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The battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066. (Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo)

1066 – how the Viking diversion cost Harold his throne

A dirt road in the Alabama Hills of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. The road leads to Mount Whitney and Lone Pine Peak. (Photo by Mimi Ditchie Photography/Getty Images)

My favourite place: California, USA

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Soul singer Sam Cooke recording in the RCA Studios c1959 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jess Rand/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

My history hero: Sam Cooke (1931–64) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting depicting the storming of the Tuileries. (Photo By DEA/G DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

Socialite, spy, saviour: Grace Dalrymple Elliott

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Adolf Hitler (left) and his interpreter (centre) talking to Spanish leader Francisco Franco. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/US Army Signal Corps/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The Library Hitler’s fury, Franco’s guile and the bribe that saved the world . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Viscountess Nancy Astor on her election campaign in 1919. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

The Library Women pioneers in parliament

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Former US president Ronald Reagan and president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, on 16 September 1990. (Photo by Wojtek Laski/Getty Images)

Transcending the Cold War . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The London & North Western Railway locomotive Jeanie Deans picking up water at Bushey Troughs, 1899. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Europe’s century of peace and progress

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Illustrations by Sarah Young, based on contemporary portraits where available

Henry VII’s brilliant upstarts: the lowborn henchmen who served the first Tudor king . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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My favourite place: Belgium

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The search for Henry I: what you need to know

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Lenin and the Russian revolutions . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Sheet music.

History quiz – songs, space stations and capital cities . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Historical television and the battle of Flodden . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Crew of the HMS Terror. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Finding HMS Terror and making sense of the past