Period

Premium

Soviet missiles in Red Square during the May Day Parade of 1962, the year the world came closest to nuclear war. (Photo by Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images)

History explorer: the Cold War . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The medieval hilltop village of Vézelay in north central France enjoys a spectacular location. (Photo by Andia/UIG via Getty Images)

My favourite place: Vézelay, France

Premium

Douglas Bader in October 1940. “He was competitive, unruly, foolhardy – but also brilliant, brave and hugely talented,” says David Cameron. (Photo by Fg Off S A Devon/IWM via Getty Images)

My history hero: David Cameron chooses Douglas Bader (1910–82) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

London, UK. 06.06.2012. The Birmingham Stage Company presents

Horrible Histories Live on Stage: an interview with creator Neal Foster

Premium

podcast-logo_v4_57-161e60d

The 1920s: Roaring or tame? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Chaplin-London-2-60dcb3a

“Welcome home, Charlie”: Chaplin’s postwar return to London

In the central image, leading Fifth Monarchists are executed on 19 January 1661 following the bloody failure of their uprising. Their leader, Thomas Venner, was hanged, drawn and quartered. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

Soldiers of the Apocalypse

Emil Zátopek. (Photo by Universal/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

The running revolutionary

Passengers on board the Wilhelm Gustloff c1939 giving the Nazi salute shortly before leaving Tilbury Docks. (Photo by London Express/Getty Images)

The Library Holidays with Hitler

Yangguan Museum and a statue of Zhang Qian. (Getty Images)

Global encounters of the ancient kind

Singer Germaine Lubin in conversation with officer Hans Speidel at the German Embassy in Paris, 1941. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Les Parisiennes: how the women of Paris lived, loved and died in the 1940s

Premium

podcast-logo_v4_56-484e1c5

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

Alchemist-in-search-of-Homunculus-2-4297a93

Forgotten science: 7 of the strangest scientific theories in history

Photo of pencils

Q&A How old is the pencil?

Full-Length Portrait of King Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger

Q&A How big was Henry VIII’s codpiece?