HistoryExtra podcast
Episodes
Living through the fall of communism
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Lea Ypi reflects on her childhood years, which witnessed the final years of communism in Albania and the fraught transition to capitalist de...
Black cowboys on screen
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Tony Warner talks to Elinor Evans about some of the real historical figures depicted in the new Netflix western The Harder They Fall, starr...
SALEM EPISODE 4: The pervasive power of Puritanism
31 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Religion was a powerful force at play in the Salem settlement. It not only determined the villagers’ daily routine but their whole outlook on life, ...
SALEM EPISODE 3: A ‘new Jerusalem’ on the edge of a wilderness
31 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1692, Salem was a colonial outpost teetering on the edge of a precipice. In this episode we’ll explore what life was like in the New England sett...
SALEM EPISODE 2: How events spiralled out of control
31 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In order to understand why the Salem witch trials happened, we need to get to grips with how exactly things unfolded over the course of 1692. In this ...
SALEM EPISODE 1: Introduction
31 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1692, 19 members of a small New England community were hanged for witchcraft. Over the course of the year, young girls convulsed and barked like do...
Ghosts, necromancy & the underworld in ancient Mesopotamia
30 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Irving Finkel speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about his book The First Ghosts, which looks at what we can learn from the first written evidence of ghost bel...
What would you ask a historian?
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Greg Jenner talks about his latest book, Ask A Historian, which tackles 50 burning questions that people have about the past Public historian Greg ...
COMING SOON Salem: investigating the witch trials
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to our new podcast series delving into one of the most fascinating and mysterious events in American history. Find the first four episodes in y...
Windows: an illuminating history
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We often focus on the views we can see through windows, but what about the windows themselves? Matt Elton speaks to cultural sociologist Rachel Hurdle...
How a ballerina survived the Gulag
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Christina Ezrahi speaks to Elinor Evans about the story of Nina Anisimova, one of the most famous ballerinas in Stalin’s Soviet Union. After being a...
Afghanistan: a history of instability
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A panel of expert historians discuss how history can help make sense of current events in Afghanistan The Taliban recently regained control of Afgh...
Egyptian pharaohs: everything you wanted to know
24 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What did the word ‘pharaoh’ mean? How did you become an ancient Egyptian king? And what was that beard all about? Speaking with Emily Briffett, Jo...
Medieval ghost stories
23 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Dan Jones’s new book, The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings, reimagines a medieval ghost story for modern audiences. He explai...
How dogs shaped city life
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Pearson talks to Elinor Evans about his latest book, Dogopolis, which explores how human-canine relationships shaped urban living in three citi...
African-American women’s battle for the vote
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Martha S Jones discusses her Cundill History Prize-shortlisted book Vanguard, which charts African-American women’s long and determined fight for t...
Asia’s anti-imperial revolutionaries
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harper speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about his Cundill History Prize-shortlisted book Underground Asia, which reveals how clandestine networks of ant...
A family history of France
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Following the fortunes of one extended family in a south-western French town in the 18th and 19th centuries, Emma Rothschild’s Cundill Prize-shortli...
Apartheid: everything you wanted to know
17 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wayne Dooling answers listener questions on South Africa’s Apartheid regime. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, he covers subjects including the policy’...
Berbice: a slave rebellion that nearly succeeded
16 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Marjoleine Kars tells Elinor Evans about a little-known 1763 rebellion by enslaved people in Berbice, in present-day Guyana. Chronicled in h...
Trial by combat: the real history behind The Last Duel
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hannah Skoda delves into the bloody and brutal spectacle of trial by combat in the Middle Ages To coincide with the release of new film The Last Du...
Liberty and racism: an interconnected history
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tyler Stovall speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about his Cundill prize-shortlisted book White Freedom, which explores how European and American ideas about ...
George III: the tyrant who lost America?
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Roberts discusses his landmark new biography of King George III and takes on some of the myths that have surrounded the monarch Historian Andre...
At home with the Mongols
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“The Horde” was an empire like no other, ruled by Nomadic Mongol Khans for three centuries. But how was the Mongol empire governed, and what was e...
Pompeii: everything you wanted to know
09 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Archaeologist Sophie Hay responds to listener questions and popular search queries about the city that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in AD 79 a...
