History Today

The Shrimp Girl, by William Hogarth, c.1745.

Hawk this Way

London used to ring with the cries of street sellers. Changes for the city brought changes to their way of life.

Excavation of the Taplow burial mound, 19th century © The Trustees of the British Museum.

The Hills Have Eyes

Is the Buckinghamshire countryside tame commuter belt or wild border-country? It depends when you visit.

A panoramic portrait of Józef Piłsudski, the ‘man who towers over modern Poland’.

Polished Off

A panoramic portrait of Józef Piłsudski, the man who ‘towers over modern Poland’.

Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer and coelacanth, c.1938.

Discovery of a Living Fossil

The coelacanth, believed to have been extinct for 70 million years, was rediscovered by Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer on 22 December 1938.

Explorer Robert E. Peary and husky aboard the Roosevelt, c.1909.

The Cold, Cold War

Throughout the 19th century, rival nations battled to conquer the poles. One explorer set out to establish an Arctic colony – or to get rich trying.

The Battle of Barnet in the Wars of the Roses, from the frontispiece to the Ghent Manuscript, c.1471. Ghent University Library. Public Domain.

Winning the Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses saw some of the bloodiest months in English history, but winning on the battlefield did not necessarily mean winning the war.