BBC History UK

January 2026 |

The Vikings’ most daring raid As they headed to the Mediterranean, Norse raiders employed their most brutal tactics, says Thomas Williams Defying the Inquisition Doña Gracia was a courageous leader of Europe’s Jewish diaspora in the 16th century. Andrée Aelion Brooks tells her remarkable story How the SAS rose from the dead Gavin Mortimer chronicles the demise and rebirth of the elite regiment in the wake of the Second World War tour of Europe in 1066 Charles West looks beyond the battle of Hastings to explore the crises rocking the continent during a dramatic year Medieval vampire slayers Gruesome tales of walking corpses terrified medieval people. John Blair investigates the fear of the living dead