Scourge of England and France, father of the Great Heathen Army and lover to the mythical queen Aslaug, the legend of Ragnar Lothbrok has enchanted story tellers and historians for almost a millennium ...

On October 6th 1854 the people of Tyneside believed that the end of the world was upon them. In the early hours an explosion occurred which shook the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and its neighbour ...

Ragnar Lothbrok, Erik Bloodaxe and Harald Hardrada are a trio of legendary Viking warriors. Towards the end of their careers, each man sailed his longships upriver to Jorvik, or York. Not one of them ...

Whilst the English penchant for manners and socially appropriate behaviour is renowned across the world, the word etiquette to which we so often refer actually originates from the French estiquette ...

The Historia Regum Britanniae, translated as ‘The History of the Kings of Britain’ is a medieval text written by Geoffrey of Monmouth around 1136, and is an account of British history laced with ...

The Crimean War broke out on 5th October 1853, a military conflict fought between the Russian Empire on one side, against an alliance of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia. The ...

The illegitimate daughter of Captain John Lindsay and Maria Belle, a slave of African origin, Dido Elizabeth Belle's story is ...

Have you ever wondered why the British drive on the left? There is an historical reason for this; it’s all to do with keeping your sword hand free! In the Middle Ages you never knew who you were going ...

Henry VIII is best known for his six wives. Most British school children learn the following rhyme to help them remember the fate of each wife: “Divorced, Beheaded, Died: Divorced, Beheaded, Survived” ...

“Executions are so much a part of British history that it is almost impossible for many excellent people to think of a future without them” – Viscount Templewood, In the Shadow of the Gallows (1951) ...

Peaky Blinders, now a hit television programme, may be a fictional story of the Birmingham underworld but it is based on the very real existence of a gang by the same name based in the Midlands in the ...

John Bull is an imaginary figure who is a personification of England, similar to the American ‘Uncle Sam’. He is shown in cartoons and caricatures as a prosperous farmer of the 18th century. John Bull ...