Not long ago, I was strolling in the rain around the old Song-dynasty capital of Kaifeng, China, one of my favourite historical townscapes. There, in a wooded park, I came across a small Ming-dynasty temple to Da Yu (Yu the Great), the legendary foun

1 Greek name for Khufu, the Egyptian pharaoh thought to have commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza (6) 4 Italian archbishop of Canterbury and trusted counsellor of William the Conqueror (8) 10 Australian city named after a 19th-century British Whig

We asked our Twitter followers which history books captured their childhood imaginations… I loved the Ladybird books on English monarchs – though I’m not sure the history was always sound... Horrible Histories. If Terry Deary had illustrated the Iris

Sometimes a Twitter user will pose a question that goes on to strike a chord with fellow social networkers. So it proved when Leeds Museums curator Lucy Moore (@curatorlucy) asked: “Pals. I hate the term ‘hidden histories’ increasingly and would much

Who can forget Joe Biden and Kamala Harris celebrating their victory in the 2020 US presidential race with a double fist bump? Has Covid finally killed off the handshake? Ella Al-Shamahi, paleoanthropologist and stand-up comic, is confident that the

“Until fairly recently, Nefertiti has been regarded pretty much as a cypher. The beautiful bust of her found in 1912 has meant that she’s been seen as a kind of international glamour puss rather than an actual person with thoughts and influence. It h

Matt Cook is professor of modern history at Birkbeck College, University of London. His books include Queer Domesticities: Homosexuality and Home Life in 20th-Century London (Palgrave, 2014) Channing Gerard Joseph teaches journalism at the University

Our modern word “lord” can be traced back etymologically to an Anglo-Saxon one which literally means “guardian of the loaf”. The Anglo-Saxon hlafweard was contracted to hlaford and then, in the Middle Ages, mutated into the feudal term “lord”. Its or

Almost 500 years ago, a young woman in Antwerp painted a self-portrait and signed it with a simple message: “I Catharina van Hemessen have painted myself / 1548 / Here aged 20.” It was the first example of a self-portrait of an artist of any gender s

A New Low for US Democracy? (March) rightly held up a mirror to Americans who were quick to take comfort in their national identity by distancing themselves from the rioters on Capitol Hill [on 6 January] by saying “this is not who we are”. However,

EDITORIAL Editor Rob Attar robertattar@historyextra.com Deputy editor Matt Elton mattelton@historyextra.com Production editor Spencer Mizen Books and podcast editor Ellie Cawthorne Subeditor Rhiannon Davies Picture editor Samantha Nott samnott@histor

There is a battle going on in Hollywood; women directors are on the rise and they want Hollywood back. Film critic Helen O’Hara’s newest book is part of a wave of women-written work uncovering the forgotten histories and triumphs of women filmmakers

What can you tell us about the real events that inspired your novel? In 1972, 80,000 Ugandan Asians were expelled from the country by Idi Amin and given 90 days to leave forever. Initially, most people thought the announcement was a joke. Ugandans we

The manuscript of Cellini’s autobiography, My Life, was largely forgotten following his death, possibly due to its criticism of his Medici patrons, and certainly because many of his artworks had either been destroyed or fallen out of fashion. It was