HistoryExtra podcast

The protestant missionaries that didn't change the world

18 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why did Protestant missionaries travel the globe across the course of centuries, only to convert remarkably few people? Alec Ryrie – author of new b...

Strangers and aliens in Tudor England

16 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Many histories of the 16th century tell stories of monarchs and courtiers – but there is, of course, much more to the century than that. Speaking to...

Alexander the Great: life of the week

15 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Stretching from Greece to India, Alexander the Great’s empire was one of the largest in human history, and he’d conquered it all by the time he wa...

What myths do we tell about royal women?

14 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Have royal women's stories been misconstrued? Speaking to Charlotte Vosper, Kate Williams argues that many of them have been, tracing the lives of a w...

Cleopatra’s death – and cultural afterlife

13 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The final chapter of Cleopatra’s life is shrouded in mystery. Did she really take her own life? Was an asp involved? And why don’t we know where h...

Masters of disinformation: how British spies played dirty in the Cold War

11 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

They 'haunted' an Indonesian general with a talking ghost and planted fake hippies in a Bulgarian youth festival. But did they change the course of th...

Churchill's toughest decision

09 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the summer of 1940, the Royal Navy attacked a French fleet moored off the coast of north Africa, killing almost 1,300 sailors. Winston Churchill de...

Henry Paget: life of the week

08 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Henry Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey, lived a life of extravagance, luxury and theatre – and for this, he was the subject of much intrigue in the l...

The hidden history of female sexual pleasure

07 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did women in the past experience sex and pleasure? Kate Lister reveals that this is a rather complicated question. Instead of simply lying back an...

Why Cleopatra was more than a bewitching beauty

06 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We often think of Cleopatra as using her feminine wiles to secure, and maintain, power. But was that really the case? And what other skills and qualit...

Better than Bridgerton: the real Georgian masquerade

04 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Is there a real historical phenomenon behind Bridgerton’s masked ball? And what would it really have been like? In this episode, Meghan Kobza takes ...

Weimar's descent from democracy to barbarism

02 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Weimar is a small German city. Yet it looms large in European history. In the 1920s, it was synonymous with liberalism, internationalism and the fine ...

Alan Turing: life of the week

01 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Turing is one of the most celebrated of all British scientists. His work in cracking Nazi codes at Bletchley Park, and his role in the evolution ...

The self-made Marilyn Monroe

31 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Marilyn Monroe is synonymous with glamour, beauty and stardom – but scratching the surface of her public image reveals another story. Author and pro...

Cleopatra’s bloody rise to power

30 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From formidable overseas leaders to vicious internecine conflict, Cleopatra’s rise to the top was bloody and brutal. So what personal qualities did ...

Gullible Georgians: hoaxes in the Enlightenment period

28 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The 18th century was an age of industrialisation, scientific exploration and ‘progress’, but what happened when those rational foundations were sh...

Spies, radicals and deportees: one hotel in wartime Paris

26 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Hotel Lutetia in central Paris lived several lives in the tortured times of the 1930s and 1940s. Before the war, it was the hub of dissenting acti...

Timur: life of the week

25 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Timur – sometimes known as Tamerlane – carved out one of history’s largest empires through sweeping military campaigns and ruthless violence. Em...

How Orkney became the centre of Viking Age violence

24 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For much of the Viking Age, the Orkney archipelago served as a vibrant hub of Norse activity. But these islands were also plagued by violence, not lea...

Young Cleopatra: the making of a queen

23 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Thousands of years ago, a woman emerged on to the world stage whose name would echo down through the centuries: Cleopatra. But what we do we know abou...

A history of Christian sacrifice

21 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What's the role that sacrifice has played in the history of Christianity? It's a history that might be more complex, and more surprising, than we thin...

Redefining historical mothers

19 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Motherhood has long been considered as something expected, rather than extraordinary. Yet from midwives questioning the status quo to pregnant women p...

Lady Jane Grey: life of the week

18 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Think of Lady Jane Grey, and your mind probably goes straight to her legacy as the Nine Days’ Queen. But what do we really know about her life? She ...

The peacemakers of WW2

17 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Politicians and generals today talk a lot about the need for exit plans to be established if conflict erupts between nations. In the middle of the hor...

The long shadow of the Black Death

16 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When the first wave of the Black Death finally subsided, what sort of world did it leave behind? How did societies adapt in the decades that followed?...

