Historical people

A pink flower with various contraptions in the background

From goat eyelids to bread: history's 12 strangest sex toys.

A collage of a man in Nazi uniform in front of a large building

I've just been inside a Nazi monster's mansion – and what I found there was deeply haunting.

A painting of two men, dressed in colourful robes, hug each other. One man is standing on top of a lamb, the other on a lion

Michael Wood on the rise and fall of Asian empires.

This late 15th-century illustration shows crusader forces besieging Damascus during the ill-fated Second Crusade in 1148. The armies of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem, Emperor Conrad III of Germany, and King Louis VII of France converge on the city, only for the campaign to collapse in defeat. Likely produced in Bruges for a chronicle of the Crusades, the image reflects how later medieval artists interpreted one of the crusading movement’s most damaging failures.

Who won the crusades? The causes, death toll, and number of medieval holy wars explained

Fake news and the Dreyfus affair: the media-fuelled scandal that divided France.

After Franco: Spain's miraculous transition to democracy.

An illustration showing a samurai soldier dressed in a black and blue robe. Behind him is a person holding up a bar with two buckets of poo hanging from it.

Let’s think before we flush, with Dr Christopher Harding.

A red and black illustration showing a large wolf jumping up, above a man laying on the floor. Around the central wolf, there are several others

Spectral beasts and hounds of hell: a spooky history of Britain's ghost dogs.

A black and white photograph showing a young boy playing with two girls in the sand

"Imagine starting a life with so little": the stories of South Asians in Britain.

Hermann Göring in his office at the Reichstag, where he served as a leading figure of the Nazi regime. As Hitler’s deputy and head of the Luftwaffe, Göring wielded immense power during the Third Reich, later facing prosecution for war crimes at Nuremberg.

Second World War

Who was Hermann Göring? The truth about Hitler’s drug-fuelled enforcer who met his downfall at Nuremberg

A selection of illustrations of medical procedures, including childbirth and someone vomiting, around a circular chart that depicts flasks of different coloured urine

Marvellous medieval medicine: why their curious cures were better than you think.

A pair of swords in a cross shape, on top of an orange background that features warriors fighting on horses

The assassins' reign of terror: how these 12th-century killers spread fear in the Middle East.

A painting showing a man dressed in armour, with a blue and red flag over him, riding a white horse amongst a busy battlefield

5 things you (probably) didn't know about the Tudors.

A painting shows a topless woman sitting up in bed, holding her hand against the face of the man leaning over her

What did the Tudors think was ‘good’ sex? These tips and tricks were key to relationships in the 16th century

Two men stand next to each other holding large guns. They are dressed in black suits and ties with sunglasses and are standing against a blue and black background. Above them, the words "MIB: MEN IN BLACK" are written

Gray Barker: UFO conspiracy theorist.

An illustration depicting five stone hands piled on top of one another, on a small patch of grass, against a pink background

Let’s get things done together, like the builders of Stonehenge did.

Author/veterinarian Dr. James Alfred Wight (pen name James Herriot) holding up a black cat that he is examining at his veterinary surgery. (Photo by Ian Cook/Getty Images)

Who was the real James Herriot?The true story behind All Creatures Great and Small

An illustration showing a king dressed in green and orange, sitting on a blue throne made out of books. He is reading from a long scroll

Love learning like Æthelstan.

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry shows a group of men sitting at a high

Why you should avoid hair-pulling, and cannibalism, at royal banquets.

An illustration shows five women in colourful headscarves sewing a large piece of cloth with soldiers and horses on it

Michael Wood on women's contributions to the Bayeux Tapestry.

An edited image of a man with long curly hair and a lacy ruff. The right hand side of his face is colour inverted so it appears black with a red eye

The sinister secrets of Samuel Pepys.

A painting showing a black beast biting the leg of an orange man dressed in a loincloth

What have the Etruscans ever done for us?.

An illustration of a king dressed in a green and orange robe. He is wearing a crown and holding a sceptre

King Æthelstan: England's colossus.

A drawing of a king holding a crown on his head, against a black and white image of a church

Far away from England, the mystery of Harold Godwinson's lost crown might have just been solved

A man wearing a blue jumper and black trousers stands in front on a large mural of an airport

Kavita Puri's hidden histories: "A UK museum that tells the long, rich history of migration is long overdue".

A man in a grey T shirt and blue jeans sits with his arms crossed, facing the camera. He has dark curly hair and wears glasses

Jonathan Healey: “A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”.

A woman in a grey cloak holds a swaddled infant to her shoulder

Edith the Fair: the life of Harold Godwinson’s first wife

Luther Ford as Tostig Godwinson in BBC drama King and Conqueror

How Tostig Godwinson’s brotherly betrayal hastened the fall of the Anglo-Saxons

Juliet Stevenson as Emma of Normandy in BBC drama King and Conqueror (Photo via BBC)

Emma of Normandy: not just a two-time queen consort of England

This posthumous portrait of William I, known as the Conqueror, was painted c.1590–1610 and is held by the National Portrait Gallery, London. Though created centuries after his death, it reflects early modern interest in the legacy of England’s first Norman monarch. (Photo by Getty Images)

Meet the real William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy who reshaped England