Hello,
re. your third question:
Domain history can be viewed on domaintools.com if you create an account, however recent data will be redacted for privacy.
Some historic data can also be obtained using AI chatbots... e.g. try chatspot.ai and ask "what is the history of ..."
Do remember...
Clicked through their ad myself too and read the dnjournal article.
Currently it.uk just fowards to it.com
Their business model appears to be the resale of subdomains.
However, rule 7 of the Nominet Domain Registration Rules specifically disallows the resale of subdomains on .uk second-level...