Unexpected Edwardians
09 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Baker and John Woolf, writers of Stephen Fry’s Edwardian Secrets, discuss some lesser-known aspects of the Edwardian age The Edwardians were no...
Plagues of our past
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From when our ancestors first mastered fire to the rise of modern cities, humanity’s progress has been accompanied by a revolving door of parasites,...
Courage under fire: the story of a WW2 tank regiment
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Military historian, author and broadcaster James Holland tells the story of the Sherwood Rangers, a British tank regiment which was in the thick of th...
How Hindustan became India
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Manan Ahmed Asif discusses his book The Loss of Hindustan, the Invention of India, which has just been shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize Hist...
The turbulent Stuart century
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Clare Jackson discusses her new book Devil-Land, which examines the insecurities and anxieties that plagued England between 1588 and 1688, from fe...
The Boer War: everything you wanted to know
03 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Saul Dubow responds to listener questions on Victorian Britain’s bitter conflict with two southern African republics What triggered the Boer Wa...
My father the Nazi
02 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As governor-general of Nazi-occupied Poland, Hans Frank bore heavy responsibility for the abuse and murder of hundreds of thousands of Poles and milli...
Adventures of a Victorian actor
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Batten shares stories from her new biography of Victorian singer, stage performer and entrepreneur Emily Soldene, from a career in London’s ro...
John of Gaunt: prince without a throne
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John of Gaunt rose to become one of the most powerful figures of his age, yet was ultimately unable to secure a crown for himself. Historian, author a...
Inside the prehistoric mind
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How did prehistoric people in Britain view and understand the world around them? What did they smell, hear and see? Francis Pryor, one of Britain’s ...
How did the British royals survive WW1?
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While many European royals faced abdications and revolutions during the First World War, the British monarchy not only survived the conflict, but was ...
Medieval Wales: everything you wanted to know
26 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Stevens tackles listener questions on the history of the Welsh regions during the Middle Ages Matthew Stevens tackles listener questions an...
A surprising history of the index
25 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The index, the bit at the back of a book you mostly only turn to for reference, has a bit of a dowdy reputation – and it’s an unfair one. Dennis D...
Why did medieval monks write histories?
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why did medieval monks and abbots write histories, and what does it tell us about the role of monasticism in the Middle Ages? Medievalist Dr Benjamin ...
India’s Suffragettes
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Between 1917 and 1947, a group of Indian women fought for their right to vote. Sumita Mukherjee discusses their campaign, and reveals how Suffragettes...
Jihad and the British empire
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Neil Faulkner reveals how the Anglo-Arab Wars of 1870-1920 helped give rise to the first modern jihad Neil Faulkner, author of Empire and Jihad, d...
Transplant surgery: an eye-opening history
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From transfusions of lambs’ blood to tooth replacements, Paul Craddock chronicles the strange history of transplant surgery From lambs’ blood t...
The Paris Peace Conference: everything you wanted to know
19 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor David Stevenson answers listener questions on the 1919-20 conference that sought to resolve the aftermath of the First World War In the l...
World history in 100 moments
18 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Archaeologist and television presenter Neil Oliver discusses his new book, The Story of the World in 100 Moments, which explores the whole of human ...
Extraordinary hoaxes of the 18th century
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Keable describes some of the most audacious, bizarre and inventive pranks that fooled Georgian Britain From a woman who seemingly gave birth ...
Maria Theresa: empress, warrior, matriarch
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nancy Goldstone discusses the 18th-century family saga of Habsburg empress Maria Theresa, and her equally formidable daughters Nancy Goldstone di...
From Roman villas to Downton Abbey: Britain’s country houses
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Clive Aslet, author of The Story of the Country House: A History of Places and People, reveals how Britain’s attitude to its stately piles has ref...
Hitler’s war on “degenerate art”
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist and author Charlie English shares the story of a remarkable collection of artworks by psychiatric patients in Weimar Germany and also explo...
The Borgias: everything you wanted to know
12 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest episode in our series on history’s biggest topics, Professor Jill Burke tackles listener questions and internet search queries on the ...
Why the Tudors fell for courtly love
11 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Gristwood considers how the Tudor monarchs used medieval ideas about courtly love for their own ends In medieval Europe, the nobility were ...
