In ancient Rome, putting on theatrical plays was not just a form of entertainment – it became a powerful tool of propaganda ...

From lost silver coins to fossilised faeces, medieval cesspits have become some of the richest archives of everyday life in ...

In June 1940, as France collapsed and Britain faced the prospect of resisting the Nazis alone, Winston Churchill searched for a French leader willing to keep fighting ...

Pliny the Elder was an intellectual powerhouse of ancient Rome. Though not a physician, in describing the ideal daily routine ...

The idea that medieval people routinely emptied chamber pots straight into the street as their primary method of waste ...

In the middle decades of the 19th century, Britain experienced rapid industrial change without suffering revolution or major ...

Victorian audiences revelled in riddles, physical comedy and bawdy jokes that challenge everything we think we know about 19th-century respectability ...

From dealing with nits to learning the three Rs, ancient Roman childhood bore some striking similarities to the modern ...

During the Second Punic War, the famous Carthaginian general Hannibal led his forces to numerous victories. But did he really take war elephants across the Alps?

As Britain’s longest-reigning monarch – a rule of 68 years and counting – it’s fair to say that Queen Elizabeth II has probably seen it all. Prime ministers have come and gone; the royal family itself ...

In the winter of 1386, a French noblewoman by the name of Marguerite de Carrouges found herself at the centre of a criminal case that electrified Paris, captivated the king and culminated in blood ...