Featuring a day in the life of early humans as they paint woolly mammoths on the walls of a cave, a fierce gladiator battling in the Colosseum and a codebreaker at Bletchley Park during World War II. And not forgetting the animals of history - from a day in the life of Hannibal's war elephant marching over the Alps and an Egyptian cat (worshiped as a god, of course) to a Galapagos tortoise who meets Charles Darwin on his famous voyage of the Beagle and Ham the space chimp. Readers can also discover the bigger picture behind famous constructions, including Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China and the Acropolis, and delve into the secret diaries of a swashbuckling pirate, a knight's horse and Edward Jenner's milkmaid.

Where in the world? -- Introduction -- Ancient history -- The Middle Ages -- Modern age.