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Football's first professional black player is to be commemorated with a statue in South Yorkshire. Arthur Wharton is to be honoured outside Rotherham United's New York Stadium. Born in 1865 in Jamestown, in the British Gold Coast, in what is now Ghana, Wharton played for Rotherham Town - the...

They are two of history’s most captivating figures, their romance-turned-tragedy known the world over. But what was the true nature of the relationship between Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, and how did Anne come to lose her head? In a new two-part series for Britain's Channel 5...

As part of the Natural History Season on the brilliant BBC Four (one of the best TV channels there is, it is renowned for its brilliant science and history documentaries), Dr Michael Mosley, a medical doctor and former City banker, turns his body into a living laboratory by infecting himself...

Did you know that John Quincy Adams had a pet alligator?; that President Jackson had a foul-mouthed parrot?; that Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, had a confused-looking lapdog who died after falling from a great height?; and that Lord Byron probably had more pets than Dr Doolittle? Well...

A 7ft tall hedgehog has arrived in London. But, thankfully for the denizens of that great metropolis, it isn't real. The prickly Erinaceinae has been unveiled to mark the launch of Sir David Attenborough's new TV wildlife series. The beast emerged from two months of hibernation at a workshop...

Experts in the legend of Robin Hood have dismissed a ballad that claims the famous outlaw had another love interest before Maid Marian. While the ballad insinuates a romance between Hood and the Queen, historian Ralph Needham points out that it would have been written a long time after the...

Four suspect packages delivered to army careers offices bear "the hallmarks of Northern Ireland-related terrorism", Downing Street has said. Packages were sent to armed forces recruitment centres in St Giles, Oxford; the Queensmere Shopping Centre in Slough; St Peter's Street in Canterbury...

UKIP once again showing they are becoming the Tory Party of the North of England by doing well in yet another Northern English election, leading to their leader Nigel Farage saying that the Conservatives were a "dying brand" in northern cities and UKIP was now the "main opposition" to Labour in...

Take 24 hours of Valentine's Day and 64 years between 1837 and 1901. Give them a good mix together and pop them in the oven for an hour. Once baked, what do you get? Ten bizarre, but true, Victorian love stories.... 10 bizarre Victorian love stories 14 February 2014 BBC By Jeremy...

These are the mugshots of Victorian child offenders - some of whom were as young as ten when they were arrested for petty crime. The black and white photographs, which originate from Dorset County Gaol - later to be known as Dorchester Prison - date to the mid-19th century when the concept of...

An 11-month-old baby girl was killed by an "American pit bull-type" dog while asleep upstairs in bed, police said. Ava-Jayne Marie Corless was taken to hospital from Emily Street, Blackburn, Lancashire at 23:00 GMT on Monday where she died. The baby's mother Chloe King, 20, and her boyfriend...

Queen have made UK chart history by becoming the first act to sell six million copies of an individual album. Their first Greatest Hits collection, which includes the hits We Will Rock You and Bohemian Rhapsody, has extended its lead after being Britain's highest-selling album for several...

Two future kings have made a plea to end the illegal wildlife trade. Prince Charles, 65, and his eldest son Prince William, 31, made an appeal, to be broadcast later, calling on people to act now to save endangered animals like rhinos, elephants and tigers. The joint plea comes at the start...

Archaeologists from around the UK have been examining a hoard of treasures unearthed in a 4,000-year-old tomb on Dartmoor. Prehistoric jewellery, animal pelts and beads made of amber were among the finds about two years ago in the burial chamber. The chamber, known as a cist, was found on...

This is the face belonging to an ancient skeleton buried in Roman times, created using the latest 3D reconstruction technology. The so-called 'Beachy Head Lady' - because she was discovered in the East Sussex beauty spot - had her face recreated using craniofacial reconstruction techniques...

The "pips" - the hourly markers broadcast on Radio 4 and other BBC stations - were first broadcast on 5 February 1924 (almost 16 months after the BBC itself was established) and so today they have turned 90. Sam Judah looks back at a familiar sound. The comforting tone of the hourly radio...

A top-secret British stealth drone has carried out its first successful test flights, it has been announced. BAE Systems' Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder, was today billed by military chiefs as the most technologically advanced aircraft ever built in the UK. The...

In a landmark new BBC history series which started last night, Jeremy Paxman (presenter of BBC's Newsnight and BBC's University Challenge) describes how the First World War transformed the lives of the British people, and helped shape modern Britain. 1. War Comes to Britain Jeremy Paxman...

The BBC has unveiled the costume for the 12th Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi. Sporting a dark blue Crombie coat with red lining, dark blue trousers, a white shirt as well as black Dr Marten shoes, the look was created by Doctor Who costume designer Howard Burden. Lifelong Dr Who fan Capaldi, a...

A unique collection of Viking Age monuments, which lay unloved in a Govan churchyard for 1,000 years, has attracted the attention of the British Museum. Its curator said the Govan Stones were one of the best collections of early medieval sculpture anywhere in the British Isles. Govan, in south...