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Laughing at experts is nothing new. Kate Davison explores our long history of puncturing the powerful with satire and humour – to keep them in line and just for the fun of it.  

Volunteer rationing in the First World War depended on patriotism, but that could only go so far.

How one man did battle with fake news in the 17th century.

The world does not influence Britain’s native culture, the world is its culture, as anyone with a grasp of the country’s history will understand, argues Suzannah Lipscomb.

Following the attack of 7 December 1941, many Japanese-Americans were guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of the US government.

James Christie first held his eponymous auction on December 5th, 1766.

A family planning clinic opened in New York on 16 October 1916. It lasted only a few days.

The Boy Scout movement produced a little-known offshoot of ‘intellectual Barbarians’, whose charismatic leader had dreams of overcoming the existential crises of the 20th century.

During the 1950s and 1960s, debates over the legality and morality of homosexuality drove gay men and doctors to desperate and dangerous measures in their search for a ‘cure’, writes John-Pierre Joyce.

Since their arrival in Britain around 500 years ago, Gypsies have created a rich tapestry of romantic folklore. Yet, argues Jeremy Harte, this aspect of their past has been almost completely ignored by academic historians.