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We know what people voted against,’ say half-clever pundits, ‘but it’s far from clear what they voted for.’ Actually, it’s very clear: the British voted to leave the EU and take back control of their own laws. They didn’t dictate precisely what kind of deal we should have with our...

Every culture on Earth has its own monsters. Their stories, their curious habits and diets, and the ways in which they can be warded off create a picture of imaginations running riot. What does the existence of monsters, even if only in our heads, say about humankind? Trolls, demons and...

The Government has begun considering leaving the single market for the first time, as the Treasury and the newly created Brexit department hold detailed talks with finance leaders over the best way to pull out of the EU. A series of discussions have been held between the Chancellor...

From Nero to King George IV, historian Sean Lang rounds up nine of history’s most outlandish rulers… 9 eccentric monarchs through history Sean Lang Friday 5th August 2016 BBC History Magazine...

The world's largest aircraft, known fondly as the 'Flying Bum', left its hangar for the first time today. The Airlander 10, which cost £25million to build over 10 years, is 302 feet (92 metres) long and pumped with a million cubic feet of helium. The part-plane, part-airship left its...

A diver who has helped to recover "thousands of items" from a 17th Century shipwreck has said the finds "rival the best collections" in the country. The London sank off Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1665 and was only rediscovered in 2005. Artefacts salvaged from the wreck since 2010 have...

Here's an interesting stat: The referendum was a close-run thing, with 51.9 per cent voting Leave against 48.1 per cent for Remain. But look at the distribution of the vote around the country, constituency by Parliamentary constituency, and a remarkable picture emerges. If Leave had...

Jeremy Corbyn couldn't stop Britain voting to leave the European Union, despite his self-described "7.5 out of 10" effort to persuade them to stick with it. Politicians always insist after any embarrassing failure that they'll learn lessons, so what is the Labour Party taking from one of...

Anti-racism activists brought traffic to a standstill on the road to Heathrow airport on a day of action which featured protests around the UK. Campaign group Black Lives Matter - or BLMUK - said it wanted to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the death of Mark Duggan, who was shot...

Do you think Winston Churchill ever worried about roller-skating in Stoke Newington? Strangely enough, he did, says AD Harvey, as papers in The National Archives show... Churchill on roller skates...

Robert Hutchinson, author of The Spanish Armada, reveals how poorly Tudor England was prepared for foreign invaders in 1588... The Spanish Armada: England's lucky escape...

Olympic and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has been chosen to carry the flag for Great Britain at Friday's Rio 2016 opening ceremony. The 29-year-old was picked ahead of the likes of boxer Nicola Adams and rower Katherine Grainger. Murray, who inspired Great Britain to the Davis Cup in...

Faeces, dung and droppings… blood, urine and slops. These words hardly conjure the drama and glamour of Shakespeare’s Globe or the Elizabethan court, but for the ordinary inhabitants of Tudor towns, they were an everyday fact of life... “Mooke, fylthe and other vyle things” – Tudor dirt and...

A palace has been discovered at Tintagel in Cornwall where King Arthur is believed to have been born. The palace is believed to have been built in the sixth century - around the time that the king may have lived. Archaeologists say the building may belong to the rulers of the ancient...

Work to restore a stunning hall dubbed 'Britain's Sistine Chapel' will begin next month. The Painted Hall at the Old Royal Navy College in Greenwich, south east London, decorated by James Thornhill, has been described as the 'finest dining hall in Europe'. Now, the stunning hall, adorned with...

Heavily armed new police patrols have been deployed on the streets of London today after a wave of terror attacks in Europe. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe unveiled the plan to put more highly visible patrols, armed to the teeth with pistols and semi-automatic SIG...

The world’s vast Olympic conceit is that a host city should transform itself into a perfect Hollywood set of nice hotels, Olympic bus lanes and zero crime. According to this logic, winning an Olympic bid confers on a city a duty to prostrate itself for the benefit of people who visit for...

The final list of candidates in the running to succeed Nigel Farage as UKIP leader will be announced later. The party has been carrying out "one final round" of vetting to determine who is eligible to stand in the race. UKIP donor Arron Banks suggested Steven Woolfe will not be on the ballot...

Is Theresa May using the proposed new nuclear power station in Somerset to hold the French hostage over Brexit? Coffee House Is Theresa May using Hinkley Point to hold the French hostage over Brexit? Philip Sime...

A rare and extraordinary photo album showing British troops fighting the Boer War has been made public by the descendants of an army captain who fought in the conflict. It contains more than 150 black and white images of the First Battalion Rifle Brigade and provide a fascinating record...