HistoryExtra podcast

Women fighters of the Jewish resistance

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Judy Batalion describes how a group of young Jewish women fought back against their Nazi oppressors in occupied Poland.   Author and historian Judy B...

Life in the workhouse: everything you wanted to know

25 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From daily routines to whether inmates really ate gruel, Peter Higginbotham responds to listener questions about the workhouse   What was the daily r...

How constitutions changed the world

24 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Linda Colley discusses her new book The Gun, the Ship and the Pen, which explores how written constitutions, together with warfare, forged the modern ...

The pretenders who threatened Henry VII’s crown

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nathen Amin discusses his latest book, Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders, which explores the conspiracies and plots that challenged Henry VII’s cro...

Why are we fascinated by ‘evil women’?

21 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Joanna Bourke, who has been delivering a series of Gresham lectures on six different ‘evil women’ through history, explores what ideas about evil ...

Who was Britain’s Greatest Prime Minister? Robert Walpole

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the first episode of our new series profiling the prime ministers that experts believe accomplished most during their time in 10 Downing Street, h...

Barbarossa: Hitler’s greatest gamble

19 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As we approach the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s fateful invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the historian, author and broadcaster Jonathan D...

The Suez Crisis: everything you wanted to know

18 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Suez Crisis – sparked by an ill-fated Anglo-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956 – is often viewed as a turning point in modern British hi...

Traitor or triple agent? The WW2 spy Mathilde Carré

17 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Author Roland Philipps talks about his latest book, Victoire: A Wartime Story of Resistance, Collaboration and Betrayal, which recounts the extraord...

Leonardo da Vinci’s private life

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Catherine Fletcher discusses what is known about the private life and relationships of the Renaissance polymath. She considers the gaps in t...

The bigamy trial that scandalised Georgian England

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian and author Catherine Ostler relates the tale of Elizabeth Chudleigh, a glamorous Duchess-Countess whose high-profile bigamy trial fascinated...

Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry ep5: What now?

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the final episode of the series, our panel considers the afterlife of the Tapestry, debating its differing legacies in France and Britain, whether ...

Dan Jones on 1,000 years of British history

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To mark HistoryExtra’s 1,000th episode, Dan Jones takes us on a whistlestop tour through the last millennium of British history, touching on some o...

The Maya: everything you wanted to know

11 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Matthew Restall tackles listener questions and popular search queries about the central American civilisation   Professor Matthew Restall t...

Women prisoners in 19th-century Ireland

10 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Elaine Farrell shares the stories of incarcerated Irish women, from daily routines inside a convict prison to relationships with staff and contact wit...

Stalin: the real victor of WW2

09 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sean McMeekin discusses his revisionist new history of the Second World War, which places Josef Stalin at the centre of the conflict   Historian Sean...

Sending the first man into space

07 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1961 cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to journey into space. Stephen Walker delves into the supercharged battle between the Soviets and ...

Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry ep4: What’s missing?

06 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Although the story it depicts may have gone down in history, the Tapestry’s coverage of the events of 1066 is far from the whole story. In fact, the...

The feminist who waged war on smallpox

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jo Willett tells the story of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who pioneered smallpox inoculation almost a century before Edward Jenner   Mary Wortley Mont...

The Great Fire of London: everything you wanted to know

04 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How much damage did the Great Fire of London cause? How long did it take to put out? And did it really start in Pudding Lane? Rebecca Rideal responds ...

Cleopatra: unpicking myth from reality

03 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII is one of the most famous women in history, but how many of the legends surrounding her are actually true? E...

Traffickers on trial: the sensational case of Lydia Harvey

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1910, a sixteen-year-old girl named Lydia Harvey walked onto a steamship, sailed away from New Zealand and disappeared. She had been ensnared by tw...

Bog bodies: what can they teach us?

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Melanie Giles unravels some of the mysteries around amazingly preserved human remains found in bogs – and reveals what we can learn from them   ...

Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry ep3: What story does the Tapestry tell?

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In recounting the Norman invasion of 1066, the Bayeux Tapestry tells a story that we’re all familiar with. But, look a bit closer and it’s not so ...

500 years of women’s self-portraits

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jennifer Higgie charts the story of women’s self-portraits over the last 500 years of western art – uncovering tales of transgressive self-express...

The Byzantine empire: everything you wanted to know

28 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What did it mean to be ‘born in the purple’? What lasting legacy did the empire have on how we eat dinner? And what does ‘Byzantine’ actually ...

Ammonite & the real fossil hunter Mary Anning

27 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Rebecca Wragg Sykes introduces us to 19th-century fossil hunter Mary Anning, whose life has inspired the new film Ammonite. She reveals the real wo...

Tales of Irish emigration

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Turtle Bunbury, author of new book The Irish Diaspora: Tales of Emigration, Exile and Imperialism, shares stories of Irish emigrants and th...