The secret plot to end Scottish independence

14 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did the union of England and Scotland come to fruition? From failed Scottish colonies to anti-independence espionage, Marc Mierowsky's book A Spy ...

How did communism conquer China?

12 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did a tiny band of guerrillas come to rule a quarter of humanity? And was the outcome of the Chinese Civil War really the ‘heroic’ popular upr...

Olaf Tryggvason: life of the week

11 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From thrall to king; from pagan to Christian: Olaf Tryggvason was one of the titanic figures of the Viking Age, whose story straddles the line between...

The death of Adolf Hitler

10 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What do we really know about Adolf Hitler’s death? In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, historian and author Caroline Sharples tells Charlot...

Fear and faith: coping with the Black Death

09 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For those who lived through it, the Black Death left a legacy of fear, loss and uncertainty. But how did people cope with such overwhelming catastroph...

Attenborough: a life on screen

07 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This May marks the 100th birthday of leading British documentary-maker and natural historian David Attenborough. But what's the longer history of wild...

A worker's eye-view of ancient Rome

05 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We know plenty about the lives of rich and powerful Romans – men such as Julius Caesar and Augustus. But Kim Bowes is more interested in those who w...

Niccolò Machiavelli: life of the week

04 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From obscure beginnings to torture, exile, and desperate reinvention, the biography of Renaissance diplomat and author Niccolò Machiavelli reads like...

How to pull off a Georgian dinner party

03 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A dinner party in a beautifully decorated Georgian dining room might sound sophisticated, even romantic – but planning such events was not for the f...

The Black Death: a global contagion

02 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Black Death is remembered as one of the most devastating catastrophes in human history – a pandemic that swept across continents and killed mill...

George Orwell's final chapter

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Did you know that George Orwell only found national acclaim as an author in the final years of his life, as his health was worsening? Or that, with th...

Was Elizabeth II's reign a golden age?

28 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When the late Queen acceded to the throne in 1952, Britain, though left bankrupt and reeling from the Second World War, was still a major global power...

Johannes Vermeer: life of the week

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Johannes Vermeer is now regarded as one of the leading lights of the Dutch Golden Age, and indeed one of the greatest artists of all time. But in his ...

When did Roman Britain really end?

26 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did England – and Englishness – emerge from the final days of Roman Britain? And what separated Englishness from Britishness? Emeritus profess...

How the Vikings reshaped Anglo-Saxon England

25 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Alfred the Great’s victory over the Vikings at the battle of Edington brought the campaign of the Great Heathen Army to an end – but it didn't con...

Preview: The surprising history of pizza

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It's now among the world's most popular foods – but what do we know about the origins of pizza? Today on the HistoryExtra podcast, we're bringing yo...

A short history of running

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why do people run marathons in their thousands these days? Carl Morris, in conversation with Dave Musgrove, traces the origins of running as a sport b...

Mary Beard on why the classics still matter

21 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What's the role of the classical past in the modern day? In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, internationally renowned classicist Mary Beard r...

Elizabeth II: life of the week

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This April marks the centenary of the birth of Elizabeth II. In this special episode of our Life of the Week series, historian Kate Williams guides Ch...

Retracing Eleanor of Castile's final journey

19 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of the 13th century, England was gripped by grief as news of the queen's death shook the nation. Eleanor of Castile's funeral procession fr...

How Alfred the Great saved the Anglo-Saxons from the Vikings

18 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As the Viking Great Heathen Army advanced to the borders of Wessex, the conquest of Anglo-Saxon England appeared all but complete. In the third episod...

How to find a billion-dollar shipwreck

16 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1708, the Spanish galleon San José was sunk by a British warship off the coast of Colombia, vanishing beneath the waves with a treasure trove of u...

A fantastical history of fairies

14 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When picturing a fairy, you might imagine a childlike creature with wings. But this is a far more modern image than we might think. In this episode, M...

Aud the Deep-Minded: life of the week

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It was the Vikings of northern Europe who first settled the harsh landscapes of Iceland in the ninth century. Most of the figures leading this movemen...

How Tudor London inspired literary genius

12 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the bustling streets of Elizabethan London, a vibrant community of writers helped shape the future of the English language and literature. From poe...