Wedgwood: the radical potter
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tristram Hunt, author of The Radical Potter, discusses the life and work of Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), from his groundbreaking ceramic creations an...
Aboriginal Australians: a modern history
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Richard Broome, author of Aboriginal Australians, discusses the experiences of Australia’s indigenous peoples after the arrival of white ...
Decolonisation to Covid-19: history education today
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How does a history degree help you suss out fake news? How have history students been affected by covid-19? And are history degrees still valued as mu...
Seances, skis and secrets: an extraordinary WWI escape
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Interned in a remote, forbidding prisoner of war camp at the height of the First World War, two British officers turned to an unlikely tool in their b...
The Spanish Armada: everything you wanted to know
05 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why did the Spanish Armada set sail? What ships were used by the fleets? And did Queen Elizabeth I really give a famous speech at Tilbury? In our late...
The Special Boat Service: WW2’s silent heroes
04 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Saul David discusses SBS – Silent Warriors, his new authorised history of the Special Boat Service in the Second World War. He explains ...
The surprisingly modern Middle Ages
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Jones explores the similarities and differences between the medieval experience and our lives today In what ways was the medieval era surprisin...
Why do things change?
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
David Potter, author of Disruption: Why Things Change, analyses the causes of huge events that altered human history and guides us on a tour of radic...
History in 2021, with Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sixty years ago EH Carr’s groundbreaking book, What is History?, explored how we should study the past. Now his great-granddaughter, Helen Carr, h...
How Walter Scott’s stories shaped Scotland
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An outpouring of bestselling novels and poems flowed from Walter Scott’s pen – from Waverley to Rob Roy. In fact, his writing was so influentia...
Food history: everything you wanted to know
29 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest episode in our series on history’s biggest topics, Annie Gray tackles listener questions on culinary history, from Tudor breakfast and...
The rise of the Paralympics
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From the Stoke Mandeville Games, which took place just after the Second World War, to this summer’s Paralympics, Ian Brittain describes how sport fo...
Behind the scenes of The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Through canny political manoeuvrings and passionate affairs, the Boleyns catapulted themselves from the sidelines of the Tudor court to the very apex ...
What’s next for period drama?
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Which stories and historical periods should we be seeing dramatised on screen? What influence can historians have on how these stories are told? And h...
Vikings and Franks
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Vikings famously raided Britain and Ireland, but they also turned their attentions to Francia and Europe’s western seaboard. Christian Cooijmans...
The forgotten matriarch of the Wars of the Roses
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cecily Neville, mother of Richard III, is typically glossed over in the story of the Wars of Roses. But behind the scenes, she fought her own war, usi...
British police history: everything you wanted to know
22 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When did the first professional police force come into being? Why do the British police largely not carry guns? And what was the point of police boxes...
The Windsors in exile
21 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Lownie discusses his new book Traitor King, which delves into the lives of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson after the abdication crisis of 1936. ...
Working-class girlhood in 1930s Bolton
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hester Barron and Claire Langhamer discuss their new book, Class of ’37, which looks at what we can learn from essays written in 1937 by 12- and 13...
Censorship: waging war on free speech
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Berkowitz describes the lengths to which rulers – from the first Chinese emperor to Henry VIII – have gone to suppress freedom of speech H...
The history hidden in British heritage sites
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fatima Manji talks about her new book Hidden Heritage: Rediscovering Britain’s Lost Love of the Orient, which explores the objects and landmarks th...
Monarchs, fascists & communists: Romania’s modern history
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Kenyon discusses his book Children of the Night, which charts the story of modern Romania, and its colourful, chaotic and often corrupt leaders ...
Early Medieval Britain: everything you wanted to know
15 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest episode in our series tackling history’s biggest topics, Dr Rory Naismith, author of Early Medieval Britain, c500–1000, responds to...
Bewitched cars & mail-order charms: witchcraft in modern France
14 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From bewitched cars and mail-order charms to murder investigations, Will Pooley delves into the surprising history of witchcraft in France from the Re...
Witnesses to the Berlin Wall
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s construction, Major General Sir Robert Corbett and journalists Mark Wood and Alastair Stewa...
