CINXE.COM

<!doctype html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/history/about/","20060701095137","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1151747497"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>BBC - History - About This Site</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="Author" content="British Broadcasting Corporation"> <meta name="Keywords" content="history, British history, tudors, victorians, romans, vikings, Scottish history, Britain, timelines, prehistory, world war one, world war two, military history, WWII, WWI, oral history, games"> <meta name="Description" content="About page of the BBC History website">   <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"/> <style type="text/css">  </style> <style type="text/css"> @import '/web/20060701095137cs_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/includes/tbenh.css'; </style> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">  </script> <style type="text/css"></style>  <script src="/web/20060701095137js_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cs/jst/mod/1/jst_core.js" type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">  </script> <script src="/web/20060701095137js_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cs/jst/mod/1/jst_forms.js" type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"></script> <script src="/web/20060701095137js_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cs/jst/mod/1/jst_img.js" type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"></script> <script src="/web/20060701095137js_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cs/jst/mod/1/jst_css.js" type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"></script>   <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">  </script> <script language="JavaScript1.1" src="/web/20060701095137js_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/eoltools/css/ifl_getCSS.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">  </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/web/20060701095137cs_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/css/indexes.css"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/web/20060701095137cs_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/css/community.css"/>  </head> <body marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" background="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/redesign/images/community/bg.jpg" style="background-repeat:repeat-y;"> <a name="top" id="top"></a><table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" lang="en"><tr> <td class="bbcpageShadow" colspan="2"><a href="#startcontent" accesskey="2"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="590" height="2" alt="Skip to main content" title="" border="0"/></a></td><td class="bbcpageShadow"><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/education/betsie/parser.pl"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="1" height="1" alt="Text Only version of this page" title="" border="0"/></a><br/><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/accesskeys/keys.shtml" accesskey="0"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="1" height="1" alt="Access keys help" title="" border="0"/></a></td></tr><form method="get" action="https://web.archive.org/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl" accept-charset="utf-8"><tr><td class="bbcpageShadowLeft" width="94"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/toolbar/-/home/d/" accesskey="1"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/images/logo042.gif" width="90" height="30" alt="bbc.co.uk" border="0" hspace="2" vspace="0"/></a></td><td class="bbcpageGrey" align="right"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="float:right"><tr><td><font size="1"><b><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/toolbar/text/-/home/d/" class="bbcpageWhite">Home</a></b></font></td><td class="bbcpageBar" width="6"><br/></td><td><font size="1"><b><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/toolbar/-/tv/d/" class="bbcpageWhite">TV</a></b></font></td><td class="bbcpageBar" width="6"><br/></td><td><font size="1"><b><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/toolbar/-/radio/d/" class="bbcpageWhite">Radio</a></b></font></td><td class="bbcpageBar" width="6"><br/></td><td><font size="1"><b><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/toolbar/-/talk/" class="bbcpageWhite">Talk</a></b></font></td><td class="bbcpageBar" width="6"><br/></td><td><font size="1"><b><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/toolbar/-/whereilive/" class="bbcpageWhite">Where I Live</a></b></font></td><td class="bbcpageBar" width="6"><br/></td><td><nobr><font size="1"><b><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/toolbar/-/a-z/" class="bbcpageWhite" accesskey="3">A-Z Index</a></b></font></nobr></td><td class="bbcpageSearchL" width="8"><br/></td><td class="bbcpageSearch2" width="100"><input type="text" id="bbcpageSearchbox" name="q" size="6" style="margin:3px 0 0;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;width:100px;" title="BBC Search" accesskey="4"/></td><td class="bbcpageSearch"><input type="image" src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/images/srchb2.gif" name="go" value="go" alt="Search" width="64" height="25" border="0"/></td><td class="bbcpageSearchRa" width="1"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="1" height="30" alt=""/></td></tr></table></td><td class="bbcpageSearchRb"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="1" height="1" alt=""/><input type="hidden" name="uri" value="/history/about/"/></td></tr></form><tr><td class="bbcpageBlack" colspan="2"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td width="110"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="110" height="1" alt=""/></td><td width="10"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="10" height="1" alt=""/></td><td