Illustration of strange creatures

Weird and wonderful history

Belgium and the Netherlands compete in a tug of war at the Antwerp Olympic

Olympic oddballs: 5 unusual Olympic sports from the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kissing the Blarney Stone: a women hangs over the precipice with the aid of a friend as she attempts the feat at Blarney Castle in 1935

What is the Blarney Stone, where did it come from and why do people kiss it?

The decapitation machine now known as the guillotine was not a French invention and wasn't invented by Joseph Guillotin. (Image by Getty Images)

Q&ADid the French invent the guillotine?

American billionaire Howard Hughes (shown here in a car in 1947) went from a visionary filmmaker to a germ-obsessed recluse, dying in 1976. (Photo by Getty Images)

“His flesh had rotted, and his bed was full of worms”: 5 of history's most eccentric hermits. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth Woodville with her husband, Edward IV. According to one medieval document, their marriage only came about “by Sorcerie and Wichecrafte, committed by the said Elizabeth, and her Moder Jaquett Duchess of Bedford”. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Medieval royal witches: from Elizabeth Woodville to Queen Joan of Navarre

UFO history10 top sightings and a timeline

A UFO photographed in New Mexico by a government employee. The image was released by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization after careful study. It is unknown what the image shows.(Photo by Getty Images)

How UFOs conquered the world – without firing a shot. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ‘Eye of Providence’, a symbol linked to the Illuminati, stares out from the reverse side of all US one-dollar bills

The Illuminati: 13 questions about the clandestine secret society answered

An early Christian standing stone situated in an open field at Gelligaer Common near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. (Getty Images)

Where history happened: the villages that disappeared

A red herring on a plate

Q&AWhy do we say ‘red herring’?

Two garden gnomes on grass

A brief history of garden gnomes

17th century engraving showing the execution by hanging of four witches. (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images)

QuizWould you have been accused of witchcraft?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Young woman gets hair cut in to a bob

A brief history of changing hairstyles

The Imperial State Crown

Second World War

Q&AWhere were the crown jewels kept during World War II?

Basilisks, manticores and more: medieval fantastic beasts (and where to find them)

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

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

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 historyHunting 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'

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

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

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

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

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

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