HistoryExtra podcast
Episodes
An audacious kidnapping in 1970s Paris
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On 23 January 1978, Baron Édouard-Jean Empain was snatched from the streets of Paris, in an audacious kidnapping attempt. Before long, a ransom of 80...
Blood, sweat & marble: examining ancient bodies
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine an ancient Greek or Roman body, and the first picture that pops into your head is probably made of marble or stone – perhaps an austere bust...
A journey along the Iron Curtain
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1946, Churchill declared that “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the Continent”. But ...
Fleeing revolution: Russians exiles in Paris
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1917, the Russian Revolution saw scores of Russian aristocrats and artists flee to Paris to escape Bolshevik brutality. Speaking to Matt Elton, Hel...
The history of atheism: everything you wanted to know
22 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When was the word “atheist” first used? How dangerous was it to question the existence of God in the Middle Ages? And how successful were communis...
How FDR transformed the US presidency
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the presidency of the United States in 1933, he became the head of a nation facing immense hardship and disench...
Indigenous American travellers in Europe
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When we think about the first encounters between Europe and the Americas, we’ve traditionally imagined a one-sided story of “Old world” European...
The PoWs who survived Nagasaki
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Japanese city of Nagasaki is probably best known for being the target of the world’s second-ever nuclear attack in August 1945. Yet the city was...
Parachuting monkeys & volcanic eruptions: an extraordinary Victorian zoo
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With parachuting monkeys, volcanic eruptions and performances of Beethoven’s symphonies, Surrey Zoo was no ordinary Victorian attraction. Dr Joanne ...
Curious cures for medieval maladies
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you feel unwell today you can pick up a prescription or head to a medical centre, but how did ill people treat their ailments in the Middle Ages? A...
Jane Austen’s England: everything you wanted to know
15 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What was society’s attitude towards female writers in Regency England? How far did class affect the hopes of young couples looking to be wed? And di...
Veggie Victorians
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the 19th century, Britain imagined itself as a bastion of beef-eating carnivores. But at a time when meat consumption was taken as a signifier of p...
An environmental history of big business
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As part of our series of conversations with winners of the 2022 Dan David Prize, Dr Bart Elmore discusses his research into the environmental impacts ...
Tools, temples & tower blocks: how wood has shaped human history
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For millennia, humans have cut down trees to create buildings, ships, tools, weapons and everyday objects we still use around the home. Author and arc...
Weaponising food in the Third Reich
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Hitler’s Germany, what you ate was not a personal matter – sacrificing luxury was a way for German citizens to demonstrate their patriotism, wh...
“A serial killer of civilisations”: a history of climate change
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From the Justinian plague to the fall of the Maya, climate change has been connected to many of history’s great catastrophes. Environmental journali...
Life under Cromwell: everything you wanted to know
08 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 11 years between the execution of King Charles I in 1649 and the restoration of his son, Charles II, in 1660 are among the most turbulent in all o...
Oddball art: cannibals, hellscapes & flying monks
06 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From kaleidoscopic hellscapes to portraits of cannibals and flying monks, Edward Brooke-Hitching introduces some of the strangest creations in art his...
The floating hell of prison hulks
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Decried by reformers as “wicked Noah’s arks” and “rotten leaky tubs”, prison hulks were a looming presence off the shores of 18th- and 19th-...
Refusing to fight in WW2
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
During the Second World War, around 60,000 people in Britain registered as conscientious objectors, seeking an exemption from military service on the ...
Power dressing: the hidden value of clothes in 19th-century America
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Legal historian Laura F Edwards discusses her new book on clothing and textiles in 19th-century America, Only the Clothes on Her Back. Speaking to Eli...
Sabotage, cyberwar & assassination: a history of covert action
02 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ever since the Greeks supposedly hid inside a wooden horse to sneak into Troy, states have meddled in other nations’ affairs, turning to the dark ar...
Conspiracy: the lost civilisation of Atlantis
01 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the final episode of our series on history’s most well-known conspiracy theories, we investigate the idea that a highly advanced civilisation exi...
Conspiracy: was the moon landing faked?
30 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the fifth episode of our new series on history’s most well-known conspiracy theories, we revisit a defining moment of the 20th century that many ...
Conspiracy: Who wrote Shakespeare?
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In episode four of our new series on history’s most well-known conspiracy theories, we ask why many people don’t believe that William Shakespeare ...
