Education
BBC History UK
End times
Why do civilisations that dominated their epoch fail? In an era of autocracy, climate change, the rise of Al and a first-hand understanding of how deadly pandemics can be, it's a question that seems pertinent.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Small pleasures
Memory is imperfect, but what if you could get a professional model maker to recreate a moment from the past?
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
What are the origins of the Yule Lads?
To learn about the Jólasveinar (Yule Lads), we must start with their mother, the terrifying ogress Grýla. Her name appeared in Icelandic texts as early as the 13th century, although it wasn’t until later that those 13 mischievous lads became associated with her. Folk tales and poems tell how she descends from the mountains with an empty sack to stuff full of children. Grýla owns the monstrous Jólaköttur (Yule Cat), which roams the countryside on Christmas Eve, searching for children to gobble up if they're not wearing new clothes.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Santa Claus v Father Christmas
The true identity of the white-bearded, red-robed figure who fills children's stockings at Christmas has long been debated. Thomas Ruys Smith sizes up the merry contenders
8 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Frontier friction
Set in Washington Territory in 1854, The Abandons is a Western that's unusual for having two matriarchs, women whose lives become entangled, at its centre.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Experience
Delve into the culture of daily Roman life, witness the momentous eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and follow its fallout in Immerse LDN's new exhibition. In a blend of cutting-edge technology and vivid storytelling, this exhibition launches visitors into Pompeii's rich history with recreations of the ancient city's beautiful pre-eruption landscape, a 360-degree virtual reality Roman amphitheatre experience, and a digital metaverse recreating Pompeii's 'Villa of Mysteries'.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Bath in five places
In the Georgian era, Bath became arguably Britain's most fashionable destination. KIRSTEN ELLIOTT promenades five historic highlights
3 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Elizabeth Marsh The corsair's captive
Taken hostage by a Barbary ship's captain in the 18th century, a young Englishwoman found herself fighting for her freedom in Marrakech. ADAM NICHOLS introduces a brave captive who later wrote a book about her dramatic experiences
6 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
29 DECEMBER 1170: Thomas Becket is murdered in Canterbury
Knights loyal to Henry II rid him of the “low-born cleric”
2 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Murder most female
Women accused of violent murders have often faced assumptions about their motives and disbelief that the 'gentle sex' could commit such bloody crimes. Rosalind Crone investigates four cases from the 19th century
9 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Memories of Malaya
I read Kavita Puri's article on the Second World War in Asia (Hidden Histories, December) with great interest.
3 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Did Japanese emperor Hirohito really love Disney films and characters?
He did. In 1975, he even visited Disneyland in California, where he was given a Mickey Mouse watch - of which he was enormously proud. He is said to have worn it regularly after returning to Japan, including on official state occasions.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Adel Rootstein 1930-92
IN PROFILE - Born in South Africa to Russian parents, Adel Rootstein became arguably the leading British mannequin designer from the late 1950s onwards. She revolutionised mannequin design and played a key behind-the-scenes role in the London fashion scene of the 'swinging sixties', founding the successful mannequin company Rootstein with her husband, industrial designer Richard Hopkins. She died in London at the age of 62.
2 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
What was the Boston Molasses Disaster?
Molasses the sticky, syrupy leftovers from sugar production - can be used to make a wide variety of things, from baked treats and rum to animal feed and industrial alcohol for munitions.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
On the skids
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's smash musical Oklahoma! opened on Broadway on 31 March 1943.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Seasonal special
In a festive episode of the fly-on-the-wall series, cameras go behind the scenes as teams prepare National Trust properties for Christmas.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Medieval gingerbread
ELEANOR BARNETT recreates spicy treat originally cooked for special occasions during the Middle Ages up
2 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Personal stories
Archive on 4 explores the tragic fate of doctor Vanessa Lloyd-Davies
2 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
What was Project Acoustic Kitty?
During the 1960s, a time of Cold War one-upmanship and paranoia when American and Soviet rockets and spies vied for supremacy, it seemed to each side that there was no such thing as a bad idea - if it would help them gain an advantage. Case in point: in the 1960s, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a project to hardwire and train a cat for espionage.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Is it true that the Roman emperor Claudius was killed by a mushroom?
Maybe! That's a cop-out, sure – but the same cop-out that our two main ancient sources took when describing Claudius's death scene.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
“Protests are political theatre, and public squares are their grand stages”
With the police about to be given broader powers to tackle disruptive events, the right to protest is in the spotlight. TIMOTHY GARTON ASH and KATRINA NAVICKAS join Danny Bird to discuss the history of popular demonstrations.
9 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Rule like a Roman
James Osborne meets the makers of a new game that offers you the chance to govern a conquered settlement at the height of Rome's power
2 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
AIR RAIDS AND ARIAS
Glasgow, 1942. The Carl Rosa Opera Company was in town to perform Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Tickets had been snapped up by local people – including many who didn't really know what an opera was.
9 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
What lies beneath
Sea monsters have haunted human imaginations for millennia. From the Akraken to killer serpents, Prema Arasu explores what five mythical creatures reveal about our deepest fears
8 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
If walls could talk
Several major moments in English history played out at the Midlands' mightiest castle. SPENCER MIZEN explores the story-soaked stone walls, soaring towers and gloomy dungeons of the Kingmaker's lair
2 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
How did the teddy bear get its name?
Perhaps the question should be: would we have the beloved toy at all if a US president had enjoyed more luck on a hunting trip?
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Eighty years on, it's time that these 3 million lives are remembered
KAVITA PURI on the first event commemorating the 1943 Bengal Famine.
2 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Jane Austen was a brilliant observer of Georgian Britain But she couldn't speak for everyone
The author's books depict an evocative slice of early 19th-century life, but many aspects of the Regency era are only hinted at in her novels, as Lizzie Rogers reveals
10 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
Was Stonewall Jackson obsessed with lemons?
Confederate general Thomas J 'Stonewall' Jackson was arguably the most formidable commander of the American Civil War, defeating many numerically superior Union forces.
1 min |
Christmas 2025
BBC History UK
These are the last humans who have stayed outside ‘civilisation'
A NEW REPORT BY SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL, Uncontacted Peoples: At the Edge of Survival, is the latest accounting of the human story - and it is a historical document of unparalleled power. It reveals that at least 196 groups in the world are still uncontacted, most of them gravely threatened by logging, mining and drilling for oil. These are the last human beings who have stayed outside ‘civilisation’ since the violence of the West reached across the globe after 1492.
3 min |