A brief history of foods and their origins. This time, sugar.

The widely accepted view is that Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, was ethnically an olive-skinned Macedonian Greek. Some argue, however, that the 'African' queen was a black woman. Who's right? What evidence is there to know how the enigmatic queen looked?

It's a story that's lasted over 900 years but what is the truth behind Lady Godiva's naked ride through the streets of Anglo-Saxon Coventry?

Isabella Mary Beeton was an English journalist, editor and writer who is most associated with her first book, the 1861 work "Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management".

Statecraft requires intelligence to determine the potential threats to a nation. It should be no surprise, given Rome’s highly organised military and civil bureaucracy, that the army provided the means to gather the necessary information. What follows is an attempt to unravel the "who’s who" and discover what roles, tasks, and functions Rome’s "secret agents" performed.

Introducing Eliza Acton a cookery pioneer who is far too often forgotten. She established the format for written recipes still used to this day that includes a description of the process, a list of ingredients, and the cooking time. Before her, cook's relied on just a list of ingredients and their own skill to create dishes. Eliza's innovative style allowed anyone to reproduce a recipe from scratch.

"Kitchenalia" introduces objects from different historical periods, discovers a bit about their history and how each was made. We look at how, through our practical experiments, we have learnt to best use them, and offer some recipes for you to try at home. Today's objects are "fish eaters". which became popular in the Victorian period.

Explaining the difference between the historical punishments known as pillories and stocks, which are often confused.

This article questions the oft quoted parallels between Mithraism and Christianity that have led to so much deliberation on whether Christianity is a re-branded version of Mithraic beliefs.

Dispelling the popular misconceptions that people were shorter and didn't live as long in the past.

The first Europeans to settle in the Americas were the Vikings. Perhaps we should call it 'Norse America'.

In the big scheme of things today’s post is a very minor gripe. It does, however, reflect on the historical accuracy of television dramas, documentaries and films. You may not have noticed it, but it happens pretty much every time characters interact over a radio. Once pointed out, then, like an ear worm, you will hear it often. Today’s bug bear is "Over and Out".

History is not only the study of past events, particularly in human affairs, but it is most uniquely, also a continuous, typically chronological, record of such events. This teaching resource is a simple guide to how history has been recorded.

Continuing the series "Ludi", and following on from ancient Egypt, here are selection of board games played by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

A brief history of the pineapple, a tropical plant with an edible fruit indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuries.

What's in a name? Where barbarians really just uncouth savages or is there more to the original meaning behind this term?

"Ludi" is a series on ancient games. The ancient Egyptian board game of Senet is one of the oldest games in the world and may be the ancestor of modern backgammon. Senet represents the two players' journey through the afterlife.

According to a BBC News tweet , the "Welsh leek" could be set for protected status. "A Brief History of Foods", reveals how surprisingly few of our commonly used ingredients are not native to these shores. Such is the case with leeks, whose Welsh heritage is not so clear cut.

"Ludi" is a series on ancient games. Aseb is the ancient Egyptian version of the ancient Middle Eastern game called "The Game of 20 Squares". Aseb is a two player race game similar to Senet and the Royal Game of Ur, but with a shorter playing duration.

On This Day, February 26th in 1852, 450 perish as the troopship HMS Birkenhead sinks off the coast of South Africa. The soldiers' chivalry gave rise to the unofficial ‘women and children first’ code of conduct for abandoning ship. The ‘Birkenhead drill’ as it was termed in Rudyard Kipling's 1893 tribute to the Royal Marines, ‘Soldier an' Sailor Too’, would later come to describe courage in the face of hopeless circumstances.