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Podcast Website large David Edgerton

Rethinking 20th-century Britain . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The history of birthday presents dates back to the Roman period. (Photo by Lambert/Fototrove/Getty Images Plus)

Q&A When did people start giving birthday presents?

Coca cola bottles from the 1990s

From Velcro to Viagra: 10 products that were invented by accident

A photograph of Nelson Mandela. Peter Hain told the History Extra podcast about the South African leader’s remarkable achievements in the face of tremendous adversity. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

Peter Hain on Nelson Mandela: “A symbol for good leadership in the world”

The blue-robed Henry VII pictured performing a variety of tasks at the Tower of London following his accession to the throne, in a contemporary illustration. (Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Bosworth: the dawn of the Tudors

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Nelson Mandela podcast

Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nelson Mandela

Mandela: the 20th century’s greatest leader?

c1400, English troops use siege towers to capture a French town during the Hundred Years' War between England and France. Original Artwork: An illumination from Froissart's Chronicles. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

7 facts about the Hundred Years’ War

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Podcast Website large Helen Rappaport

The murder of the Romanovs . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bust of young Caligula. Did he really make his horse a lawmaker of Rome? (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Q&A Did Caligula really make his horse a senator?

While young ladies may have been daydreaming of handsome film stars such as Cary Grant, pictured here kissing the cheek of Ingrid Bergman in a publicity still for the 1946 film ‘Notorious’, agony aunts were keen to bring them back down to earth. (Photo by John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

How to be a man: tips from 1930s agony aunts

A Campaign for Homosexual Equality rally held in London’s Trafalgar Square in 1974. The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 helped pave the way for activism such as this in the 1970s, says Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite. (Corbis via Getty Images)

The 1967 Sexual Offences Act: a landmark moment in the history of British homosexuality

A view of a calander showing the date, Friday the 13th. (Photo by William C. Shrout/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

10 historical superstitions we carry on today

People approach the VI Lenin Stadium, now known as the Luzhniki Stadium, in Moscow, in 1956. (Photo by James Whitmore/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

The history of Luzhniki Stadium, home of the 2018 football World Cup final

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Podcast Website large Jordanna Bailkin

Britain’s refugee camps . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.