Evergreen

Mary, Queen of Scots

9 of the worst monarchs in history

19th century advert for snuff

Q&A What was snuff?

British mystery writer Agatha Christie, c1926.

The mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie

The aftermath of Kristallnacht, when businesses and properties owned by Jews were the target of vicious Nazi mobs

Second World War

Life in Nazi Germany: everything you wanted to know

The Oseberg ship from around AD 820 is one of the most well- preserved Viking ships ever excavated (Photo by Noe Falk Nielsen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Viking ships: 5 lesser-known facts

Augustus was the first Roman emperor (Photo By DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini via Getty Images)

Your guide to the Roman empire: when it was formed, why it split and how it failed, plus its most colourful emperors

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria’s voracious appetite for food and sex

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan: the Mongol warlord who almost conquered the world

Top, left to right: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour. Bottom, left to right: Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Katherine Parr.

Henry VIII’s six wives: your guide to the Tudor king’s queen consorts

A thin section of the Great Wall of China near Beijing

General ancient history

10 facts about the Great Wall of China

A 16th-century painting of the Tower of Babel

General ancient history

Your guide to... the ancient city of Babylon

Portrait of Catherine Howard

11 facts about Catherine Howard

Simo Häyhä, said to be the deadliest sniper in history

Second World War

The world’s deadliest sniper: Simo Häyhä

A spiritual swastika on a lotus background.

Second World War

Why did Hitler choose the swastika, and how did a Sanskrit symbol become a Nazi emblem?

An engraving depicting a scene of chaos at Bethlem Royal Hospital

Bethlem Royal Hospital: why did the infamous Bedlam asylum have such a fearsome reputation?