Battle in the margins from the Gorleston Psalter (1310-1324).
British Library
Snails were recognised in medieval times for their unusual strength, given that they were able to carry their home on their back.
Ivor Cummings.
Courtesy of Chris Rochester
A paper trail, both typed and handwritten, documents Cummings’ dogged efforts to secure accommodations and resources for the Windrushers on a time crunch.
Anglo-Saxon village re-enactment event in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, 2008.
Simon Annable/Shutterstock
Hundreds of years ago, people spoke Old English – but it is very different to English today.
King George V and Queen Mary in Bombay before the Delhi durbar to mark the king’s coronation in 1911.
PA Images/Alamy
The coronation will have echoes of empire, but represents an important stage in the modern monarchy’s move away from its shadow.
King Charles III during the State Opening of Parliament, May 2022.
PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo
The coronation oath speaks to the entire nation, but also broadcasts a global message of what the United Kingdom stands for.
Left: George, Prince Regent and Prince of Wales by Thomas Lawrence (1816). Right: Charles III photographed by Allan Warren (1972).
Vatican Museums/Allan Warren
The coronations of these kings symbolise more than mere spectacle: they are a declaration of the new monarch’s intent as they transform from heir to sovereign.
Richborough Roman Fort with the newly reconstructed gateway.
Courtesy of English Heritage
The gate has been built on the site of an actual Roman gateway, thought to date to the invasion of Britain in AD 43.
The Stone of Scone.
Duncan Bryceland / Alamy Stock Photo
The return of the Stone of Scone to Westminster has proven controversial.
Sikh men wearing the dastaar/turban in temple.
Enselme Arthur/Shutterstock
The Sikh men we spoke to explained how wearing the turban signalled their observance to Sikhism and the life choices this entails, such as the protection of and service to others.
EPA/Chris Ison
The former PM was criticised for making decisions without proper advice or consultation
The Colchester vase, dating to the later second century AD.
Following Hadrian/Flickr
The Colchester vase contains the remains a male of about 40 years of age and not of local origin. Could he have been a gladiator?
The late Yvonne Fox dressed as legendary pitchforked Welshwoman, Jemima Nicholas.
Nancy Hoyt Belcher/Alamy
The last invasion of Britain involved bungled military plans, sozzled soldiers and a legendary Welshwoman wielding a pitchfork.
An artistic impression of how the Newport Medieval ship may have looked .
David Jordan/Newport Museums and Heritage Service
The Newport medieval ship is the most complete section of a 15th-century European vessel discovered to date.
Striking miners face off against police in 1984.
Homer Sykes / Alamy
Workers have gradually lost all powers to take industrial action when they feel conditions are unfair.
Sam Bankman-Fried, once considered a star in the freewheeling world of cryptocurrency, has been charged with conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.
Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
In the Charitable Corporation Scandal, a group of politically connected directors leveraged the company’s altruistic image to attract investors – before raiding the funds to prop up other ventures.
From ‘make do’ to ‘make merry’: Britons did their best to forget the hardships of war at Christmas in 1942.
Imperial War Museums
By the fourth festive season into the war, rationing was biting – but good news from the front and the generosity of US soldiers helped keep morale buoyant.
George Canning, now the second-shortest-serving prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Thomas Lawrence, via Wikimedia Commons
Many still speculate about what George Canning would have achieved had he not died 119 days into his premiership.
Remnants of polychrome colouring were scrubbed from recovered ancient Greek sculptures and artists created new all-white marble sculptures seen as continuous with an imagined past.
(Shutterstock)
Western fashion, laundering and style reflected the racialized politics dramatically shaped by profound global transformations bound up with slavery, colonialism and modernization.
King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson on holiday in Yugoslavia.
A cautionary tale for the UK press .
Members of the British royal family follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is carried out of Westminster Abbey after her state funeral.
Gareth Cattermole/Pool Photo via AP
A scholar of British history explains how the ornate church and its significance to the monarchy have changed over centuries.