Historical people

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Pod Shaun Wallace WL

Escaping slavery in the American South . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma in Bridgerton, next to a Regency portrait of Kitty Kirkpatrick.

Inspiring Bridgerton: the real South Asian women in Regency-era England

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A portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, painted during the reign of Charles I

Elizabeth Stuart: the treasonous portrait that touted Charles I’s sister for the throne . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton, the great Antarctic explorer of the Heroic Age

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Pod Mysteries 4 WL

History's greatest mysteries Why did Mao’s chosen successor flee China? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin. (Getty Images)

First World War

Did a British agent murder Rasputin?

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HistoryExtra Masterclass: Tudor Royal Women with Tracy Borman

Tudor Royal Women with Tracy Borman Women at Court . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Josephine Baker lounges on a tiger skin around the time she starred in La Revue Nègre

Singer, siren, activist, spy: the incredible life of Josephine Baker

A follower is reflected on a framed photograph of Bhimrao Ambedkar

Bhim Rao Ambedkar: India’s ‘untouchable’ hero

William Hogarth, seen in a self-portrait with his pug

William Hogarth The satirical artist inspired by the teachings of the Bible

Pragmatist or heartless? A portrait of the young Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492). The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The power behind the throne: women in the Wars of the Roses

Depiction of a musician and dancing fool in Paris, 14th century

What was life like for a court jester?

Depiction of the battle of Stamford Bridge. Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, seen here wielding a battleaxe, was slain at the battle

Harald Hardrada: why there’s more to the last great Viking than his death in 1066

Colourful illustration of 12 historical figures's heads (Winston Churchill, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Thomas Cromwell, Richard III, Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Anne Boleyn, William Marshal, Jane Austen, Hatshepsut, Gandhi and Catherine the Great) shown in a grid pattern.

Top historical figures: 100+ of the most famous people through history – in chronological order

Illustration of Hereward the Wake, the rebel who rose against William the Conqueror

Hereward the Wake: the Anglo-Saxon rebel who became William the Conqueror’s nemesis