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Showing 1 to 30 of 59 results

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Toilets through timeAbsolutely bogging. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Toilets through time | A HistoryExtra podcast series

Medieval miniature illustration showing people looking from windows of neighboring houses while a man squats in a courtyard below.

Medieval

Were medieval toilets as filthy as you think?

A depiction of Roman communal toilets

Membership

Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This Roman mosaic depicts Orestes and Iphigenia, with Iphigenia holding a small statue of Artemis — imagery drawn from Greek myth and popular across the Roman world. Mosaics like this often decorated the floors of bath complexes and latrines, where vibrant storytelling scenes enlivened communal spaces.

Roman

Ancient Roman culture would be baffling to modern eyes – and their toilet habits prove it

Composite image showing a medieval cesspit excavation alongside historic coins found within the deposit.

Medieval

From health to wealth, here are the strange secrets medieval toilets reveal about life in the Middle Ages

A baby sits on a toilet and pulls toilet paper from a roll

General History

A brief history of the toilet: wiping, washing – plus, who invented the flush?

A detail from the Bayeux Tapestry showing Harold Godwinson enthroned as king of England, holding a sceptre and orb. Groups of figures flank the newly crowned king, while decorative animals appear in the border below.

Medieval

Is this toilet the ultimate Anglo-Saxon status symbol? Inside Harold II’s ‘ensuite’

Medieval manuscript illustration of two crowned kings embracing to symbolise an agreement.

Medieval

Did the Bible really inspire an early medieval king’s disgusting death?

On a green background, there is a sketch of a human pyramid of people in togas, all balancing fruit on their heads, arms and feet

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Be neighbourly like a Pompeian. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration showing a samurai soldier dressed in a black and blue robe. Behind him is a person holding up a bar with two buckets of poo hanging from it.

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Let’s think before we flush, with Dr Christopher Harding. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

1858 Punch satirical cartoon titled 'The Silent Highwayman,' showing the Grim Reaper rowing on a polluted River Thames in front of London landmarks

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Victorian London's poop explosion: why even Queen Victoria couldn't escape the stench. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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When was the worst time to be alive? You'll be surprised at what our expert has to say. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

RAF fliers accompany the bodies of two Nazi airmen being taken to be buried in Edinburgh

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In October 1939, two coffins were wheeled through Edinburgh draped in Nazi flags. But why?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen dynasty

Medieval

What was the Erfurt Latrine Disaster?

A historic timber‑framed building with white plaster infill, exposed dark beams, and leaded diamond‑pane windows features an ornate carved wooden entrance and a tiled roof.

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The Tudor village that time left behind. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A modern illustration shows a man dressed in a grey and red hooded outfit, knelt on the ground with a wooden bucket behind him and a lit lantern in front of him. He is shovelling a pile of poo

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Think your job is bad? These 17 occupations from the past were much, much worse. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval illustration of a farmer harvesting carrots with a hoe in a garden.

Medieval

“Check your husband’s dunghill” – here’s why medieval society was obsessed with poo

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The ancient Mesopotamians were freakishly ahead of their time – and here are 8 reasons why. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Pat Smith of Mari Arts and the Mari Lwyd (Photo by Western Mail Archive/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

General History

Welsh Christmas traditions through history

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Bear fat, false rumps and arsenic makeup: 7 of the most bizarre beauty trends from the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A circular object resembling an ancient clay tablet is shown against a black background with swirling coloured mist. The tablet is inscribed with cuneiform markings and partly covered by an orange overlay that includes a small metallic disc near its centre.

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21 facts about farts: from Hitler's wind to the flatulent Roman who caused 10,000 deaths. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Architectural reconstruction illustration of the grand Temple of Artemis at Ephesus with imposing marble columns, sculptured pediment, steps, and small figures gathered in the courtyard

Ancient Greece

It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – so why was it destroyed three times?

shows ballet dancers on stage, with a male dancer supporting a ballerina in a white tutu as she extends one leg; in her dress, the Kremlin can be seen

20th Century

In times of crisis, the Soviet Union turned to something unexpected to calm the masses

Zeinab Badawi (Photo by Jamie Simonds)

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Zeinab Badawi on writing the history of a whole continent | “It is important to look at African history through the lens of African people themselves”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Gravestones displaying the names of pets

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Pet cemeteries: where have beloved animals been laid to rest through the centuries?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) approaches Omaha Beach, Normandy on D-Day (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)

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"Hitler slept through D-Day", plus four other facts about the Normandy Landings you might not know.... This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General History

The best historical movies of all time

Collage of twelve photographs of ancient Roman sites, including ruined amphitheatres, a triumphal arch, a mosaic floor, a columned temple, and old paved roads.

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These are the 12 most underrated Roman sites in the world – how many have you visited?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Thomas Crapper started a plumbing business in Chelsea in 1861 and pioneered some of the most revolutionary designs of sanitary engineering in the 19th century – but he didn't 'invent' the toilet

Victorian

The legend of Thomas Crapper, the man who didn't invent the toilet

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