Thousands of children and parents have been tuning in to history lessons by an eight-year-old from Hampstead.

Arabella Duffy has nearly 14,000 followers on Instagram @arabellaloulou_, with professional historians among her fans.

Several schools have begun using the bite-size videos, whose subjects including Winston Churchill, Jane Austen and Cleopatra.

Arabella told the Ham&High: "History is like a switch that went on and has never switched off. I love the adventure history takes you on – the pieces of a puzzle all connect together and make the world make sense."

Arabella, who is homeschooled, has already enjoyed showbiz success playing Lulu in the West End musical Waitress and voicing the role of Betty in CBeebies series Hey Duggee.

Mum Sophy Smith, who is an artist, said: "Arabella has been passionate about history since she was three and discovered a little red vintage book about Shakespeare.

"Asking after the Bard daily, we took her to all the places where she could gain information. She was allowed to stand next to his grave at Holy Trinity Church. She admired the balcony in Verona and delighted in hearing about the Globe at one of the talks there."

She said Arabella began making the videos to help deal with anxiousness brought on by lockdown.

Ham & High: Arabella DuffyArabella Duffy (Image: Sophy Smith)