History Revealed

10,000 The precise number of warriors that made up the elite military unit, the Persian Immortals 40 The estimated number of cannons on Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge 1,500 The number of hours needed to complete the 1978 board game, Th

Hundreds of photographs documenting the excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1939 have been digitised and made available online for the first time. The rare pictures, captured by amateur photographers Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff, were originally deposite

HOW DID YOU BEGIN WORKING IN CONSERVATION? At school I enjoyed art, history and archaeology, so conservation was a perfect way of bringing all those elements together. After completing a National Diploma in Conservation and Restoration of Objects at

Nationally, the Blitz claimed the lives of 41,480 people between September 1940 and May 1941. The highest month for deaths was the first, with 6,968 fatalities, and the lowest was February 1941, with 859 due to poor flying weather. ■

Despite being too ill attend the ceremony, Edward the Confessor’s London church, built in honour of St Peter, is consecrated. Known as the ‘West Minster’ to distinguish it from St Paul’s Cathedral to the east, it becomes the sickly king’s burial plac

It’s the 1970s, inside a terraced house in Walthamstow, East London, and Tyronne’s sister is saying odd things: “She started talking about the Blitz, Hitler, rationing. It disturbed my mum, because it was coming out of a two-year-old!” Then, one day,

Orwell’s work shaped by his own experiences of war and oppression? Anyone wishing to know George Orwell better need only leaf through the masterpieces of literature he left behind. The plight of poverty exposed in Down and Out in Paris and London wa

A group of French and English buccaneers (privateers who attack Spanish ships) establish a base at Tortuga, a rocky island off the coast of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. It will become a major haven for pirates and smugglers over the coming years. Ja

English admiral Francis Drake (later Sir Francis) was granted a privateering commission by Elizabeth I in 1572 – he was referred to by the queen as “my pirate”. The first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe (between 1577 to 1580) and return alive,

Anne Bonny and Mary Read’s stories have had a profound impact on popular culture, starting with the biographies that appear in Captain Charles Johnson’s book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, published in 1

Mary Wolverston was not only the daughter of a pirate, but she also married one, too. Her husband, Sir John Killigrew, had initially been appointed by Elizabeth I to investigate piracy, but ended up engaging in the practice himself – often with Mary

One of the most infamous pirates to be hanged at London’s Execution Dock never set out to become one. In fact, Captain William Kidd had actually been hired to hunt pirates down. His capture and execution catapulted him into the pirate record books, a

As they steered their oar-driven galleys back and forth across the Mediterranean, zig-zagging from coastal raid to ship capture and back again, the Barbary corsairs were masters of their own particular sea. But they had ambition. Thanks to the techno

Rebecca Simon dives into the details of the two-year global manhunt for Captain Kidd, exploring how it turned pirates into the romantic antiheroes we love today. Kidd was hanged in 1701, followed by a massive British-led hunt for all pirates during t

In July 1943, celebrated Trinidadian cricketer Learie Constantine, along with his wife and daughter, had booked rooms for four nights at the Imperial Hotel in London, as he was due to play for the Central Lancashire Cricket League in a charity match

Before 1871, there was no German nation. Instead, there were a huge number of quasi-independent states with no single cultural, ethnic or social identity connecting them for hundreds of years. But in the mid-19th century, a new nationalist movement e

In the 1870s, Germany produced about half as much steel as Britain, but the fledgling country went through such an impressive industrial revolution that, by 1914, it dominated European markets and produced more than twice as much as its British rival

Eels were a delicacy in ancient Rome so the rich and powerful kept ponds to ensure a ready supply. The statesman and orator, Lucius Licinius Crassus, however, kept a pet eel that he would dress in earrings and necklaces. Mathurine de Vallois was the

bit.ly/UnionPod101 This four-part series sees Ian Hislop set off on a journey around four great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms – East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex – to uncover their cultures and identities. With help from top historians, Hislop cha

By Bernard Cornwell HarperCollins, £20, hardback More than 15 years after his previous entry in the series, Bernard Cornwell has returned with a new tale about his Napoleonic Wars hero, Richard Sharpe. The roguish soldier, who was first introduced

One of Britain’s best-loved writers of historical fiction, Bernard Cornwell has written more than 50 books. His Sharpe novels, as well as his Saxon series The Last Kingdom, have both been made into hugely successful television shows. Cornwell lives w

It is June 1815, days after the battle of Waterloo, and Richard Sharpe is summoned to the Duke of Wellington. One battle may be over, but the war is not yet won – and Sharpe is ordered to lead his battalion on a vital mission... ‘March hard and fig

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