The rise of Alfred the Great

11 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As the Viking Great Heathen Army refused to leave Anglo-Saxon England, the pressure mounted on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to respond, placing the future...

Stalin's murderous vendetta against Trotsky

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Mexico City, August 1940: a study door closes, an ice axe is raised and the Bolshevik Revolution’s greatest exile meets his grisly end. But what led...

A new take on the battle of Hastings

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It's long been assumed that King Harold's English army arrived tired and in disarray at the battle of Hastings, having had to march over 200 miles fro...

Mrs Beeton: life of the week

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Mrs Beeton is a name synonymous with 19th-century domesticity – most notably in connection with the iconic Book of Household Management. But who was...

The battle of the Arctic: the overlooked crucible of WW2

05 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The US and UK supplied the USSR with vast amounts of military materiel during the Second World War via the Arctic convoys. In this episode, Hugh Sebag...

How the Vikings pushed Anglo-Saxon England to the brink

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

During the latter decades of the ninth century, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms faced an existential threat as Viking forces launched an assault on a scale n...

How to stay healthy in the Middle Ages

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In reality, were medieval people dirty and covered in mud? What did they think were the healthiest things to eat? And how often did they think they sh...

Europe's Muslim history

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From the magnificence of the Alhambra to the forgotten resting places of the Prophet Muhammad’s own relatives, Islam has long been a part of Europe’...

Attila the Hun: life of the week

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Few historical figures have reputations quite as diabolical as that of Attila the Hun. This nomadic leader pitched up on the edge of the Roman empire ...

Captured by Barbary corsairs: an Englishwoman's extraordinary tale

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1756, Elizabeth Marsh set sail from Gibraltar to Britain with the intention of meeting her fiancé. Instead, she was captured by Barbary corsairs –...

Was Elizabeth I's reign really a 'golden age'?

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As Elizabeth I entered the final chapter of her reign, questions of ageing, succession, and legacy loomed large. In this final episode of our four-par...

Spy, hero, rebel, traitor: the story of Roger Casement

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Rory Carroll unpacks the dramatic final years of Roger Casement – an Irish diplomat and nationalist whose tangled legacy includes heroism, betrayal,...

The relentless rise of the mafia

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The 20th century saw the mafia go global. Crime groups, from Japan's Yakuza to southern Italy's Camorra, capitalised on political chaos and mass migra...

Harriet Martineau: life of the week

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Thinker, feminist, sociologist, campaigner: 19th-century writer Harriet Martineau was a pioneer and a radical across a huge range of areas, but it's v...

Sores, sweat and secretions: the pox in early modern London

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

With sinful associations and incredibly painful symptoms, the pox could be a damning diagnosis in the early modern period. In this episode, Olivia Wei...

Elizabeth’s enemies: plots, rivals and the Spanish Armada

22 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth I’s reign was defined by constant threat, both at home and abroad. In this third episode of our four-part Sunday Series on the Tudor monar...

Britain and the looted African gold

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1870s, British troops invaded the African kingdom of Asante, razed its capital, prowled its palace and plundered its exquisite golden treasures...

The devastating Jewish revolt against the Roman empire

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It was under the rule of the infamous emperor Nero that the Great Revolt, the first of the Jewish-Roman wars, began, sparking many decades of continuo...

Culture and conflict: a historical tour of Dublin

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Ireland's capital may be famous today for its nightlife and literature, but it has experienced more than its fair share of conflict and oppression alo...

How Rasputin helped doom the Romanovs

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The life of Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian peasant healer who wielded influence over the family of Russia’s last tsar, has fascinated the world for ...

Elizabeth I: a woman in a man’s world

15 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

By 1559, Elizabeth I had secured the crown – but holding on to power would prove far more challenging. In this second episode of our four-part Sunda...

Life on the mean streets of 19th-century London

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What can Charlie Chaplin's life tell us about the experiences of poor working-class people in 19th- and early 20th-century London? Quite a lot, it tur...

Trailblazers and troublemakers: women who made French history

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Have women been relegated to the footnotes of French history? Katherine Pangonis – whose latest book is A History of France in 21 Women – tells Ch...

Vladimir Lenin: life of the week

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Few people had as much impact on the course of the 20th century as Vladimir Lenin – from his years as an émigré across the capitals of western Eur...

Why Britons rejected fascism in the 1930s

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The 1920s and 30s were golden decades for extremism. Across Europe, dictators including Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini goose-stepped their way into powe...

