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We asked six leading authors and academics to pick works of fiction that have captured life in Britain. (Image by Getty Images)

6 novels that captured life in Britain

A contemporary portrait of scientist Ada Lovelace

History hero Konnie Huq chooses Ada Lovelace (1815–52)

King John out hunting

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about medieval elections

A man attacks the Berlin Wall with a pickaxe on the night of November 9th, 1989 as news spread rapidly that the East German Government would now start granting exit visas to anyone who wanted to go to the West. The announcement was misinterpreted as meaning the border was now open and East German border guards were unable to stop the rush of people to the Wall. Within hours people were smashing sections of the Wall with their own hand tools and these first cracks in the Wall led to the complete opening of the border within days. (Photo by robert wallis/Corbis via Getty Images)

In pictures: remembering the Berlin Wall 30 years on

Simon the cat

10 top cats in history

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Britons. Join Your Country's Army! (Photo by Alfred Leete/ Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)

The death of Kitchener: a World War One mystery . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A fruit and vegetable market, painted by Joachim Beuckelaer.

A brief history of veganism in Britain

A depiction of a 13th-century parliament, sitting under Edward I. The Good Parliament of 1376, during the reign of Edward III, sowed the seeds for discontent that was to come.

The Good Parliament of 1376: Crown v Commons

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Margaret Thatcher meets personnel during her visit to the Falkland Islands. (Photo by Sven Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain in the early 80s . 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 making of the Bayeux Tapestry: who made it, how long did it take, and how has it survived?

1st May 1975: Three documents, for and against, published for the referendum on the Common Market

Britain decides: the first European referendum

Photo of a gramophone

Q&A Who do we say 'put a sock in it'?

Princess Margaret and her husband, Lord Snowdon, in San Francisco during a visit to America, November 1965. (Photo by Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images)

“Cheap men and expensive bottles”: Princess Margaret’s love affairs

James VI and I depicted in Parliament, c1605

Queen Elizabeth I’s ‘Golden Speech’ and 5 more key moments in the history of crown and parliament

Scores of people milled about the entrance to the Stock Exchange on 24 October 1929, as the market went through the greatest shake up in its history. It was a light tremor heralding the earthquake to come. (Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

The Wall Street Crash: the day the bubble burst