icelandic woman was eulogised largely not for her beauty and charm but as a strong-willed survivor who married three times and bore a son, Snorri, in Vinland (North America) during on of her intrepid voyages (Illustration by Lynn Hatzius)

The amazing life of a great female Viking explorer