Historical people

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

My history heroSam Naz chooses Noor Inayat Khan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Love Letter, 1834.

How to write a love letter6 tips from the historical figures who did it best. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Brian Epstein (centre) with the Beatles, who he managed from 1962 until his death in 1967 (Photo by Harry Benson/Getty Images)

Brian EpsteinThe brilliant but troubled man behind The Beatles

Photograph of Pauli Murray

Pauli MurrayThe Civil Rights and LGBTQ+ icon who fought Jim and Jane Crow

A depiction of Empress Wu Zetian

Empress Wu ZetianThe only woman to rule China

A Japanese tattoo artist at work on a large scale tattoo design on the back of a woman, Japan, circa 1940.

Tattoo historyThe stories of 11 inked individuals. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edward Tull-Warnock, who qualified as one of the first black dentists in Britain

The forgotten contributions of black Edwardians in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Vanessa Bell, the sister of Virginia Woolf and wife of art critic Clive Bell, all of whom were members of the Bloomsbury Group.

Famous EdwardiansFrom Beatrix Potter to Captain Robert F Scott

King Edward VII in his coronation robes.

Edward VIIA guide to the king who ruled over the Edwardian age

Mavia of Tanukh, illustration by Lynn Hatzius

Mavia Of TanukhWarrior queen of Arabia. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian Caroline Dodds Pennock (Photo by Ellie Grace)

Caroline Dodds Pennock“Indigenous Americans were horrified by inequalities in European society”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Billy the Kid, also known as William H Bonney, was one of the most notorious gunslingers in the Wild West

Billy the KidThe Wild West's most wanted gunslinger

Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll: maker of wonderlands

Emblema of Cleopatra Selene

Cleopatra's daughter: the tragic inheritance to triumphant reign of Cleopatra Selene

Illustration of Major Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate

Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate: how a mid-life crisis created the 'worst pirate of all time'

Emmett TillThe murder that reshaped the American civil rights movement. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

J. Edgar Hoover holding a gun

How J Edgar Hoover secretly ruled America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Howard Hughes: the troubled tycoon. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The cover of Le Petit Journal, 13 January 1895, showing the "degradation" of Alfred Dreyfus during which his sword was snapped over a warrant officer’s knee (Photo by Leemage / Corbis via Getty Images)

The Dreyfus Affair: how France was divided over a miscarriage of justice

A portrait of Vlad the Impaler, aka Vlad II, whose bloodlust and cruelty was said to have inspired the most famous vampire of literature

The real Dracula? The bloodthirsty life of Vlad the Impaler

Edda Mussolini, c1929

Second World War

Edda Ciano & Hilde Beetz: how the women stood up to Hitler

Secret Santa Getty Dreamstime

General History

What gift would you buy figures from the past? Find out in historical Secret Santa 2022

The real Wenceslas is that he was not actually a king, but Duke of Bohemia.

Q&AWho was Good King Wenceslas, and was he actually good?

St Andrew, in St Andrew chapel, depicted at his crucifixion displayed in the manner known as the Saltire cross

St Andrew’s Day: 11 things you might not know about Scotland’s patron saint

My history heroJeremy Bowen chooses Vincent Sheean. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mikhail Gorbachev as seen in a 1995 portrait. His leadership saw the Soviet Union undergo dramatic reform, leading to its dissolution in 1991 (Photo by Dana Gluckstein / mptvimages / eyevine)

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as a Cold War hero or a failed idealist: the historians' verdict. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Former British Prime Minister John Major (left) and Johnny Lee Miller as John Major in The Crown

John Major: a brief guide to Britain’s prime minister in the 1990s

Jan Žižka: one of history's greatest military leaders, who was blind but undefeated

Kleisthenes is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508/7 BCE. For these accomplishments, historians refer to him as 'The Father of Athenian Democracy'. (Picture by Alamy)

15 minutes of fameMichael Scott chooses Kleisthenes