Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

Merchants and lower-ranking gentlemen often put pen to paper themselves, but wealthy men and gentlewomen were more likely to employ a scribe. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

How to send a letter in medieval England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

Modernity Britain: Opening the Box, 1957–59

BBC History Magazine

The Devonshires: The Story of a Family and a Nation

Second World War

Churchill’s wartime speeches are overrated, claims academic

BBC History Magazine

Christians 'airbrushed women out of history'

Great Train Robbery gang: first-class thieves or criminals who got lucky?

A colourful painting from the 15th century showing several merchants gathered together

The LibraryMoving to medieval England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of historian Sarah Foot at St Mary the Virgin Church

The LibraryHistory Explorer: the rise of English Christianity. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General History

What is the origin of the phrase ‘Dutch Courage’?

Residents of Chongqing on the streets of their bombed-ravaged city in the autumn of 1940. China's temporary wartime capital was subjected to 218 Japanese air raids between May 1938 and August 1941, costing nearly 12,000 lives. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

China’s forgotten Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The master of dressage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Languishing languages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

My history hero: John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

When did Italian replace Latin as the language of Italy?

Three coal miners. (Photo by W. Eugene Smith/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

History through the eyes of the working man. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

The 'beautiful' game?

Illustration by Femke De Jong

The generational shift from home births to hospitals

Wolfson History Prize 2013 special. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of photographer George Lowe and Cho Oyu mountain

In picturesThe conquest of Everest. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye olde travel guide: Madrid 1621. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A big day in history: Rioters give East Anglia's rich and respectable a fright. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Pompeian fresco from the first century showing a woman tuning a musical instrument. Excavations at the partially buried Roman city reveal that women played a prominent role in the home, and that they took personal grooming very seriously indeed. (Photo by: Werner Forman/UIG via Getty Images)

At home with the Romans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The story behind Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home

How the Tudors invented breakfast. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

When completed in the early 12th century, Durham Cathedral was "absolutely up-to-the-minute in its design and near-perfect in its execution," says Marc Morris. (Jim Gibson via Getty Images)

Where history happened: Norman churches. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

Songs of Innocence: The Story of British Childhood

A noisy history of the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

Live genealogy show returns to London Olympia

"I read and studied much": Adolf Hitler at his Berghof mountain retreat in c1936. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

Hitler's philosophers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

"Although the circus as we know it has its roots in the 18th century, the history of its three basic forms (clowning, equestrianism and animals) goes back much further," says Vanessa Toulmin. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Where history happened: the circus in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.