Danny Bird

On 7 December 1941, the Japanese inflicted a devastating aerial attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. The next day, the United States declared war on Japan. But did the American president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, know about the intended target and secretly welcome the assault? In the second season of our Conspiracy podcast series, Rob Attar speaks to Steve Twomey about why some believe the deadly ambush was a matter of expediency for a president bent on joining WW2

The discovery in the mid-19th century of a mysterious grave sparked the theory that Queen Elizabeth I of England had in fact been a man. During her lifetime, Elizabeth’s contemporaries often noted her so-called ‘manly’ qualities – but was this merely the product of a patriarchal society or was the Virgin Queen hiding a profound state secret? In the second season of our Conspiracy podcast series, Rob Attar speaks to Tracy Borman and asks if there’s any basis to the Bisley Boy Legend

Originating in the Spanish Civil War, the notion of the ‘enemy within’ conveyed by the term ‘fifth column’ has had a long and sinister legacy throughout the modern world

The hammer and sickle is one of the modern world’s most recognisable symbols. It instantly evokes the former Soviet Union and communism. For some people around the globe, it remains a beacon of hope for a better tomorrow. But for others it is a painful reminder of totalitarian oppression and terror. What’s the history behind this revolutionary symbol?

On 4 October 1936, fascists and anti-fascists clashed in London's East End, when Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts marched through a largely Jewish community

The eldest of the Mitford sisters, Nancy Mitford turned the eccentricities of her family and social class into sharp, enduring satire

Summer is the perfect time to lose yourself in a good book – and history lovers have plenty of new titles to choose from this year. We've rounded up 28 of favourites from the year so far