Illustration of strange creatures

Weird and wonderful history

History on film: London is smothered by a dangerous smog

BBC History Magazine

Horrible Histories Live on Stage: an interview with creator Neal Foster

Forgotten science: 7 of the strangest scientific theories in history

Full-Length Portrait of King Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger

Q&AHow big was Henry VIII’s codpiece?

The history of the suntan

Mompesson House, which has sinister connections with a ghost known as the Demon Drummer. (Clare Hargreaves/The National Trust)

9 haunted historic houses

7 unusual historical sites in Britain and Ireland

History’s most fascinating muses

Behind the scenes of Suzannah Lipscomb’s 'Hidden Killers of the Post-War Home'

The battle of Jutland and 1950s domestic dangers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A combo picture of two images taken 13 August 2002 at Cairo Museum shows a foot of a mummy missing its big toe and beside it a prosthetic toe of leather and wood to replace the amputated real one. (Photo by Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images)

Q&AHow long have people used prosthetic limbs?

Mary, Queen of Scots is executed © Getty

Horrible Histories author reveals 10 ways to die in Elizabethan England

German astronomer Johannes Kepler c1620. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

The astronomer and the witch: Johannes Kepler’s fight to save his mother from execution

Monopoly maps: the history of MI9’s secret Second World War escape programme

Roman garden at the House of the Golden Cupids, Pompeii. (Linda Farrar)

A guide to ancient gardening

A giant leap for mankind: William Harvey reveals the circulation of the blood

The Romanovs and King Arthur. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A brief history of camouflage

5 hidden killers of the Victorian home

Postwar Germany and medieval CSI. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Chess, gambling and cards: Tudor games and indoor pastimes

The history of middle-class wine drinking

5 festive facts from BBC Two’s QI

The gruesome remains of prehistoric murder victims uncovered in Europe's bogs

Making of Blodeuwedd, the false flower-woman of Welsh myth. (Photo by Ivy Close Images/Alamy)

Celtic myths: the tales that might have inspired Star Wars and Harry Potter

9 strange facts about the history of apples

In pictures: Medieval women

Q&AWhy do we say ‘in the limelight’?

Tixall Gatehouse, Staffordshire. (Photo by The Landmark Trust)

10 of Britain’s most amazing landmark buildings

19th-century men in traditional dress, Marken Island, Netherlands.

General ancient history

Q&AWhen were trousers first worn?