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A waistcoat worn by Captain Cook in the 18th century is expected to fetch almost £700,000 at auction. The garment was used by the explorer in 1770, the year he sailed to Australia on his voyage of discovery. The cream silk waistcoat is embroidered with flowers and is fastened with brown...

The Queen has started the countdown to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, launching the baton relay at Buckingham Palace. She handed the baton to Australia's two-time Olympic champion cyclist Anna Meares on Monday as it started its journey to host country Australia. The relay will span 388 days, 71...

Actors dressed in medieval clothing have re-enacted St Patrick's first landing on Irish shores in 432AD... A saintly arrival: Actors dressed in medieval costumes take to a rowing boat to re-enact St Patrick's first landing on Irish shores in 432AD Saint Patrick brought religion to Ireland...

The Queen will call on the Commonwealth to “overcome division and find reconciliation”, urging further collaboration for a prosperous future. She will advocate “consensus and cooperation” in her annual message to the public on Commonwealth Day on Monday, calling for the 2.5 billion people...

The yellow submarine named Boaty McBoatface is set to leave for Antarctica this week on its first science expedition. The robot is going to map the movement of deep waters that play a critical role in regulating Earth's climate. Boaty carries the name that a public poll had suggested be...

THE story of Lady Godiva and her decision to ride naked through the streets of Coventry is one of Britain’s oldest legends, dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period just before the Norman Conquest in 1066. It has various forms, but the basic story remains the same... 1054: The story of Lady...

A skeleton found under a south London driveway dates back 1,300 years to a century before Alfred the Great became king. The almost-complete adult skeleton was unearthed in Croydon, along with a child's bone from the same period. Builder Terry Jobson found the skull and bones just a couple of...

In schoolboy history, she is often portrayed as the kindly wife who nursed Henry VIII through his dotage. Katherine Parr was in fact a masterful PR who rallied England behind its King on the way to war, an academic has claimed as he prepares for the first performance of her secret...

Theresa May could formally trigger Brexit as early as Tuesday after European leaders revealed that they are already making preparations for an announcement. Ministers are increasingly confident that Mrs May's Article 50 bill could clear both the Commons and the Lords on Monday. The swift...

Forgive me if I don’t join the ecstatic global race to canonize Mr Obama quite so enthusiastically. For beneath his ever-smiley beatific halo lies a rather different, far murkier reality. Obama deported millions, killed thousands and now he’s out to slyly depose his successor, so why does...

An ancient Roman sarcophagus worth up to £300,000 has been discovered on the grounds of Blenheim Palace where it had been used for the last 100 years as a flower pot. The historic marble coffin has been exposed to the elements for the last century and used as an oversized planter to grow tulips...

A challenging descent by ladder, winch and harness into a prehistoric underworld will open to the public for the first time this year, allowing exploration of shafts and galleries cut deep under Norfolk heathland more than 4,000 years ago... Prehistoric Norfolk mine Grime’s Graves to open...

One of the things that surprises me on an almost weekly basis is how axe, machete, knife and bomb attacks against nationals across Europe are responded to by anti-terror squads even though they are not, apparently, terror. We are categorically told: this was not a terror attack. And as...

A new theory has claimed Jane Austen was almost totally blind at the end of her life, as a result of being poisoned by arsenic. The Pride And Prejudice author died in 1817, aged 41, and tests on three pairs of glasses that have been handed down through her descendants show that her...

One midsummer’s day in 1750, a man had a seizure in front of the main gate to St James’s Palace and collapsed onto the pavement. Some passers-by promptly carried him into the nearest building which, unluckily for him, turned out to be White’s Chocolate House. For inside, through thick...

A memorial dedicated to those who served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars has been unveiled by the Queen in central London on Thursday. The sculpture by Paul Day also marks the contribution made by civilians in the conflicts. It is formed of two stone monoliths and a bronze medallion...

He was a man who no doubt insisted on a king-sized bed - and now the historic mansion where Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn spent their honeymoon has been put on the market for £8.5million. The royal pair spent ten days at Thornbury Castle, a stunning Grade I-listed pile which was built in...

Grown men were crying, while for others it was a nightmare. Barcelona made Champions League history by recovering from a 4-0 first leg last-16 deficit to beat Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg on Wednesday. With just seven minutes to go, Barca needed three goals to win - yet they did...

Five female trailblazers through history... 5 female trailblazers from history Historian Amanda Foreman talks to...

Martin Wall unpicks who the Celtic peoples were and introduces some of the key individuals who led the battle for Celtic Britain… The Celts: unpicking the mystery...