Conspiracy: did Anastasia escape her family’s murder?
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the third episode of our new series on some of history’s most well-known conspiracy theories, we examine the suggestion that one of Tsar Nicholas...
Conspiracy: did aliens build the pyramids?
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing our series on some of history’s most well-known conspiracy theories, we delve into the idea that Ancient Egypt’s iconic monuments were ...
Conspiracy: Hitler’s escape to South America
26 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Did Adolf Hitler really make it out of the bunker alive at the end of the Second World War? In the first episode of our new series on some of history’...
Alexander the Great’s extraordinary childhood
23 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alexander the Great didn’t become a brilliant warrior and empire-builder overnight. His talents were the product of an upbringing that encompassed p...
The Cuban Missile Crisis: the road to resolution
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the concluding episode of our series on the Cuban Missile Crisis, we trace how a tentative compromise coincided with the most dangerous moments of ...
Dandies, fops & macaronis: fashionable men through history
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dominic Janes discusses his new history of British dandies, which explores how such ‘dressy men’ – from fops and macaronis, to aesthetes – pro...
Brits abroad: a history
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lucy Lethbridge discusses her new book on the emergence and boom of mass British tourism. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she touches on early package ho...
Mongols vs Mamluks
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Mongols were an unstoppable force through the 12th and 13th centuries, with an empire that stretched across huge swathes of land, from China to Eu...
The history of alcohol: everything you wanted to know
18 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the world’s oldest alcoholic beverage? Why was wine believed to be medicinal? And did medieval people actually get drunk from sipping beer ...
How ballroom dancing gripped Britain
16 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the Turkey trot to the scandalously intimate moves of the Parisian tango, the 20th century saw Britain gripped by dance craze after dance craze. ...
The Cuban Missile Crisis: Dangerous days
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the third episode of our series on the Cuban Missile Crisis, we chart the first phase of the Cold War standoff. Elinor Evans speaks to expert histo...
The hell of the Pacific War
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Pacific campaign featured some of the most brutal battles of the Second World War – Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa among them. Here, in conve...
Inside Germany’s postwar prisons
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of the Second World War, Germany was a country on the brink of collapse. Despite the war’s end, the years to follow were turbulent, as G...
Pilgrimage, past and present
12 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Stanford reflects on the meaning of pilgrimage across world history, considering whether we share anything in common with pilgrims of the past. ...
British spies in WW2: everything you wanted to know
11 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From ingenious gadgets to audacious plots, historian Helen Fry answers listener questions on British espionage in the Second World War. Speaking to El...
Black Victorians: radicals, muses, inmates & aristocrats
09 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From political agitators and artist’s muses to composers, sailors, asylum inmates and the goddaughter of the queen herself, black people led a varie...
The Cuban Missile Crisis: broken ties & a secret pact
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The 1961 Bay of Pigs operation was a debacle for the United States that inflamed Cold War tensions to a new height. In the second episode of our serie...
Football in the First World War
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why wasn’t football banned on the home front when men were fighting and dying in France and Belgium? Did war halt the march of commercialisation in ...
The Irish across the globe
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the 19th century onwards, waves of Irish emigrants left their home nation to begin new lives across the globe. Sean Connolly, author of On Every ...
Warrior queens & quiet revolutionaries: forgotten women from history
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Author Kate Mosse shares inspirational stories of women from across global history – including the forgotten life of her great grandmother Lily Wats...
Sixties counterculture: everything you wanted to know
04 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Where did the term “hippie” originate? What music best reflected a generation’s disaffection with the establishment, and opposition to the Vietn...
Conspiracy Trailer
03 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Did Adolf Hitler really die in 1945? Did Ancient Egyptians really build the pyramids? And did Shakespeare really write the plays that bear his n...
Books of the year 2022
02 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From books delving into hidden histories to eye-opening global stories and epic World War Two blockbusters, 2022 has been an excellent year for histor...
The Cuban Missile Crisis: tensions mount
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How did the world end up on the brink of nuclear disaster? In the first episode of our series on the Cuban Missile Crisis, Elinor Evans speaks to expe...
Debtors’ prisons: Dickensian horrors or economic successes?
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Debtors’ prisons were a major feature of Georgian society in England and Wales. But how did the idea of locking up debtors to make them pay their cr...
