Everyday life

History is more than Kings and Queens. To get under the skin of the past, join our experts on day-to-day life:

The earliest cities

There is much that the modern town-dweller would recognise in the worlds revealed by excavations of the earliest cities, explains David Barber in the city of the past.

What time is lunch?

You might think it's a pain waiting twenty minutes for your lunch - but what about your ancestors who had to wait centuries for innovation and inspiration to make today's menus? Put your plate into historical context with our timeline.

Where's your next meal coming from?

Worcestershire sauce isn't especially connected to Worcestershire - and did Marco Polo bring pasta to Italy? Explore the surprising world of food origins.

The cast of Hi-De-Hi, the BBC sitcom set in a 1960s holiday camp

Piers and other delights

For many in Britain, the coast means the seaside and leisure, fun and a taste of the forbidden. Sally Novello records the changes in the seaside as our first resort.

People from the sea

The oceans which surround us define us in more ways than just by providing a natural boundary, but what does it mean to be the island race?

Changing views

Track the changes to our seaside and compare the past and present with postcards from the past.

The coming of the machines

Explore a nation as it moved from rural to urban life with our changing landscapes.

Making occupation normal

Having crushed all traces of rebellion, the Roman occupation started to settle into a period of comfortable retrenchment, explains the Coming of Age transcript.

Nye Bevan, who brought Beveridge's vision of a National Health Service to fruition

War on the giants

Bevan's NHS is perhaps the best-known, but the Beveridge report resulted in many social advances and the birth of the welfare state.

16th century domestic scene - Bodleian Library

Cultural childhoods

Children who inhabit a spirit world or children beaten for lack of social competence, explore how children the world over are regarded very differently in cultural childhoods.