Weird and wonderful history

The British Pathe film documents the terrible smog, caused by the burning of coal, that smothered London for five days in December 1952. To watch the film, of to www.britishpathe.com/video/the-smog-menace/query/smog

History on film: London is smothered by a dangerous smog

London, UK. 06.06.2012. The Birmingham Stage Company presents

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

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Forgotten science: 7 of the strangest scientific theories in history

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

Q&A How big was Henry VIII’s codpiece?

A group of sunbathers, wearing protective goggles, on a sandy beach, circa 1925. (Photo by Henry Miller News Picture Service/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

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

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7 unusual historical sites in Britain and Ireland

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History’s most fascinating muses

Programme Name: Hidden Killers of the Post War Home - TX: n/a - Episode: n/a (No. n/a) - Picture Shows: in 1950s kitchen. Dr Suzannah Lipscomb - (C) Modern TV - Photographer: Gary Morrisroe

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

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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&A How 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

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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