Historical people

Mary Villiers and Julianne Moore

Who was the real Mary Villiers?

The real George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and Nicholas Galitzine as George Villiers

Who was George Villiers, favourite of King James VI and I?

Video podcastLife of the Week: Frederick Douglass. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Henry Kissinger

“Whatever you want to say about Kissinger, he had consequence”: the life and legacy of the American diplomat. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Scottish poet Robert Burns

Robert Burns: 7 facts about the life and work of Scotland's national bard

Video podcastLife of the Week: Mansa Musa. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Life of the Week: Mansa Musa. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of George Robert Twelves Hewes

George Robert Twelves Hewes: the shoemaker who became a patriot

Joséphine de Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais: how Napoleon's muse became empress of France

Video podcastLife of the week: Genghis Khan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A black and white photo showing a group of friends having a picnic, including Josef Mengele (third from the right).

Tracking down the Nazi 'Angel of Death': one man's hunt for Josef Mengele

Illustration of a woman with an insect net looking at some larger-than-life butterflies and moths.

General Early Modern

Eleanor Glanville: the butterfly collector

Anglo-Saxon thegns

Q&AWho was Eadnoth the Staller?

A portrait of Chevalier d’Éon presenting as a woma

Chevalièr d’Éon: the tale of an 18th-century gender non-conforming spy

Images of Sidi Mubarak Bombay

Sidi Mubarak Bombay: the unsung African adventurer behind the European explorers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of Albert Einstein looking into the camera

Albert Einstein: facts about his life, death, education and work

J Robert Oppenheimer (left), and Cillian Murphy

Oppenheimer: the real history of the ‘father of the atomic bomb’

Oppenheimer: “destroyer of worlds”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

American aviator Bessie Coleman pictured in c1922, around the time she made her debut flight. Her astonishing aerial stunts would earn her the monikers ‘Queen Bess’ and ‘Brave Bessie’ (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Bessie Coleman: a boundary-breaking pilot who fought for her dream

Joseph Chamberlain (far right) pictured with his sons Neville (far left) and Austen, daughter Hilda (front left) and third wife, Mary Endicott (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Chamberlain and Cadbury of BirminghamThe first families in Britain’s second city. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The fall and rise of Henry III. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Geoffrey Chaucer5 key things to know

Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, born the son of a humble yak farmer, pictured around the time of his Everest triumph of 1953 (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Tenzing NorgayThe Sherpa who first conquered the world's highest mountain

Illustration by Rose Wilkinson

William Douglas: infamous bushranger, prize-fighter and reader of skulls. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A c1780 portrait of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges and talented composer, violinist and swordsman (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Chevalier de Saint-Georges: how the mixed-race musical maestro Joseph Bologne became a star in 18th-century France

Stained glass in Exeter Cathedral depicting King Æthelstan. (Dreamstime)

The astonishing Æthelstan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A memorial tomb to King Æthelstan, in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire. (Photo by Geography Photos/UIG via Getty Images)

If King Alfred was great, was Æthelstan even greater?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Cat O'Neil

David Ingram: the Tudor sailor who hiked across pre-colonial America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Philip Augustus of France (left) and Richard I of England

Medieval masculinityWhat Richard I can tell us about male friendship in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Romantics: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.