British History

Imbolc is a pagan holiday celebrated from February 1 through sundown February 2. Based on a Celtic tradition, Imbolc was meant to mark the halfway point between winter solstice and the spring equinox in Neolithic Ireland and Scotland. The holiday is celebrated by Wiccans and ...read more

The Glorious Revolution, also called “The Revolution of 1688” and “The Bloodless Revolution,” took place from 1688-1689 in England. It involved the overthrow of the Catholic king James II, who was replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William of Orange. ...read more

The 10,000-year-old skeleton of “Cheddar Man,” the oldest complete skeleton found in Britain, recently became a bit less mysterious. It was just revealed through DNA analysis that the man recognized as the first modern Brit had a “dark to black” skin tone.“Cheddar Man” was ...read more

Hadrian’s Wall is the remains of stone fortifications built by the Roman Empire following its conquest of Britain in the second century A.D. The original structure stretched more than 70 miles across the northern English countryside from the River Tyne near the city of Newcastle ...read more

Netflix’s hit TV series The Crown, which goes deep inside the private world of Queen Elizabeth II and Britain’s royal family, chronicles their lives within the sweep of global events during and after World War II—from the Suez Crisis to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Below, our ...read more

In a year filled with dramatic global events and unexpected twists, it could be difficult to keep up with the news. To help make sense of the year that was, discover the history behind the stories that shaped 2017.North Korea Grows Its Nuclear Ambitions2017: The United States ...read more

The Balfour Declaration was a letter written by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lionel Walter Rothschild, in which he expressed the British government’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The long-term effects of the Balfour Declaration, and the British ...read more

Parliament is the legislative body of the United Kingdom and is the primary law-making institution in Great Britain’s constitutional monarchy. The history of the legislative body—which meets in the Palace of Westminster in London—shows how it evolved almost organically, partly in ...read more

It’s been called one of the greatest planes of World War II—and it might be making a comeback.The twin-engine wooden Mosquito, designed by British aviation whiz Geoffrey de Havilland, was one of the lightest and fastest airplanes in operation when it entered service in 1941. Used ...read more

Few movie icons, besides Godzilla, have graced the screen as frequently as super spy James Bond. Some 50 years after Sean Connery first took on the role, fans continue to obsess over who might play him next (for now it’s still Daniel Craig) and what the upcoming film will be ...read more

The Controversy Yesterday, the Bank of England unveiled a new 10-pound banknote featuring Jane Austen, on the 200th anniversary of her death. While fans and equality advocates alike were thrilled at the nod to the beloved author (especially after the Bank sparked outrage when it ...read more

The Tower of London is one of the world’s oldest and most famous prisons, though its original purpose was not to house criminals. In fact, the Tower, which is actually a complex of several towers and structures, was built in the latter part of the 11th century as fortress to ...read more

It’s not every day that 12th century feuds are brought up in the U.S. Senate.Former FBI director James Comey in a testimony before the U.S. Senate intelligence committee likened his dealings with President Trump—which ultimately led to his dismissal in May 2017—to a deadly power ...read more

We’ve all heard stories about King Arthur of Camelot, who according to medieval legend led British forces (including his trusted Knights of the Round Table) in battle against Saxon invaders in the early sixth century. But was King Arthur actually a real person, or simply a hero ...read more

Prince Albert Victor, the grandson of Queen Victoria, became second in line to the British throne at the time of his birth in 1864. However, Eddy, as he was nicknamed, died at age 28, before his father and grandmother, and never became king. Since his death, there have been ...read more

In 2014, amateur military historian Dan Mackay of Extreme Relic Hunters (ERH) was on the hunt for artifacts in a field near London, England, when he made a remarkable find. Buried next to a World War II-era anti-artillery gun were more than 14,000 individually inscribed, British ...read more

Near the end of his classic 1606 play Macbeth, William Shakespeare included a scene in which the doomed title character says that his enemies, “have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, / But, bear-like, I must fight the course.” The line might seem inconsequential to modern ...read more