Robespierre’s brutal downfall
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Colin Jones tells the story of Maximilien Robespierre’s fall from power – a dramatic 24 hours that ended with the revolutionary titan facing the g...
How should we teach the slave trade?
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Teachers Richard Kennett and Tom Allen discuss how they have worked with six other teachers to create a new textbook on this previously overlooked ele...
Building utopia after WW1
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Left traumatised by the horrors of the First World War, between the 1920s and 1940s people around the world set out to create “perfect” societies ...
The Ottoman empire: everything you wanted to know
08 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eugene Rogan answers listener questions on one of history’s most powerful – and long-lasting – empires How did the Ottomans dominate swathes ...
Portraits, power and royal wigs
07 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Pritchard, curator of a new exhibition of royal portraits at the National Maritime Museum, discusses how wigs were used to convey royal power S...
Wartime Britain’s mixed-race babies
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
During the Second World War, an estimated 2,000 babies were fathered by African-American GIs stationed in Britain. Lucy Bland reveals how these mixed...
The transformation of India’s glamorous golden couple
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John Zubryzcki shares the story of the party-loving royals of the House of Jaipur, who turned to politics following Indian independence In the 1950...
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, on historical fiction
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and Marguerite Kaye join us to discuss their new historical romance novel, Her Heart for a Compass, which follows Vic...
Oliver Cromwell’s remarkable rise to power
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Ronald Hutton discusses Oliver Cromwell’s early life and career, exploring the brilliance and cruelty of the future Lord Protector and exp...
Modern Welsh history: everything you wanted to know
01 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Martin Johnes tackles listener questions about the history of modern Wales, from the Industrial Revolution to devolution In the latest episode in o...
George II: reassessing a much-forgotten monarch
31 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Norman Davies introduces a long-maligned and overlooked monarch, George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland and Elector of Hanover, considering the ...
A hard-fought history of trespass
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Hayes discusses the contested history of land ownership in England, from William the Conqueror to the Kinder trespass Nick Hayes, author of T...
Antwerp: city of innovation & intrigue
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the 16th century, Antwerp was a global centre of trade, talked about around the world. Michael Pye considers its rise and bloody fall In the 16t...
How the 1964 Tokyo Olympics redefined Japan
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With the Olympics underway in Tokyo, Chris Harding looks back at 1964 – the last time Japan hosted the competition With the Summer Olympics unde...
Australian bushrangers: folk heroes or common criminals?
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Meg Foster discusses the bandits that lived outside the law in Australia’s bush – from Ned Kelly to surprising lesser-known figures Meg Foste...
Olympic history: everything you wanted to know
25 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the world’s best athletes congregate in Tokyo for the 29th Summer Games, David Goldblatt answers your questions on the history of the Olympics ...
Why were the Georgians fixated with fatness?
24 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Freya Gowrley reveals how Georgian satirists used images of fatness to comment on the anxieties of the age From Britain's heaviest man who bec...
How assassinations have changed history
23 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Burleigh discusses his book Day of the Assassins: A History of Political Murder, which considers what we can learn from looking at assassinat...
The slave trade: a family history
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Renton discusses his new book, Blood Legacy, which offers an unflinching account of his ancestors’ involvement in the slave trade. He also con...
The piano: a musical history
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For more than 300 years, the piano has captivated audiences, while composers have pushed the instrument’s boundaries. Susan Tomes, author of The Pi...
Should they stand or fall? The great statue debate
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As statues of controversial historical figures continue to hit the headlines, Alex von Tunzelmann – author of Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues that Mad...
The church in medieval England: everything you wanted to know
18 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Did medieval people have sex in churches? What was a boy bishop? And why did women have to sit in the ‘safe side’ of a church in the Middle Ages? ...
Madness & misery in Antarctica
17 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1897 the Belgian Antarctic Expedition set sail in search of the south magnetic pole, but their journey was scuppered by a long, arduous winter trap...
The battle over the Benin Bronzes
16 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Looted from Benin City in 1897, the Benin Bronzes are one of the most impressive collections of artworks ever created – and their future is under de...
Britain & France: enemies or economic partners?
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From the Falklands to North America, British and French soldiers spent much of the 18th century locked in battle. Yet many influential thinkers believ...