Despite recent confusion, Canada did not burn down the White House during the War of 1812—in fact, it wasn’t even a country in 1812. Though the British attack was conducted in response to an American attack on York, Ontario, Canada as we know it didn’t exist at the time. Canada ...read more
George Wray tied a halter around his wife’s waist and headed to the nearest market. He wasn’t there to buy anything—he was there to sell his wife.Onlookers shouted as he auctioned her off to the highest bidder, William Harwood. After Harwood turned over a single shilling to Wray, ...read more
Queen Elizabeth II has since 1952 served as reigning monarch of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and numerous other realms and territories, as well as head of the Commonwealth, the group of 53 sovereign nations that includes many former British ...read more
For much of their courtship, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s romance spanned an ocean. Although they are from different countries and radically different backgrounds—one a British royal, the other an American actress—modern travel and technology made their trans-Atlantic romance ...read more
The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of World War I, and among the bloodiest in all of human history. A combination of a compact battlefield, destructive modern weaponry and several failures by British military leaders led to the unprecedented slaughter of wave ...read more
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
Big Ben is one of the most iconic—and misidentified—landmarks in the world. The name initially referred not to the distinctive 320-foot-high clock tower on the north side of the British Houses of Parliament, renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honor of Queen Elizabeth II during her ...read more