Dark Age bullies & forgotten kingdoms: busting early medieval myths
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The traditional story that’s told about Britain from the end of the Roman period through to the arrival of the Vikings is one of coalescing kingdoms...
Enslavement, separation & survival: the story of "Ashley's sack"
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1850s South Carolina, an enslaved woman named Rose packed a sack containing a few precious items for her nine-year-old daughter Ashley. Ashley §wa...
Surgical history: everything you wanted to know
27 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why was a transfusion of lamb’s blood believed to cure epilepsy? What surgical procedures could you get in ancient Egypt? And were medieval surgical...
Cuban Missile Crisis TRAILER
26 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On 16 October 1962, US President John F Kennedy was made aware of the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles away from the shores ...
American psychiatry: a tortured history
25 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the earliest asylums that sold themselves as restorative “retreats”, to the damaging vogue for lobotomies and electric shock therapy, psychia...
The Mary Rose | 6. protecting the wreck
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When the Mary Rose was first pulled from the Solent, you could be forgiven for thinking that what had been salvaged was just a “pile of old wood”....
Spiritualism, fairies, and Arthur Conan-Doyle
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Historians Fiona Snailham and Anna Maria Barry reveal why the creator of Sherlock Holmes was so obsessed with contacting the dead. Speaking to Ellie C...
Desk killers: the psychology of committing crimes against humanity
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Author Dan Gretton discusses his book I You We Them, which examines the psychology of individuals who organised and implemented some of the worst crim...
Mary, Queen of Scots: The Scottish years
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mary, Queen of Scots became queen when she was only six days old, but her reign had collapsed by the time she was 24. Speaking to Rhiannon Davies, Ros...
World Cup history: everything you wanted to know
20 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout its 92-year existence, the FIFA Men’s World Cup has delivered its fair share of iconic moments – and controversies. But how did the com...
Crassus: Rome’s richest man
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Author Peter Stothard explores the eventful life of Marcus Licinius Crassus, an enormously wealthy politician and general, who rivalled Julius Caesar ...
The Mary Rose | 5. the mysterious men on-board
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine yourself standing on-board the Mary Rose, surrounded by the crew – how do you picture the men around you? If you look at their faces, what d...
Global stories of museum artefacts
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As part of our series of conversations with winners of the 2022 Dan David Prize, Dr Mirjam Brusius speaks with Helen Carr about her research into the ...
Victorian visions of the future
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When the Victorians imagined the 21st century, they pictured a world powered by the wonders of electricity, with smartly dressed men in impeccable sui...
Queens in the Age of Chivalry
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The 14th century was an era of high drama in England – from the toppling of two kings and the Hundred Years’ War to the Black Death and Peasants’...
The Crimean War: everything you wanted to know
13 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Crimean War of 1853-6 saw Russia clash with an alliance of forces including Britain, France and the Ottoman empire. But what were the causes of th...
Writing the history of the modern monarchy
12 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Recent years have seen a flurry of historical dramas and documentaries surrounding the modern monarchy, with historians and commentators debating whet...
The Mary Rose | 4. inside the Tudor treasure trove
11 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When the Mary Rose was rescued from the seafloor, it wasn’t just a large timber hull that was salvaged – more than 19,000 historical objects were ...
A whistle-stop tour around the world in AD 1500
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To mark HistoryExtra’s 1500th episode, Jerry Brotton takes Ellie Cawthorne on a whistle-stop tour around the world in AD 1500, from the powerful dyn...
Are period dramas damaging history?
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How important is it for period dramas to accurately reflect the past? What ethical issues are raised by actors playing fictionalised versions of real ...
Pharaohs' pants & knightly toilet troubles: teaching history to kids
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How exactly do you get children interested in history? Public historian Greg Jenner discusses his new children’s book You Are History, and explains ...
Medieval excommunication: eternal damnation or no big deal?
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Christian-dominated medieval Europe, what did it mean to be excommunicated? How much of an earth-shattering punishment was it, and what can excommu...
The gunpowder plot: everything you wanted to know
06 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What drove a group of plotters to attempt to blow up the king on 5 November 1605? To what extent did the conspiracy sour relations between Protestants...
How is Tutankhamun’s legacy shaped by colonialism?
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Christina Riggs talks to Kev Lochun about the legacy of ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. She looks beyond the glittering treasures of h...
The Mary Rose | 3. the fatal final moments
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As Henry VIII stood along the walls of Southsea Castle on 19 July 1545, the air was hot and still. Yet, England was on the brink of disaster, as an en...
