British History

The Abbey Road crosswalk, which has been moved slightly since 1969, in modern times.

A Short History of the Crosswalk

Pedestrian crosswalks and roads have a complicated relationship

A woodcut from a 1720 history of "witches and wizards"

How New Printing Technology Gave Witches Their Familiar Silhouette

Popular media helped give witches their image

Grave of George Eliot on Highgate Cemetery

You Can’t Walk Around London’s Cemeteries Without Seeing Someone Famous (and Dead)

A tour of the city’s dead can unearth some fascinating stories

The British Museum was the first free, public natural history museum in the world—but its creator, Hans Sloane, was intricately connected with the slave trade.

The British Museum Was a Wonder of Its Time—But Also a Product of Slavery

A new book explores the little-known life and career of Hans Sloane, whose collections led to the founding of the British Museum

Adolf Hitler and his deputy Rudolf Hess

Eight Historical Archives That Will Spill New Secrets

Declassified records and journals to be released in coming decades will shed new light on pivotal 20th-century figures and events

Fear not: Though it was recently found that red squirrels can harbor the leprosy bacteria, there hasn't been a single confirmed case of the disease in the UK in 200 years.

Are Viking Squirrels to Blame for Infecting England with Leprosy?

It's possible, say researchers who found that medieval strains of the disease may have come to Great Britain in the rodents' fur and meat

Take Five (2006), Tom Lamb

This Gallery Is Dedicated to Coal Miners' Art

The Mining Art Gallery showcases works created by the thousands of miners who've lived and worked in the Great Northern Coalfield

Stone Age Britons Feasted While Building Stonehenge

A new exhibit shows that the builders gorged on animals from as far away as Scotland

The Battle of Fort McHenry through Francis Scott Key's Eyes

When the British army held Francis Scott Key captive aboard one of their warships during the Battle of Baltimore, his stay inspired enemy's patriotic song

The British Navy was a big deal in the 1700s.

Jane Squire and the Longitude Wars

The sixteenth-century debate over how to determine longitude had a lot of participants—and one woman

British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro during a press conference at his home in London, Thursday Oct. 5, 2017.

What to Know About Literature's Newest Nobel Winner British Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro

The author of <i>The Remains of the Day</i> and seven other books explores themes of memory, time and self-deception

A typical 17th-century coffeehouse scene. Controversial, right?

This 17th-Century "Women's Petition Against Coffee" Probably Wasn't About Women, or Coffee

It probably wasn't written by angry, sex-deprived wives–although stranger things have happened

This portrait by an anonymous photographer shows the face of the man who popularized the flush toilet: Thomas Crapper.

Three True Things About Sanitary Engineer Thomas Crapper

Thomas Crapper's actual innovation was entirely tangential to the flush toilet

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a more modern form of IVF.

In Vitro Fertilization Was Once As Controversial As Gene Editing is Today

The scientists who pioneered it were regarded as pariahs, even within their own universities

Victoria and Abdul: The Friendship that Scandalized England

Near the end of her reign, Queen Victoria developed a friendship with an Indian servant, elevating him to trusted advisor and infuriating her court

Researchers Want to Revive These 30 Antique English Words

The public can vote on their favorite from a list including hugger-mugger, rouzy-bouzy, nickum and sillytonian

The Sphinx in late August

Scotland's Oldest Remaining Snow Patch Expected to Soon Disappear

Known as 'The Sphinx,' the icy spot on the mountain Braeriach hasn't completely melted for 11 years

One of the Roman cavalry swords recovered from Vindolanda

Rare Roman Cavalry Swords And Toys Unearthed Along Hadrian's Wall

The newly discovered artifacts are the latest discovery at Vindolanda, once a remote outpost of the Roman empire

Jane Austen on the new £10 note.

The Jane Austen £10 Note Extends the "Ladylike" History of British Money

The beloved novelist is the latest icon in the Bank of England's long—and fraught—tradition of gendering finance

You can see the resemblance in his eyes.

This Nineteenth-Century Genealogist Argued Norse God Odin Was George Washington’s Great-Great-Great... Grandfather

Albert Welles's ideas about whiteness were a reflection of his time, and would be continued into the future

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