Culture

A new book gives a remarkable account of one woman's legal battle after suffering a brutal attack in 1472 in the French city of Dijon. It defies assumptions about women's lives then.

In October 1962, the world came to the brink of nuclear war. According to insiders who spoke to the BBC, the expertise of President John F Kennedy and his brother Robert saved the day.

Lavinia Fontana is considered the first female professional artist. Were her suggestive nudes a commercial choice, a rebellion against her father – or a clue to her inner life?

Once a symbol of tech's promise, Holmes was brought down by her false claims about a blood-testing device. Now gripping new film You Can See Everything explores her baffling character.

The Norse made it to Canada around the year 1000, and used it as a base to explore. The BBC has delved into the "lost history" of the first Europeans to cross the Atlantic.

After a volcano erupted on tiny Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, the 264 displaced islanders told the BBC about their first taste of modern British life.

On 29 September 1947, the "biggest murder trial in history" began. Seventy years on, the chief prosecutor, Ben Ferencz, told the BBC how he fought to bring 22 killers to justice.

In 1968, the BBC broadcast extracts from JRR Tolkien's last ever recorded interview, 31 years after The Hobbit was published. In 2019, the full video was unearthed from the archive.