Young Elizabeth I: the making of a queen

08 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth I is one of history's most iconic monarchs, but her path to the throne was anything but secure. In this first episode of our four-part Sunda...

A poetic history of England

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How can you do justice to the story of 1,300 years of English history? Through verse, according to cultural historian Catherine Clarke – whose lates...

The hidden history behind Mount Rushmore

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Mount Rushmore is one of the most iconic images in US history – but its story is far more complex and controversial than that of a simple sculpture....

Juana Inés de la Cruz: life of the week

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

She led “a life that really, in many ways, shouldn't have been possible”. So says historian Paul Gillingham of Juana Inés de la Cruz. This 17th-c...

The forgotten wars that redefined Europe

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

While the crusades raged across the Holy Land in the southern Levant, the kingdoms of central and northern Europe were engaged in their own battle to ...

Does Magna Carta matter today?

01 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Politicians invoke it, activists wield it, and legal thinkers debate what it can offer the modern world. But what does Magna Carta really mean today? ...

Slavery in the Islamic world

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Slavery in the Islamic world has a diverse and controversial history. Speaking to Emily Briffett, historian and journalist Justin Marozzi explores som...

The real women behind Europe's greatest legends

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

National icons aren’t born – they’re engineered. But how were historical figures such as Joan of Arc and Isabella of Castile transformed into po...

Thomas Edison: life of the week

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Widely remembered as the ultimate American inventor, Edison’s greatest talent may have been for self-promotion. In this episode, historian Iwan Moru...

Following the footsteps of a WW2 prisoner of war

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Captured in Libya, imprisoned in Italy, and twice an escapee: historian Malcolm Gaskill's great-uncle Ralph's experiences of the Second World War were...

Magna Carta: why didn't King John keep his word?

22 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As King John was poised to press his seal into the wax of a document whose impact would reverberate for centuries, did he understand the ramifications...

How to be a Victorian

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Victorian period was a time of great economic, cultural and technological change. But what was it like to actually live through it? Speaking to Is...

"The streets will run with blood!": the uprising that shook Victorian Britain

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1838, a 6ft Cornishman going by the name of Sir William Courtenay led an insurrection in rural Kent. Courtenay claimed he was Jesus Christ – and ...

Pocahontas: life of the week

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Pocahontas's life is shrouded in myth – but how much of that lore is true? Speaking to Emily Briffett, historian Camilla Townsend brings us face to ...

The ruthless revolution that made Britain great

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The spinning jenny and steam power may be the textbook markers of the Industrial Revolution – but Edmond Smith argues the story starts earlier, and ...

The Magna Carta myth

15 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Magna Carta may be associated today with power, liberty and freedom – but those weren’t quite the concerns back in 1215. So what did the barons re...

Terrible puns and filthy limericks: the Victorian sense of humour

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Queen Victoria was – so legend has it – famously 'not amused'. But, as Dr Bob Nicholson reveals in this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, the l...

What your hands say about you – according to history

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What do your hands reveal about you? Historian Alison Bashford joins Elinor Evans to explore the extraordinary history of how people have interpreted ...

Thomas More: life of the week

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas More is best remembered as a martyr and a saint, but the circumstances of his death were just one facet of his controversial life. Historian an...

Going on strike in ancient Rome

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Strikes and unions may seem like modern inventions, but they’ve existed for much longer than many of us realise. Historian Sarah E Bond talks to Jon...

Magna Carta: king v barons

08 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 13th century, England was a kingdom under pressure, as the challenges posed by King John’s reign had left the realm restless. By 1215, ...

Untold LGBTQ stories of the National Trust

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1895, when the National Trust was founded, homosexual acts of ‘gross indecency’ were still illegal in Britain. And yet, as Michael Hall reveals...

Why Greenwich is the home of time

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why is a small observatory in south east London so important to the story of how we tell the time? Speaking to Elinor Evans, Emily Akkermans, Curator...

James Gillray: life of the week

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

James Gillray was one of Georgian Britain’s most ruthless satirists, using his prints to mock kings, politicians and generals, turning politics into...

Churchill and de Gaulle: a strange relationship

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

After France fell in 1940, it was Charles de Gaulle who led the Free French forces against Nazi Germany and Vichy France. From the moment he assumed t...