British History

Frederic Leighton, "The Music Lesson," 1877

Connie Gilchrist Was the Shirley Temple of Victorian London

The child star captivated audiences and artists alike, served as muse for Lewis Carroll, James McNeill Whistler

The Goddess in the Margarine Tub Is Just One of 1,267 Treasures Found by the British Public in 2017

A new report reveals the pieces voluntarily recorded with the U.K.'s Portable Antiquities Scheme last year

As biographer Antonia Fraser explains, Mary’s story is one of “murder, sex, pathos, religion and unsuitable lovers"

The True Story of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I

Josie Rourke’s film sees Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie transform from allies into rivals, but in actuality, the queens’ relationship was far more complex

Prodger's 33-minute film features shots of seemingly mundane aspects of life, including these sneakers

Charlotte Prodger Claims This Year’s Turner Prize With Film Shot on iPhone

The Glasgow-based artist’s diaristic ‘Bridgit’ examines the fluidity of queer identity

Found Near the Thames: A Centuries-Old Skeleton, Still Wearing Thigh-High Boots

The owner of the unusual footwear likely made his living on the water

No, Wait, This Is the Real Ava, a Bronze Age Woman From the Scottish Highlands

New DNA evidence drastically changes the image of the young woman buried in Caithness 4,250 years ago

The majority of homicides catalogued on the map occurred in public places, including crowded streets and markets

Relive Medieval London’s Bloody Murders With This New Interactive Death Map

The macabre tool features tales of revenge, thwarted love, infanticide—and a urinal that drove a man to murder

Pulter's poems offer an intimate glimpse into the private life of a 17th-century noblewoman

Critically Explore 17th-Century Noblewoman's Little-Known Poems Online

Hester Pulter’s works detail chaotic political landscape of the English Civil War, scientific discoveries, theological queries, personal struggles

A Rapa Nui sculptor has offered to create an exact replica of the famed Easter Island head

Rapa Nui Representatives Visit British Museum to Discuss Repatriation of Moai Statue

The four-ton sculpture was taken from an island temple and gifted to Queen Victoria in 1869

Bruce is alternately painted as a patriot whose perseverance secured his nation’s independence and a more shadowy figure with dangerous ambitions

The True Story of Robert the Bruce, Scotland’s 'Outlaw King'

Chris Pine stars as the Netflix film’s eponymous hero, who secures his country’s independence but leaves behind a tangled legacy

A Victorian era time capsule marks one of the project's most unique early finds

10,000 Years of British History to Be Unearthed in Excavations in Advance of Planned Rail Line

Initial finds include hunter-gatherer site on outskirts of London, Wars of the Roses battlefield, Industrial Revolution burial guard

The lamprey's jawless yet toothy mouth is ideal for hooking onto victims' flesh

Toothy Medieval Sea Monster Remains Found in London

The lamprey, a jawless fish that uses its teeth to hook onto the flesh of prey, was a favorite delicacy amongst British royals past and present

Look inside, if you dare. Or if you have a forensics degree.

Is This the Bag That Held Sir Walter Raleigh's Mummified Head?

Legend has it his wife retained his embalmed head. But while the sack dates to the correct era and was found in his son's home, scholars are not convinced

The damage inflicted to the glass box encasing Magna Carta

Man Arrested for Trying to Steal an Original Copy of the Magna Carta

The suspect was apprehended after taking a hammer to a glass case containing the 13th-century document

Five of the top 10 contenders were actually by British writers, including Jane Austen, J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkein

The Results Are In...These Are America’s "Most-Beloved" Novels, Says PBS

More than 4 million people voted, securing top honors for Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' in the Great American Read initiative

Walpole's neo-Gothic estate boasts a castle-like white exterior, labyrinthine network of closets, chambers and rooms

Curious Collection of Historic Oddities Reunited in Horace Walpole's Neo-Gothic Castle

See more than 150 artifacts originally on view in the estate during the 1700s

Plastic on a beach in St. Helena.

Remote South Atlantic Islands Are Flooded With Plastic

In less than ten years, plastic pollution around St. Helena, East Falkland and Ascension Islands has increased tenfold, and 100 times in the last 30 years

The animatronic mask is situated directly across from the traditional 1588 Armada portrait, which depicts a far more polished version of Queen Elizabeth I

What Did Elizabeth I Actually Look Like? This Artist Has a Suggestion

Mat Collishaw’s ‘Mask of Youth’ presents realistic depiction of the Tudor queen, explores her savvy command of public persona

"Propped" 1992

Jenny Saville Takes Title of Most Expensive Living Female Artist

Her 1992 nude self-portrait "Propped" sold for $12.4 million. But the record-breaking price lags behind the amount paid to the men's holder of the title

The contemporary Wolf Hall manor stands on the same property as the lost 16th-century estate

Archaeologists Unearth Foundations of Wolf Hall, Where Henry VIII Fell for Jane Seymour

The team’s finds include a network of Tudor-era brick sewers, the foundations of two towers and ornate tiles

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