Toyin Falola has turned 70.
Image courtesy Olusegun Olopade
With over 200 publications to his name, his three most recent books give a sense of why he is so famous as a historian.
A U.S. tank moves past a painting of Saddam Hussein in March 2003 in Nasiriyah, Iraq.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
University students today are too young to remember the March 2003 start of the Iraq War, which has future foreign policy implications and changes how the conflict should be taught.
Senegalese wrestlers in action.
Getty Images
Traditional wrestling is part of Senegal’s cultural heritage and plays an important role in the education and social integration of young men.
A scale model of a statue dedicated to Lady Rhondda has been revealed by the sculptor, Jane Robbins.
AV Morgan/Wikimedia
Lady Rhondda was a suffragette, a business leader and an editor. A statue of her is expected to be revealed in Newport, south Wales, next year.
Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock
Before Swifties or the Beyhive, there were Byromaniacs – fans of the poet Lord Byron.
Hand-coloured etching of a king and his turnip (1819).
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Thérèse Coffey’s recent suggestion that Brits eat turnips instead of tomatoes during food shortages was mocked – but the turnip hasn’t always been so unpopular, as a food historian explains.
‘Cradle-to-grave indoctrination’: West Ham United fans before an FA Cup match at Kidderminster Harriers in February 2022.
Carl Recine/Reuters/Alamy
Where once religion was a dominant force in society, now many more people reserve their faith for sport. But could the church use this to build a new following?
The wooden phallus discovered at Vindolanda. Wooden Phallus
Courtesy of The Vindolanda Trust.
There would have been plenty of time during the long, dark, Northern nights for ancient Roman shoemakers to indulge in side hustles.
Wikimedia Commons
The recently discovered 2,000 year old Roman dildo barely makes a dint in the long-standing history of sex-toys and aids.
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.
“Medieval football” is still played annually on Shrove Tuesday in some parts of the UK.
Shutterstock/Alamy
Pancake Day isn’t just about pancakes.
A depiction of an earthquake in a 14th-century Apocalypse.
British Library
We might expect that accounts of earthquakes from the medieval period have been lost to history, but some have survived.
Natural records suggest a cooling trend was underway thousands of years ago.
DeAgostini/Getty Images
Evidence in Earth’s natural archives, from tree rings to seafloor sediments, points to one trend. Some climate models suggest another.
At the dawn of the car era, carmakers needed to allay fears that pedestrian lives were at risk.
Library of Congress
Today it’s smart technology that will defend drivers and pedestrians. Over a century ago, it was the Klaxon horn.
The Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw, Poland, commemorating the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. History surrounding the Holocaust has become increasingly controversial in Poland in recent years.
(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
The Holocaust has become a contentious issue in Poland in recent years. And those challenging the government’s historical narrative have faced condemnation and lawsuits.
Wikimedia Commons
In the past, roses on Saint Valentine’s Day were something unexpected, and very expensive.
The medical school of Salerno as it appears in a miniature of Avicenna’s Canon. The image represents the legendary story of Robert, Duke of Normandy. Mortally wounded by an arrow, he was heroically saved by his wife who sucked out the poison as prescribed by the physicians of Salerno.
Wikipedia
During the Middle Ages, women were steadily excluded from both the practice and the study of medicine by an overwhelmingly male-dominated, institutional and hierarchical system.
Only about 10% of people with a gambling problem ever seek treatment.
Sean Gladwell/Moment via Getty Images
Treatment has a high success rate. Getting problem gamblers in the door – and getting them to complete a full course of therapy – is another matter.
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.
An archaeologist works at the site of the discoveries in Saqqara.
Mohamed Hossam Eldin
Egyptians believed gold was the colour of the gods and gilding the dead expressed the idea that they acquired divine qualities in the afterlife.