History & science: the big questions
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What can modern scientists learn from historians? Dr Lindsey Fitzharris, Professor Sasha Hadley, Professor Sanjoy Bhattacharya and Professor Alice Rob...
How the Allies plucked victory from the jaws of defeat
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Second World War saw Allied forces evolve from serial losers to a war-winning machine. Comedian and history buff Al Murray talks to Spencer Mizen ...
Halloween monsters: everything you wanted to know
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How did witches transition from terrifying old crones to symbols of female empowerment? Was Count Dracula inspired by a real person? And why do ghosts...
Halloween traditions: everything you wanted to know
29 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How did a Catholic religious celebration transform into a spooky, supernatural festivity? Why were turnips and swedes replaced by pumpkins? And what h...
Christianity: a success story from the start?
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Christianity has been one of the dominant forces in European history, but according to historian Peter Heather, its rise to prominence wasn’t inevit...
The Mary Rose | 2. the Tudor heyday of Henry VIII’s warship
26 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Mary Rose had a long life before its fighting days were brought to an abrupt end as it sank to the bottom of the Solent. Rewinding back almost 500...
A family history of the world
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bestselling historian Simon Sebag Montefiore discusses his major new book, which tells the entire history of the world through the prism of families. ...
Cuba & the USA: an intertwined history
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ada Ferrer discusses her Cundill History Prize-nominated book, Cuba: An American History. In her account spanning five centuries, Ferrer takes Elinor ...
Chaos, ruin & renewal: Germany in 1945
23 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At the bitter, drawn-out conclusion of the Second World War in 1945, Germany stood in ruins – both literally and psychologically. Cities had been re...
Sci-fi history: everything you wanted to know
22 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why has the idea of a “utopia” been so compelling over the centuries? What major cultural shifts have been reflected by the sci-fi genre? And why ...
The Cuban Missile Crisis Series Trailer
22 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On 16 October 1962, US President John F Kennedy was made aware of the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles away from the shores ...
Chaucer’s disputed legacy: new discoveries
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the most famous figures in English literature, and remains widely lauded for his major works such as The Canterbury Tales ...
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: war without end
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When Soviet forces mounted an invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, they entered a nation already in the grips of a complex civil war. Speaking to...
The Mary Rose | 1. raising the wreck
19 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Forty years ago, when the Mary Rose was raised from the seabed on 11 October 1982, it was a momentous occasion, met with global broadcasts and cheers ...
Spectacles of death: public executions in London
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From grisly medieval punishments to the justice doled out to celebrity criminals in the Victorian era, public executions were a spectacle that shaped ...
Berlin’s turbulent 20th century
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sinclair McKay traces the history of the German city through the lives of its inhabitants, and how they weathered the tumult of the 20th century – f...
A mutineer in the family
16 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1789, a group of mutinous sailors seized control of HMS Bounty from its captain William Bligh in dramatic fashion. A new book by Harrison Christian...
The Bank of England: everything you wanted to know
15 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why was the Bank of England created? Did it power the Industrial Revolution? And when did it become known as the “Old Lady”? As the Bank continues...
Empire: the big historical questions
14 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There has been an absolute sea change in the study of empire in recent years. But what are the challenges of grappling with often difficult imperial h...
1066: the pope and the conqueror
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On the anniversary of the battle of Hastings, Daniel Armstrong speaks to David Musgrove about the truth behind the story that Pope Alexander II grante...
Why Bond and the Beatles ruled the sixties
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The 5th October 1962 was a big bang moment for modern British culture. John Higgs takes Spencer Mizen back to the momentous day when the Beatles’ fi...
Ian McEwan on writing historical novels
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How responsible are novelists for shaping public understanding of the past? And how can books recreate the sentiments of a bygone era? In conversation...
The Congo-Océan railroad’s deadly history
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of the deadliest construction projects in history, the Congo-Océan railroad likely caused as many as 23,000 African deaths. Unofficial estimates ...
15 minutes of fame: rediscovering forgotten figures
09 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To wrap up our ‘15 minutes of fame’ series, public historian and broadcaster Helen Carr hosts a panel discussion with historians Fern Riddell, Car...
Black British history: everything you wanted to know
08 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How far back does the story of black people in Britain stretch? Who was Cheddar Man? And what evidence do we have of black people in the medieval and ...