id="bbcpageblackline" width="650"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="650" height="1" alt=""/></td></tr></table></td><td class="bbcpageBlack" width="100%"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="1" height="1" alt=""/></td></tr></table><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%"><tr><td class="bbcpageToplefttd" width="110"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td width="8"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="8" height="1" alt=""/></td><td width="102"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="102" height="1" alt=""/><br clear="all"/><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" class="bbcpageToplefttd">1 July 2006<br/><a class="bbcpageTopleftlink" style="text-decoration:underline;" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/">Accessibility help</a><br/><a class="bbcpageTopleftlink" style="text-decoration:underline;" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/education/betsie/parser.pl">Text only</a></font></td></tr></table></td><td width="100%" valign="top"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="660" height="70" class="mainStickState"><tr> <td width="20"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" height="1" width="20" border="0" alt="" hspace="0" vspace="0"/></td><td valign="top"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/images/banners/b_c_about.gif" width="450" height="70" alt="About This Site" border="0"></td><td valign="middle" align="right"><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/images/banners/b_purple_url.gif" width="175" height="70" alt="bbc.co.uk/history" border="0"> </a></td><td width="5"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" height="1" width="5" border="0" alt="" hspace="0" vspace="0"/></td> </tr></table></td></tr></table><table style="margin:0px;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left" width="110"><tr><td class="bbcpageCrumb" width="8"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="8" height="1" alt=""/></td><td class="bbcpageCrumb" width="100"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="100" height="1" alt=""/><br clear="all"/><font face="arial, helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><a class="bbcpageCrumb" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/" lang="en">BBC Homepage</a><br/></font></td><td width="2" class="bbcpageCrumb"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="2" height="1" alt=""/></td><td class="bbcpageGutter" valign="top" width="10" rowspan="4"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="10" height="1" vspace="0" hspace="0" alt="" align="left"/></td></tr><tr><td class="bbcpageLocal" colspan="3"><div id="leftnav"> <h4><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/">History Homepage</a></h4> <h5>Topics</h5> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/">Ancient</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/">Church & State</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/discovery/">Science & Discovery</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/">Society & Culture</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/">Wars & Conflict</a></li> </ul> <h5>Resources</h5> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/">History TV & Radio </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/multimedia_zone/">Interactive Content</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/reading_room/">Reading Room</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/">Timelines</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/">Historic Figures</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/">History for Kids</a></li> </ul> <h5>Practical History</h5> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/archaeology/">Archaeology</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/">Family History</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/">History Trails</a></li> </ul> <h5>Community</h5> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/talk_history/">Messageboard</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/newsletter.shtml">Newsletter</a></li> <li class="stick"> <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/">About This Site</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/copyright.shtml">Copyright</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/credits_bbc.shtml">Credits - BBC</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/credits_external.shtml">Credits - External</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="bbcpageLocal" colspan="3"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="1" height="5" alt=""/></td></tr><tr><td class="bbcpageServices"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="1" height="1" alt=""/></td><td class="bbcpageServices"><hr width="50" align="left"/><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a class="bbcpageServices" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/">Contact Us</a><br/><br/><font size="1">Like this page?<br/><a class="bbcpageServices" onclick="popmailwin('/cgi-bin/navigation/mailto.pl?GO=1&REF=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/index.shtml','Mailer')" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/navigation/mailto.pl?GO=1&REF=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/index.shtml" target="Mailer">Send it to a friend!