But it was his mystery novels set in Tudor England and featuring barrister Shardlake for which he was best known – and loved.

In the early 1980s, Oleg Gordievsky was arguably the most important spy in the world. This was not primarily because of his work for what was ostensibly his employer, the KGB, but because he was a ...

Test your knowledge with our general knowledge weekly history quiz... Receive a hardback and signed copy of a book of your choice when when you subscribe for £24.99 every 6 issues. Save 76% on the ...

Covering the years from 1936-56 and beginning with protests against Oswald Moseley’s march down Cable Street, Arnold Wesker’s semi-autobiographical state-of-the-nation play was first performed in 1958 ...

When, why and how did Neanderthals die out? This pivotal moment in human evolution is still contested by archaeologists, and ...

Of all the men found guilty of treason and adultery with Queen Anne Boleyn, Mark Smeaton, ascending the scaffold and placing his head on the block on 17 May 1536, stood out. A court musician in Anne’s ...

A love story between two prisoners at the worst of the Nazis’ concentration camps? The plot of the Tattooist of Auschwitz might be considered unduly light given its setting but, as Roger Moorhouse ...

As well as being a printer, publisher, philosopher, inventor and Founding Father of America, Benjamin Franklin also found time to become a French fashion icon – and almost became a swimming teacher ...