Historical people

Alexander Ludwig as Bjorn Ironside, son Ragnar Lothbrok and king of Kattegat

Vikings Season 6: plot recap, plus 8 historical questions answered

'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' (2020): Viola Davis as Ma Rainey. (Photo by David Lee/Netflix)

Who was Ma Rainey, “mother of the blues”?

Alex Hogh Andersen as Ivar the Boneless

The real Vikings: the early medieval world behind the hit drama

Marble bust of Nero

Rethinking Nero: was the Roman emperor really so bad?

France. Massacre of Vassy. Murder of Huguenot worshipers and citizens in an armed action by troops of Francis, Duke of Guise, in Wassy, France on 1 March 1562. Starting of French Wars of Religion. Engraving. (Photo by: PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The Huguenots vs France: who were the Huguenots and what did they believe?

The Trojan Horse – seen in the 2004 film Troy

How much of the legend of Troy is real?

Ian Fleming, British author and creator of the James Bond character

James Bond in real life: where did Ian Fleming’s inspirations come from?

Marble bust of Caligula

Caligula: murderous and depraved, or a victim of history?

Claudia Jones at the Brixton offices of 'The West Indian Gazette'

Black British history Britain's black trailblazers

A portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft: reclaiming the reputation of a feminist icon

Glamis Castle is said to be the most-haunted castle in Scotland. (Photo by mpalis via Getty Images)

A royal ghost tour: 5 haunted sites around Britain

thomas-more-6-13ba186

Thomas More: saint or sinner?

Tom Cribb lands a punch on Tom Molineaux while Molineaux's trainer, Bill Richmond, looks on. Molineaux got the upper hand in the pair's first fight – which ended in controversy when a mob stormed the ring – but was defeated in this, the 1811 rematch. (Edward Gooch/Edward Gooch/Getty Images)

The ‘Black Terror’: the story of Britain’s first black sports star

Grigory Yefimovich Novykh, also known as Rasputin

Rasputin: the ‘mad monk’ who became a friend to the Romanovs

Michael Wood reveals how Hadrian, a little-known “man of Africa”, helped lay the foundations of English culture

The African who transformed Anglo-Saxon England