Illustration of strange creatures

Weird and wonderful history

11 shocking moments in history

Old Wardour Castle

Britain’s 7 most amazing ruins

Q&A: Samuel Morse invented the Morse code, but how did he do it, how long did it take, and how long before it was accepted?

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

Pathologist Thomas Harvey holds the brain of Albert Einstein in a jar, Kansas, 1994. Harvey, the on-duty pathologist during the eminent physicist's autopsy, removed Einstein’s brain and kept most of it stored in two glass jars, refrigerated inside a beer cooler, for more than 20 years. (Photo by Michael Brennan/Getty Images)

Q&AWhat happened to Einstein's brain?

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

Biddenden Maids Cake. (Public Domain)

Sisters of mercy: the Biddenden Maids

c1930: a man wrestles his tamed bear. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

Bizarre England: 11 of the strangest attractions and traditions in history

A compilation of compass drawn circles, and variants found in many of the churches

Medieval graffiti: the lost voices of England’s churches in the Middle Ages

A portrait of Catherine of Siena, who in the 1360s experienced a vision from God during which – according to her biographer, Raymond of Capua – she drank the water from the wound in Christ’s side. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

The medieval mystics with a hotline to God

An engraving from Ulrich Molitor’s ‘On witches and female soothsayers’, depicting witches bringing down the rain. Germany, 15th century. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

A spell-binding history of witches

General History

10 weird things that have happened in November

Medieval zombies: how the walking dead haunted the Middle Ages

From dragons to unicorns: finding fantastic beasts in ancient history

Veteran cars – a 1898 Benz and an early Panhard – outside Glover Brothers Cycle Makers, c1900. (Photo by National Motor Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

How the Victorians ruined the world

A typewriter. (Photo by Dreamstime)

Q&A: Who invented the ‘QWERTY’ typewriter layout?

An illustration of the novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ by HG Wells, made by Henri Lanos, 1905. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

In thrall to the red planet: 5 facts about our view of Mars through history

The weird and wonderful world of Victorian entertainment

Full-length portrait of (left) American showman Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810–91) and entertainer Commodore Nutt (1814–81), c1862. (Photo by HultonGetty/GettyImages)

Circus sensation: PT Barnum's greatest wheezes

Charles Darwin sports his trademark bushy beard in 1877. (Photo by Corbis Historical/Getty Images)

From Charles Darwin’s beard to George Eliot’s right hand: 4 famous Victorian bodily quirks

James Sadler: From pastry cook to first English aeronaut. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

6 strange newspaper stories that shocked Victorian Britain

Festive QI facts: 8 things you (probably) didn’t know about the history of Christmas

Corner shops and Russian ballet. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

First World War

What is the origin of the phrase 'to blow smoke up someone's arse'?

BBC History Magazine

Who was the first ever teenage heartthrob?

Accidental explosions: gunpowder in Tudor and Stuart London

Medieval Albigensians: Bath’s reincarnated heretics

Holocaust landscapes

What are the historical origins of darts?