Culture
History Revealed
What is the importance of the Phaistos Disc?
SHORT ANSWER The ancient treasure may be the key to unlocking an unreadable script, if it can ever be deciphered
1 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
WONDERS OF GOD
In the 19th century, numerous young women on both sides of the Atlantic were alleged to be forgoing food and surviving on faith alone. Felicity Day uncovers the secrets of the so-called fasting girls”, whose stories have inspired a new Netflix drama
7 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
WHAT GREAT PAINTINGS SAY | A snapshot of 19th-century Parisian nightlife has hints of a darker story lurking just beneath the surface
3 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
THE PRICE OF GOLD
Dr Stephen Tuffnell shines a light on the staggering cost that intensive mining practices inflicted upon the natural world
4 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
CHASING THE AMERICAN DREAM
Being a prospector during the California gold rush was by no means plain sailing, but non-white arrivals had it especially tough
4 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
GOING WEST
One man’s chance discovery would put California firmly on the map and change the course of US history
8 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
6 THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE CROWN JEWELS
With a coronation on the horizon, we reveal some lesser-known facts about the nation’s most precious treasures
6 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
Howard Hughes: the troubled tycoon
Every venture the American business magnate undertook was big from his blockbuster movies to the planes he constructed. But how did Hughes go from rubbing shoulders with the stars to living a life of seclusion?
3 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
The Great Smog
On 5 December 1952, as Londoners rushed around the city after the start of the festive season, fingers of fog began to unfurl between chimneys. But as night rolled in, the fog thickened, and soon a blanket of smog was choking the capital. Londoners stumbled around the streets, unable to see further than a few metres in front of them.
3 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
AFRICAN QUEENS THE WARRIOR 'AMAZONS' OF DAHOMEY
New Hollywood blockbuster The Woman King brings the remarkable story of the female soldiers of 19th-century west Africa to the fore. Jonny Wilkes reveals how this elite fighting force of highly trained and disciplined warriors built such a fearsome reputation
9 min |
December 2022
History Revealed
A Man of the Ages
Despite his love of the finer things in life, King Edward VII was a skilled and devoted ruler who modernised Britain's monarchy
3 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
The Suez Crisis begins
I 'n early November 1956 the Suez Canal in Egypt was choked with ships. But these vessels weren't sailing down the 120-mile waterway that connected the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
3 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
The South Sea Bubble
The South Sea Bubble was a period of speculation frenzy and collapse on the British stock market, revolving around the fate of a single company. For years, the South Sea Company had been at the centre of a complex and tangled web of financial manoeuvrings; deliberately obfuscated dealings around selling shares and government debt; the exploitation of publicity and hype to inflate stock prices; as well as bribery, corruption and the slave trade.
4 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
THE MYSTERY OF MISS LAMOND
IN THE FIRST INSTALMENT OF HER NEW MONTHLY COLUMN, CRIME HISTORIAN DR NELL DARBY INVESTIGATES A LEGAL CASE THAT PUT A PRIVATE EYE'S REPUTATION ON THE LINE
3 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
How J Edgar Hoover secretly ruled America
The long-serving director of the FBI sat at the centre of a web of surveillance and information gathering for nearly five decades. But how did he come to wield so much power? And why were his agents so feared?
3 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
6 DUNKIRK THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT
Military historian James Holland shares some lesser-known facts about the evacuation at Dunkirk, and the fighting that led up to it...
6 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT POMPEII
Dr Sophie Hay answers key questions about the doomed Roman city and the ongoing efforts to understand the lives of its residents
7 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
LIFE BEFORE THE CATASTROPHE
Pre-eruption Pompeii was a busy and affluent place to live, and where new building projects were transforming the local landscape
3 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII
We chart the terrifying events of AD 79 that saw Pompeii transformed from a bustling Roman city into an ash-covered hellscape of death and destruction...
6 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
EMERGING FROM THE ASH
Pompeii's eventual rediscovery led it to become one of the world's greatest archaeological marvels - and a site visited by millions
5 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS
Two years after their last collaboration, digital artist Marina Amaral and historian Dan Jones have joined forces once again, this time bringing together a range of colourised images that explore women's lives between 1850-1960
3 min |
October 2022
History Revealed
WHAT GREAT PAINTINGS SAY
A visual representation of the anxiety felt by the artist on a busy night in Oslo, this piece was a pivotal moment in his creative outpouring
2 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
It can appear as a 'golden age' - and one subject to much mythology
DR JOHN JACOB WOOLF ON THE LEGACY OF THE EDWARDIAN ERA
2 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
WORKERS AT WAR
In 1911, overworked and underpaid Britons downed tools and led the biggest industrial dispute the nation had ever seen
4 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
FORGOTTEN CONTRIBUTIONS
Lola Jaye reveals how Britain's black population helped to shape the Edwardian period - from medicine to politics
3 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING
The Edwardian era saw countless courageous women rise up and shatter social mores - at home, at work and in public life
5 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
MOVING WITH THE TIMES
While a rigid class system still remained, daily life was paved with exciting new opportunities for Edwardian Britons
6 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
6 THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ROMAN WOMEN
From breastfeeding to unusual beauty regimes, classicist Dr Annelise Freisenbruch reveals what life was really like for the wives, mothers and daughters of ancient Rome
6 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
Constance Markievicz's fight for a free Ireland
In 1916, the countess took up arms in a bid to rid Ireland of British rule, and later made political history as the first woman to win a seat at Westminster. But what shaped Constance Markievicz's beliefs?
3 min |
September 2022
History Revealed
The Benin Bronzes
IN A NUTSHELL
6 min |