</a></font><br/> </font></td><td class="bbcpageServices"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="1" height="1" alt=""/></td></tr></table><table width="650" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="margin:0px;" style="float:left;"><tr><td><a name="startcontent" id="startcontent"></a>  <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="635"> <tr> <td colspan="3" height="10"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" height="10" width="1" border="0" alt="" hspace="0" vspace="0"/></td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="635"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="635"> <tr><td valign="top" width="635">  <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td class="cellStickState" width="100%"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td valign="middle" class="bodyTextWhite" width="100%"><h1 class="panelContrast1_1">Welcome to bbc.co.uk/history</h1></td> <td width="10"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" height="1" width="10" border="0" alt="" hspace="0" vspace="0"/></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr>  <tr> <td valign="top" height="10"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" height="10" width="1" border="0" alt="" hspace="0" vspace="0"/></td> </tr>  <tr> <td valign="top"><p class="bodyPadding">This site is dedicated to bringing history to life, for the casual browser and the complete enthusiast. There are nearly 10,000 pages for you to explore, and new content is added all the time.</p></td> </tr>  <tr> <td valign="top" height="10"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" height="10" width="1" border="0" alt="" hspace="0" vspace="0"/></td> </tr>  <tr> <td valign="top" width="100%"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td valign="top" class="panelContrast3" width="50%"><h5><a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/topics/"><span class="defaultTextColour">Content</span></a></h5> <div class="bodyPadding"> The site content is divided into <strong>Topics</strong>, <strong>Resources</strong>, <strong>Practical History</strong> and <strong>Community</strong>. </div> <div class="bodyPadding"><strong>Topics</strong> embraces all the key historical themes and events that are covered in-depth on the site. For example, the <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/trafalgar_waterloo/index.shtml">Battle of Trafalgar</a> in <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/trafalgar_waterloo/index.shtml">Topics > Wars and Conflict</a>, or the <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/index.shtml">Reformation</a> in <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/index.shtml">Topics > Church and State</a>.</div> <div class="bodyPadding"><strong>Resources</strong> are supplementary methods of getting into Topics. For example, you could choose to just see all the <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/multimedia_zone/games/">Games</a> available in Topics; or use the <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/">Timelines</a> to provide context to the events in Topics; or browse <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/">Historic Figures</a> for biographical background to the personalities covered in Topics. </div> </td> <td valign="top"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" height="1" width="5" border="0" alt="" hspace="0" vspace="0"/></td> <td valign="top" class="panelContrast3" width="50%"><div class="bodyPadding"><p></p><strong>Practical History</strong> shows you how to get involved with actually doing some history, whether it is researching your <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/index.shtml">Family History</a>, trying your hand at <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/archaeology/">Archaeology</a> or improving your skills with a structured <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/index.shtml">History Trails</a> online course.</div> <div class="bodyPadding"><strong>Community</strong> is where you can find out more about <strong>bbc.co.uk/history</strong>, sign up for the weekly <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/newsletter.shtml">Newsletter</a>, or interact with other site users on the Messageboard.</div> <div class="bodyPadding">Use the <strong>navigation</strong> to the left of this page to move around the site. It also shows you where you are on the site by highlighting the section you are in. For example, in the left-hand navigation on this page 'About this site' is highlighted in dark purple.</div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr>  <tr> <td valign="top" height="5"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" height="5" width="1" border="0" alt="" hspace="0" vspace="0"/></td> </tr>  <tr> <td valign="top"><h5><span class="defaultTextColour">Tell us what you think</span></h5> <div class="bodyPadding">If you would like to comment on the site, or if you think you have found a problem with one of its pages, use the 'Contact us' link, which is on every page. You can find more information on how to contact the BBC on the <a href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/index.shtml" class="panelContrast1Text">Feedback page</a>.</div></td> </tr> </table>  </td></tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>   </td></tr></table><br clear="all"/><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" lang="en"><tr><td class="bbcpageFooterMargin" width="110"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="110" height="1" alt=""/></td><td class="bbcpageFooterGutter" width="10"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="10" height="1" alt=""/></td><td class="bbcpageFooter" width="650" align="center"><img src="/web/20060701095137im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/f/t.gif" width="650" height="1" alt=""/><br/><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"><a class="bbcpageFooter" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/">About the BBC</a> | <a class="bbcpageFooter" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/help/">Help</a> | <a class="bbcpageFooter" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/">Terms of Use</a> | <a class="bbcpageFooter" href="/web/20060701095137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/privacy/">Privacy & Cookies Policy</a><br/> </font></td></tr></table><br clear="all"/><script src="/web/20060701095137js_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/includes/linktrack.js?2" type="text/javascript"></script> </body> </html>