Weird and wonderful history

Aesop's fables: The Fox and The Crow. Illustration after 1485 edition printed in Naples by German printers for Francesco del Tuppo. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images

A ‘superfluity of nuns’ plus 9 more collective nouns that originate from the Middle Ages

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Emma Stonex talks about the strange story of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse keepers, who vanished in December 1900. (Image by Getty Images)

The mystery of the vanishing lighthouse keepers . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Jerry Brotton describes the astonishing life and career of the Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini – a story of murder, plague, imprisonment and even necromancy. (Image by Getty Images)

Cellini: the “supreme scoundrel of the Renaissance” . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of a 17th century plague doctor

Fake history Hunting down false facts about the past

A decoy rubber tank such as those used by the Allies during WW2.

Masters of disguise: the story of the Allies’ WW2 ‘Ghost Army’

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Forgery was the dirty little secret of the Middle Ages. Levi Roach explains who counterfeited medieval manuscripts and why. (Image by Getty Images)

Medieval forgeries . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Smokey the bear is presented with a firefighter's helmet

The paratrooper, the poet’s pet and the real Winnie: 10 famous bears in history

A depiction of Robin Hood, the heroic archer in English folklore who supposedly robbed the rich and gave to the poor. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Robin Hood: 7 myths about the legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest

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origins of the werewolf legend in stories from ancient Greece and Rome. (Image by Getty Images)

Werewolves of the ancient world . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Winston Churchill on roller skates

How the roller skating craze caught Churchill

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Edward Brooke-Hitching discusses some of history’s strangest literary curiosities. (Image by Getty Images)

Bizarre books and macabre manuscripts . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth I preferred thoughtful new year gifts suited to her own tastes such as cloth, personal jewellery and trinkets. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Sobriety, royal presents and Victorian-era musings on failure: an unexpected history of New Year

Workers repair Fleet sewer in 1854. London’s creaking sewer network sparked anxieties over what lay beneath the sprawling capital. (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Living in fear: the dangers of Victorian London

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Telling spooky tales at Christmastime is a very old tradition. Francis Young explains the origins of this custom and what it tells us. (Image by Getty Images)

Christmas ghost stories . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Did Cromwell ban mince pies? And why does Santa wear red? George Goodwin responds to listener questions and internet search queries on festive history. (Image by Getty Images)

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