The Inventor of the Guillotine Regretted Everything
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin really thought he was doing everyone a favour. Picture it: a French doctor,…
The Dancing Plague of 1518
In the sweltering summer of 1518, Strasbourg, that fine medieval city snug between what we…
Francisco Pizarro: The Gold, the Greed, and the Sword
Francisco Pizarro: this was a man whose life read like a particularly bloody adventure novel,…
Wojtek the bear: Carried Shells and enjoyed his beer
Of all the unlikely mascots to march into the pages of military history, Wojtek the…
The Berlin Wall: A Concrete Comedy of Errors
The Berlin Wall and events surrounding it are one of those historical rollercoasters that somehow…
Roman religion: The gods and rituals
The gods and rituals of Roman religion had a flair for spectacle, bureaucracy, and a…
Life in the Iron Age: Survival and Society
If you’ve ever thought that life in the Iron Age was all iron swords, painted…
Conquistador: Unwelcome Tourist from Europe
The word that still echoes through history classrooms and travel documentaries alike: conquistador. It sounds…
George III
George III wasn’t supposed to be interesting. That was the job of his more scandalous…
The First Sputnik
On 4 October 1957, the world changed with a beep. Not a speech. Not a…
The Fake Beard That Saved Cleopatra
The fake beard that saved a queen wasn’t some hastily glued prop or pantomime costume…
The Spy Pigeons of WWI
The Spy Pigeons of WWI: feathered agents with impeccable navigation skills. Not exactly what you…
Derinkuyu: Turkey’s Underground City
At first glance, Derinkuyu looks like a perfectly ordinary Turkish town. A few dusty streets.…
The world’s first vending machine
The world’s first vending machine didn’t dispense crisps, fizzy drinks or even those clunky plastic…
Seven Wonders: Then and Now
Humanity loves a list. We rank everything: best albums, worst outfits, top ten dog breeds…
Stari Most: The Bridge That Brought Mostar Back Together
The city of Mostar has a flair for drama. It always has. Maybe it's the…
The Soviet space dog, Laika, Who Chased the Stars
Some stories sound like they were tailor-made for tearjerker film scripts. You know the type:…
The Eiffel Tower almost destroyed
If you've ever stood beneath the iron lattice of the Eiffel Tower and craned your…
John Wilkes Booth: Drama Turned Tragedy
If history were a theatre production, John Wilkes Booth would be that overly dramatic understudy…
What Did Plague Doctors Wear: Fashion for the Apocalypse
What did plague doctors wear? Picture a man in a long black coat, leather gloves,…
The Oracle at Delphi: When Gods Spoke in Riddles
Once upon a time, when the world was a lot smaller and gods had the…
What did Tudors eat for breakfast?
What did Tudors eat for breakfast? Depends who you ask. If you time-travelled back to…
What is medieval battering ram?
What is medieval battering ram? It’s not a metaphor, it’s not a riddle, and it…
How NASA was created
Right, so let me tell you a tale that starts not in a sleek rocket…
Why There’s a British Post Box in Antarctica
You haven’t really lived until you’ve queued behind a man in a parka and snow…
Jonathan Swift: The Grumpy Genius
Say the name Jonathan Swift and you might hear a faint chuckle roll across the…
Suleiman the Magnificent: Myths and Reality
You know you've made it in history when people start calling you "The Magnificent." Suleiman…