10 Downing Street, the residence of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. (Photo by Getty Images)

Politics

Sir Walter Ralegh (c1554–1618, shown here in a painting attributed to William Segar) is often remembered as a favourite of Elizabeth I and an adventurer, yet he was also one of the most influential political philosophers of his era. (Photo by Alamy)

Walter Ralegh: the traitor who inspired Cromwell

18th August 1819: 'The Massacre of Peterloo or Britons Strike Home', by George Cruikshank (Photo by Spencer Arnold/Getty Images)

The Peterloo Massacre. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

JFK prepares to sign the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union. (Picture by Corbis/Getty Images)

Nuclear nightmare: the Cuban missile crisis

Sir Winston Churchill leaves his London home for Chartwell, Kent. (Photo by PA-Images)

A new life of Churchill. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Treaty Of Paris, 1783, by Benjamin West (Photo by Granger/REX/Shutterstock)

Brexit and American independence. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

St Basil's Cathdral, Moscow. (Photo by Dreamstime)

The spy who changed the Cold War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Men sealing cases of Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa, York, Yorkshire, 1893. (Photo by Borthwick Institute/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Chocolate and empire: from the land where the cocoa grows

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts scenes of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. To characterise the English response in 1066 as "deliberately acquiescing" is a little hard on our 11th-century compatriots, says Professor George Garnett. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Did English leaders “deliberately acquiesce” to foreign rule in 1066?

Professor Kathleen Burk and Simon Jenkins discuss Jenkins's new book, 'A Short History of Europe'. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC World Histories magazine)

Simon Jenkins and Kathleen Burk on the history of Europe

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the closing bell on 29 September 2008. A record 778 points were wiped off the Dow Jones that day, as the 2008 financial crisis pushed the world's banking system to the edge of collapse. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The credit crunch: "It's a story of hubris followed by a fall"

The march for Catalan Independence held in Barcelona, 11 September 2014 (Photo by Jordi Elias Grassot/Alamy)

Scots and Catalans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Painting depicting Cromwell at the head of his troops following the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, by Ernest Crofts. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images)

Oliver Cromwell: the secret of his military genius

Charles de Gaulle reconsidered. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of Nelson Mandela. Peter Hain told the History Extra podcast about the South African leader’s remarkable achievements in the face of tremendous adversity. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

Peter Hain on Nelson Mandela: “A symbol for good leadership in the world”

Nelson Mandela podcast

Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ireland podcast

Ireland’s past and present. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of British Conservative prime minister Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), c1845. The Victorian prime minister, who is best known for repealing the Corn Laws in 1846, has been likened by the Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg to the sitting prime minister, Theresa May. May risks “splitting the Conservative party like Sir Robert Peel" if she fails to deliver a clean break from the European Union, Rees-Mogg has warned. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Sir Robert Peel and Theresa May: a suitable comparison?

A portrait of Sir Robert Peel by by English painter Henry William Pickersgill. (Photo by: Leemage/UIG via Getty Images)

Sir Robert Peel and the ‘moral authority’ of the House of Commons

Sarah Churchwell and Adam IP Smith in conversation

Behold, America: Sarah Churchwell in conversation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

National debt podcast

The national debt dilemma. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Early 20th century image showing a tribune in the Roman Republic. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Elections in the late Roman Republic: how did they work?

Grenfell Tower: from hope to tragedy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

President Ronald Reagan throwing a football from his desk in the Oval Office. (Photo by Mary Anne Fackelman-Miner/White House/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Opinion: the conservative legacy of Ronald Reagan

The mystery of Donald Maclean. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

America's changing dream. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryKarl Marx: the godfather of revolution

Benjamin Tillett, organiser of the Docker's Union and leader of the London Transport Worker's strike in 1911, addressing a rally of the strikers. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

The essay: Britain’s cautious revolutionaries

Winston Churchill, 1941. (Photo by War Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

History heroBarbara Taylor Bradford chooses Winston Churchill (1874–1965). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Marshall Plan and the Cold War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woman votes for the first time in 1918 Britain

What was the 1918 Representation of the People Act?