SPIES THROUGH HISTORY

INCREDIBLE HISTORY

BOOK OF What were the first cities of

Mesopotamia: The creators of civilisation

Discover how society as we know it began in a small region of modern day Iraq

How Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii

THE GENIUS OF ANCIENT GREECE

How the inventions, discoveries and culture of this great civilisation changed the world

The Acropolis

Athens’ defining citadel became an enduring symbol of ancient Greek architecture

Innovations and inventions

The ancient Greeks devised many clever mechanisms and systems that are still used today

The art of mummification

Mummies have been found in many parts of the world, but Egyptian mummies are the most well-known due to their distinctive appearance and unique embalming process

Britain’s tribal territories

Before the Roman invasion in 55 BCE, Britain was characterised by a large number of ancient tribes, each with its own culture

The Terracotta Army

Learn about China’s ancient warriors for the afterlife

10 WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Take a tour of history’s greatest human-made landmarks and discover how they were built

The Washington Monument

Inside the US capital’s iconic marble obelisk that commemorates the achievements of the nation’s first president

Windmills

Find out how these towers have helped harness wind power throughout history

The history of Central Park

How did such a huge area of New York City become a green space?

Florence Cathedral

Crowned with the largest masonry dome in the world, Florence Duomo is a Renaissance masterpiece

How was the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling painted?

Explore the tools and techniques behind Michelangelo’s lofty Renaissance masterpiece

The Globe Theatre’s story

The most famous and historic theatre in Britain – if not the world – the Globe was the original home to William Shakespeare’s greatest plays

What went wrong at Chernobyl?

Learn how a runaway reaction led to a nuclear disaster…

HISTORY'S DEADLIEST WARRIORS

Lethal fighters who could strike fear into the hearts of even the most battle-hardened enemy

Meet the musketeers

One of the most popular military units for centuries, musketeers fought in battles and protected esteemed rulers all the way from France to India

Sikorsky MH-60 Black Hawk

Designed for special operations in hostile environments, this was a new kind of war machine, built for a new kind of battlefield

History’s most gruesome inventions

From brutal torture devices to bizarre medical treatments, these terrifying contraptions reveal a darker side of innovation

The brazen bull

Turning the screams of the dying into the roar of a beast

Crucifixion

Devised over 2,500 years ago as punishment for

Guillotine

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were both publicly

Electric chair

Electrocution was adopted as a quicker and supposedly

Inside a torture chamber

The terrifying devices that inflicted intense pain

Miserable medicine

The medical practices that did more harm than good

Weapons of war

The chemical arms race changed warfare forever

Colossus computer

How the first programmable digital computer helped bring WWII to an end

Rack-and-pinion railways

How did these unique transit systems help hefty locomotives scale steeper mountain slopes than ever before?

EUREKA!

10 accidental discoveries that changed the world

PREHISTORIC PAINTING

How these ancient artworks provide a rare insight into the lives of Palaeolithic humans

Hand stencils

The techniques used to create the perfect prehistoric hand silhouette

The world’s weirdest pigments

Our artistic ancestors were quite resourceful

Cave art across the world

The best examples of parietal paintings across the globe, from France to Australia

Record-breaking ROYALS

Meet the richest, deadliest and longest-lived monarchs and find out who had the most wives, the most money and the most heirs

THE GENIUS OF DA VINCI

So much more than just a painter, the famous Renaissance polymath invented a plethora of marvellous machines

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Though not always successful, Brunel’s designs revolutionised transport, and he is now remembered as one of the greatest engineers of all time

Charles Darwin

The father of evolutionary biology, Darwin is the most famous naturalist of the Victorian era, if not all time

The Wright brothers

These siblings played a pivotal role in the evolution of powered flight and radically altered the path of aviation history

Albert Einstein

The foremost scientist of his age, Einstein is considered the most influential physicist of all time

LAST DAYS OF THE DINOSAURS

How did an entire tribe of giant reptiles disappear from the face of the Earth?

Fossils

Discover life forms that lived millions or billions of years ago before being turned to stone

THE ICE AGE

Uncover the lost world and giant beasts of frozen Earth

Prehistoric monsters

Meet the enormous ancient predators that stalked the land, dominated the oceans and terrorised the skies