From Shakespeare's will to Captain Bligh's log recalling the mutiny on the Bounty, history is in your hands at Britain's National Archives.
Edward VIII's signature on the abdication document that shook the monarchy, Lawrence of Arabia's campaign maps, the 11th century Domesday Book - the high-tech building is a time capsule of the nation's history.Up to 800 researchers a day delve into the millions of documents stacked on the 96 miles of shelves at the Public Record Office.
Nine hundred years of history are there to be explored, and everyone is welcome. Every New Year, journalists pore over Cabinet secrets newly released by the government after a statutory 30 years gathering dust.
Entrance is free, and a reader's ticket allows entry to the old and the new world. Australians look for details of ancestors deported as convicts. Americans whose forebears started a new life in the colonies hunt for clues to their family trees.
Pens are banned, only pencils are allowed. But you can photocopy documents and use a personal computer.
Readers are summoned by individual beepers after staff using mechanized carts have scoured four floors of documents to track down the treasures the visitors need.
"To hold in your hand the actual log of HMS Bounty that Captain Bligh took with him when cast away in an open boat is a real thrill," said Anne Crawford, press officer of the Public Record Office.
"Touching the Domesday Book (Britain's first census), and realizing William the Conqueror did too, is amazing," she said.
Great tragedies can be relived from the 16th century trial of Henry VIII's ill-fated wife Ann Boleyn to the 1649 trial of King Charles I that ended in his death on the scaffold.
"You couldn't begin to put a price on it in the open market. It is incalculable. I couldn't honestly tell you how many documents we have," Crawford said.
Security is tight. Computers log the identity of every reader, cameras scour the reading room. The office has a staff of almost 500 and a $50 million budget.
Everyone is searched when they leave the office, situated beside the world-famous Botanical Gardens at Kew in west London. Microfilmed records are stored at another central London location.
But Crawford admits: "No library anywhere in the world is foolproof." One thief was jailed for stealing beer labels from the patents register. "He was picked up on closed-circuit television taking a blade to them," she said.
Contractors removing asbestos from storage rooms stole King George VI's royal warrant granting the then Princess Elizabeth formal permission to marry the Duke of Edinburgh. Police retrieved the document when the thieves tried to sell it.
Fire is a recurring nightmare, but every document room can be isolated by metal doors. Smoking is banned. "The equipment is so sensitive it will pick up someone having a quick puff in the loo (toilet)," Crawford said.
The daily cast in the reading room is truly international. "We have students from all around the world seeing Britain's view of their country," she said.
And every year reveals new treasures as Britain slowly - some would say grudgingly - lifts the veil on the secrets of its past.
Of special interest are the secret agents who went behind enemy lines in World War II. Government departments are gradually releasing documents after checking for national security risks.
"Everyone is waiting for the war records from the Balkans, France and the Low Countries. The Balkans are the next we are expecting later this year," Crawford said.