History Matters

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On his early travels across the world it was geology that struck Charles Darwin’s interest.

The Bethnal Green tube station disaster, 80 years on.

Charles XII of Sweden had a thirst for war, which made him a target for the British press.

A folk favourite loved by Jane Austen and Abraham Lincoln, ‘The Irishman’ has revolutionary roots that have been forgotten.

Utopian societies promise a new way of living, but are they doomed to fail?

London used to ring with the cries of street sellers. Changes for the city brought changes to their way of life.

The smooth whiteness of paper belies the mess and hard labour that went into its production.

In 1917 the roof of Westminster Hall was on the brink of collapse; death-watch beetles had bored through it.

In the Bible, angels do not have wings. How did they come to take the form we know today?

The Ministry of Food was founded to help people survive rationing and to bolster morale, which became particularly important at Christmas.