The Head in the Library

The Head in the Library

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The Girl Called Pocahontas

How do you uncover the true life of a woman whose existence is wrapped in myth, propaganda and a famous animated children’s movie?This is the true story of Matoaka - a young Powhatan girl who you probably know as Pocahontas. This is the mystery of a child, a hidden history and a ...  Show more

The Fever Tree Hunt

Most heists target gold, jewels or cash. This one targeted illegal seeds.As the British established their sprawling empire across the subcontinent and beyond, they encountered a formidable adversary — malaria. There was a cure — the bark of the Andean cinchona tree. The only prob ...  Show more

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Life in Tudor England
Dan Snow's History Hit

What was life really like in Tudor England? This was a society where monarchy was under strain, the church was in crisis and contending with war, rebellion, plague and poverty was a fact of daily life. Yet it was also an age rich in ideas and ideals, where women asserted their ...

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Sutton Hoo
Gone Medieval

Centuries ago, an Anglo-Saxon noble was buried within a 90-foot ship in a mound at Sutton Hoo. It serves as the richest burial ever found in northern Europe to date. Discovered in 1939, not much survived of the original ship. However, an imprint of the ship remains on the eart ...

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The Library of Alexandria
The Ancients

The Library of Alexandria was one of the most important and most celebrated buildings of the ancient Mediterranean. It was a great hub of learning and literature and made Alexandria one of the ancient world’s foremost centres of knowledge and culture, and the jewel of the Nile ...

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Forbidden Books
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

What makes a book bad? Does it have to be nonsensical? Heretical? Libellous? Sexy?


Well for 500 years, a panel from the Roman Catholic Church attempted to grapple with this distinction.


Today Betwixt the Sheets, we find out what this collection of people de ...

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