Education
BBC History UK
Helen Keller
It was when I was eight or nine years old, growing up in Canada, and I borrowed a book about her from my local library.
2 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Spain's miracle
The nation's transition from dictatorship to democracy in the late 1970s surely counts as one of modern Europe's most remarkable stories. On the 50th anniversary of General Franco's death, Paul Preston explores how pluralism arose from the ashes of tyranny
8 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Just how many Bayeux Tapestries were there?
As a new theory, put forward by Professor John Blair, questions whether the embroidery was unique, David Musgrove asks historians whether there could have been more than one 'Bayeux Tapestry'
7 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
In service of a dictator
HARRIET ALDRICH admires a thoughtful exploration of why ordinary Ugandans helped keep a monstrous leader in power despite his regime's horrific violence
2 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
The Book of Kells is a masterwork of medieval calligraphy and painting
THE BOOK OF KELLS, ONE OF THE GREATEST pieces of medieval art, is today displayed in the library of Trinity College Dublin.
3 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Passing interest
In his new book, Roger Luckhurst sets about the monumental task of chronicling the evolution of burial practices. In doing so, he does a wonderful job of exploring millennia of deathly debate, including the cultural meanings behind particular approaches.
1 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Is the advance of AI good or bad for history?
As artificial intelligence penetrates almost every aspect of our lives, six historians debate whether the opportunities it offers to the discipline outweigh the threats
8 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Beyond the mirage
All serious scholarship on ancient Sparta has to be conducted within the penumbra of the 'mirage Spartiate', a French term coined in 1933 to describe the problem posed by idealised accounts of Sparta.
1 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
He came, he saw... he crucified pirates
Ancient accounts of Julius Caesar's early life depict an all-action hero who outwitted tyrants and terrorised bandits. But can they be trusted? David S Potter investigates
10 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Everyone cried unashamedly at the news of this young pilot's death
IF YOU STROLL ACROSS THE GREEN SWATHE OF the Maidan in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) - past the monumental marble Victoria Memorial built to honour that Empress of India - and keep heading south, the city noise fades, and so too does the bustle.
2 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Margaret Beaufort Schemer or opportunist?
The mother of Henry VII is often characterised as a domineering woman who plotted her son's rise to the throne.
10 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT. . the Tudors
Ruth Goodman, who teaches our new HistoryExtra Academy course on Tudor life, shares five insights about the dynasty's legacy
3 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
"Women are entirely excluded from nation-building, yet the ultimate emblem of the nation is a woman"
JANINA RAMIREZ speaks to Danny Bird about how women and their stories have been co-opted and curated by men attempting to forge nations across Europe
10 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
The Nazis' war of words
Hitler and his acolyte Joseph Goebbels wielded propaganda as a potent weapon in the battle for German hearts and minds. Lisa Pine shows how posters targeted all sectors of society to promote prejudice and bolster support for party policies
5 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Royals, radicals and rebels
DAVID ANDRESS assesses a detailed portrait of the political and personal interactions that fuelled the French Revolution – but is only partly convinced by the book's approach
4 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
A global crash
PATRICIA CLAVIN enjoys a fast-paced account of the brutal collapse of the American stock market in 1929, but misses the wider global context
2 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Myth world
JAMES OSBORNE joins a quest inspired by ancient Greek legends, traversing richly reimagined lands and meeting gods and spirits
1 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
The rightful king
I enjoyed reading the interesting article by Caitlin Ellis on the rivals for the throne in 1066 (October). In particular, it was fascinating to read about Edgar Ætheling's claim, which was surely the strongest, based on pure bloodline.
4 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
From sexual orgies to Satan incarnated as a snake, lurid depictions of 'voodoo' in North America long titillated and shocked readers. As David G Cox explains, they were also wielded as justifications for racist oppression during the social and political upheavals of the 19th-century US
On 2 January 1893, the black American abolitionist and reformer Frederick Douglass delivered a lecture on Haiti to an audience in Chicago.
8 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
Elizabethan pear conserve
ELEANOR BARNETT cooks up a colourful, sweet fruit dessert cherished by Tudor folk during the cold days of winter
2 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
The execution of policy
RICHARD J ALDRICH is impressed by an account of why intelligence services, often encouraged by politicians, target individuals, even outside times of war
2 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
A stage of life
In the late 18th century, dramatic performances were long, raucous and stinky, yet hugely popular. PAUL BLOOMFIELD goes backstage in North Yorkshire at Britain's oldest working theatre in its original form
2 min |
December 2025
BBC History UK
The stories we tell
LIZANNE HENDERSON enjoys a new history of folklore through the ages that explores some lesser-known avenues
1 min |
November 2025
BBC History UK
"Africa exerted a profound influence on cultures of resistance to slavery, yet its role is often overlooked"
SUDHIR HAZAREESINGH speaks to Danny Bird about how enslaved people, who needed no lessons in freedom from white abolitionists, organised themselves to fight their oppressors
9 min |
November 2025
BBC History UK
The first British curry
ELEANOR BARNETT prepares a dish with Indian influences that was designed to appeal to Georgian English tastes
2 min |
November 2025
BBC History UK
Emperor Jahangir and Shah Abbas literally bestride the world like colossi
WATCHING THE RECENT SPECTACLE OF THOSE latter-day emperors President Xi of China and India's Narendra Modi hugging each other at the summit in Tianjin, my mind cast back to an earlier image of a pan-Asian summit.
3 min |
November 2025
BBC History UK
THE SLIPPERY TRUTH OF THE DREYFUS AFFAIR
The wrongful conviction for treason of a Jewish army captain in France in the late 19th century not only tore the country apart, but also, as Mike Rapport reveals, sparked a flood of ‘fake news’ that has echoes in our own turbulent times.
10 min |
November 2025
BBC History UK
Spectral beasts and hounds from hell
From infernal black dogs attacking churches to ravening, red-eyed brutes on remote roads, Britain has long been haunted by fearsome canine phantoms.
8 min |
November 2025
BBC History UK
Of ruins and revenants
Across Britain, hundreds of once-thriving medieval settlements were abandoned for reasons ranging from disease to economic collapse.
2 min |
November 2025
BBC History UK
Why are we so hung up with historical dates?
From 1066 to 1918, our obsession with battles, elections and even voyages of discovery risks distorting a true understanding of the past
10+ min |