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The sun rises over the Iwo Jima Memorial In Arlington, Virginia, November 1999 (Photo by Getty Images)

World War Two: the challenge of commemoration . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration from Dante's ‘Inferno', depicting thieves tormented in hell by serpents.

General ancient history

A brief history of the afterlife

The bikini was showcased to the world for the first time in July 1946. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

8 historical events that happened in July

A girl, with her brother on her back, trudges past a stalled American tank, South Korea, June 1951. (Photo by Alamy)

How we forgot the Korean War

A gilt-bronze effigy of Henry III in what is his greatest legacy, Westminster Abbey. (Photo by Alamy)

Henry III in his own words: the medieval king as you’ve never seen him before

Women load up scrap metal at a major steelworks, 1942. During the Second World War, the government opened hundreds of nurseries to encourage women into work but, as Britain returned to peace, most closed. (Photo by Fred Ramage/Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Who’s holding the baby? How working mothers navigated the 20th century

A bust of Ludwig van Beethoven before the original handwritten score for his Piano Sonata no. 28 in A major, Op. 101. The composer stood at the vanguard of a new artistic movement that celebrated emotion and nature. (Getty Images/Alamy/Dreamstime)

The soundtrack of Beethoven’s life

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c1935: Beatrice Shilling sits astride her Norton motorcycle. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

History hero Cathy Newman chooses Beatrice Shilling (1909–1990) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France meet (in marquee, top) at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, June 1520. “For all their expressions of friendship,” writes Glenn Richardson, “the two kings spent most of the summit attempting to outshine one another”. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Fields of the Cloth of Gold: the greatest show on earth

John Nichol is a historian, author and RAF veteran who was captured and paraded on Iraqi television during the Gulf War, before returning to active service. He has since written several works of military history as well as a number of novels, and is a regular commentator on military affairs

Second World War

Your guide to the Lancaster bomber

Anne Boleyn (left) and her daughter, Elizabeth I. (Photos by Getty Images)

What did Elizabeth I think of her mother, Anne Boleyn? Historian Tracy Borman explains

Battle of Culloden

General History

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Scottish history

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Japanese school girls wear protective masks to guard against the influenza outbreak, February 1920. (Photo by Getty Images)

A history of pandemics: from Spanish Flu to Covid-19 . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Thomas Becket murder

7 controversial saints in history

Globe Theatre illustration

The Globe theatre fire of 1613: when Shakespeare’s playhouse burned down