Period

Henry VIII “regarded his wars as the worthy successors of the great martial victories of England’s past”, says Steven Gunn. (Photo by PHAS/UIG via Getty Images)

The Library Total war in Tudor England

A portrait of Catherine of Siena, who in the 1360s experienced a vision from God during which – according to her biographer, Raymond of Capua – she drank the water from the wound in Christ’s side. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

The medieval mystics with a hotline to God

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. “For the century following his death, the British public was less inclined to revere Brunel than we are today”, says Crosbie Smith.(Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

The Library Brunel: the flawed genius

Husband and wife Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling (Madame Chiang), pictured at their wedding in 1928. The pair “dominated Chinese politics for two decades [and] were among the most prominent non-westerners on the planet throughout the 1930s and 1940s”, says Rana Mitter. (Photo by Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

Six lives that shaped China

The Spring Offensive, 1918. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Germany’s final gamble

The Sultanahmet district in Istanbul, Turkey, which is classified as World Heritage by UNESCO. (Photo by DOZIER Marc via Getty Images)

A new civilisation rises

Benjamin Tillett, organiser of the Docker's Union and leader of the London Transport Worker's strike in 1911, addressing a rally of the strikers. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

The essay: Britain’s cautious revolutionaries

An engraving from Ulrich Molitor’s ‘On witches and female soothsayers’, depicting witches bringing down the rain. Germany, 15th century. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

A spell-binding history of witches

Radio Times cover, 1931. (Photo by Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo)

Radio nation

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Winston Churchill, 1941. (Photo by War Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

History hero Barbara Taylor Bradford chooses Winston Churchill (1874–1965) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Wendy Webster. (Photo by Claire Wood/BBC)

Books interview with Wendy Webster: “In its finest hour, Britain’s population was multiethnic and multinational” . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The Marshall Plan and the Cold War podcast

The Marshall Plan and the Cold War . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Operators dealing with emergency calls at New Scotland Yard, London, c1956. (Photo by Reg Speller/Getty Images)

5 crimes that changed law enforcement in Britain

The execution of Charles I. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Murder, conspiracy and execution: six centuries of scandalous royal deaths

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Prince Ernest Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland and fifth son of King George III

The Duke of Cumberland and his valet: a bloody tale of attempted murder . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.