Q&A

How did Spanish Flu get its name? When did our ancestors start using toilet paper? Why did the famous Crystal Palace burn down? And where was the WW1 Armistice signed? Here, your most burning questions about history are answered by historians and experts…

Two women share a tender moment, c1902

General History

Q&A Has it ever been a crime to be lesbian in England?

A carving of the Sator Square, 2nd-4th century

General ancient history

Q&A What is the Sator Square, and how old is it?

Santa_Surveillance_s Glen McBeth

Q&A Why did NORAD begin tracking Santa Claus in the Cold War?

The real Wenceslas is that he was not actually a king, but Duke of Bohemia.

Q&A Who was Good King Wenceslas, and was he actually good?

Perhaps the most charming idea about the origins of the festive tradition of kissing under the mistletoe derives from a Viking myth of Frigg, goddess of love and marriage, and her ill-fated son Balder. (Photo by Jurg Waldmeier/StockFood Creative/Getty Images Plus)

Q&A Why do we kiss under the mistletoe?

Clinic at the School of Dentistry, Paris, 1892. A female student treating a patient under supervision. (Photo by Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images)

General History

Q&A What are the roots of dentistry?

Prime minister and king in black and white photo

General History

Q&A Prior to 2022, has there ever been a new monarch and prime minister in Britain in the same week?

An etching of a 17th-century coal merchant. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Industrial revolution

Q&A Why do we say ‘get the sack’?

Photo of Ginger Rogers

Q&A When did people start wearing sunglasses?

Illustration showing woman receiving a caesarean section

General History

Q&A What are the origins of the caesarean section?

Illustration by @GlenMcIllustration

Q&A Which king thought he was made of glass

An emu stares into the camera

Q&A What was the Emu War?

Portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, showing his pronounced Habsburg jaw

Q&A What was the Habsburg jaw?

A 1779 cartoon showing the United States as a horse, unseating its rider, George III

Q&A Did George III read the American Declaration of Independence?

A man walking past a pile of uncollected rubbish during the Winter of Discontent, 22 September 1978

Q&A What was the Winter of Discontent?