The mystery of the vanishing lighthouse keepers

24 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Emma Stonex, author of a new novel The Lamplighters, talks about the strange true story of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse keepers, who vanished without...

Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry ep2: How was the Tapestry created?

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At around 70 metres long and handstitched with intricate detail, making the Bayeux Tapestry was no mean feat. In this episode, we delve into the detai...

Hate mail & mutilated horses: Conan Doyle investigates

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Shrabani Basu, author of The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer, shares the surprising story of George Edalji, who was wrongly accused of fatally maiming ...

The Elizabethans: everything you wanted to know

21 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nicola Tallis answers listener questions and online search queries about the Elizabethans. She covers everything from the dangers of using golden toot...

What happened to the Franklin Expedition? The real mystery behind The Terror

20 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1845, two British navy ships sailed into the Canadian arctic and never returned. The fate of the Franklin Expedition has proven one of history’s ...

Cellini: the “supreme scoundrel of the Renaissance”

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jerry Brotton describes the astonishing life and career of the Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini – a story of murder, plague, imprisonment and ev...

How our hunger for land shaped history

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Simon Winchester explores how humans’ quest to own land – from enclosure and division to violent seizure – has wreaked irreparable changes thr...

Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry Ep1: When, where and why was the Tapestry made?

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the opening episode of this podcast series examining one of the most fascinating objects of the medieval age, we explore all the need-to-know infor...

The Clifford’s Tower massacre & medieval anti-Semitism

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dean Irwin explains the story of the 1190 anti-Semitic massacre at Clifford’s Tower in York, and how it fits into the wider story of England’s med...

The Thirty Years’ War: everything you wanted to know

14 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Does the Thirty Years’ War merit its gruesome reputation? Who were the winners and losers of the conflict? And why did a Protestant mob throw Cathol...

Rebels, hostages and diplomats: royal women of the crusader states

13 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Katherine Pangonis chronicles the formidable line of female rulers that shaped the crusader states of the Holy Land in the 12th century   Katherine ...

To beard or not to beard? Facial hair through history

12 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Alun Withey, expert on the history of facial hair, takes us on a journey through shaving and grooming trends from 1650-1900   Why were big bushy b...

The western front: a cauldron of innovation

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the popular imagination, the western front of the First World War has long been synonymous with futility and deadlock. But Nick Lloyd, author of ne...

Assassinations: from the ancient world to JFK

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian John Withington, author of Assassins’ Deeds: A History of Assassination from Ancient Egypt to the Present Day, explores some of history’...

The big questions of women’s history

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We mark International Women’s Day with a panel discussion tackling the central issues of women’s history   We mark International Women’s Day wi...

The Cold War: everything you wanted to know

07 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From espionage across the Iron Curtain, to the global struggles between communists and capitalists, Michael Goodman responds to your questions on the ...

Voices of China

06 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Wood, author of The Story of China, gives a lecture on the ancient civilisation’s rich and varied history. He introduces us to five individ...

BONUS EPISODE: Game of Thrones’ medieval roots

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Carolyne Larrington explores the medieval world that inspired the fantasy epic in a special HistoryExtra bonus episode, available now for free at htt...

Why treason was so unforgivable in the Middle Ages

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Amanda McVitty explains what treason meant in the medieval era, and why its consequences were particularly brutal   Dr Amanda McVitty, author of T...

Formidable dynasties of the Italian Renaissance

03 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mary Hollingsworth discusses her new book, Princes of the Renaissance, which charts the wars and alliances between the powerful Italian families of th...

Vikings in North America

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Gordon Campbell reveals how the Vikings made epic voyages of discovery across the Atlantic a millennium ago    The argument over whether Norse explo...

Shipwrecked in the Arctic: a 16th-century survival story

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist Andrea Pitzer discusses her latest book Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, which recounts the Arctic ordeal of Dutch explorer...

The Roman emperors: everything you wanted to know

28 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Shushma Malik discusses some of the most admired and reviled Roman emperors, and considers whether the legends surrounding them stand up to scrutiny  ...

Adventure and archaeology in the golden age of Egyptology

27 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Toby Wilkinson, author of A World Beneath the Sands, gives a lecture on the men and women whose obsession with Egypt’s ancient civilisation drove ...

Crafting historical weapons for Wolf Hall and The Witcher

26 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From Roman catapults to medieval daggers, Tod of Tod’s Workshop has made it all. The historical weapon-maker gives a behind-the-scenes peek into mak...

Nefertiti: wife, mother, pharaoh

25 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Following the discovery of her striking bust in 1912, Nefertiti has become one of the best-known women of ancient Egypt. Professor Aidan Dodson – au...

The women who fought back against Hollywood

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Film critic Helen O’Hara talks about her new book Women vs Hollywood, which highlights female pioneers of film, and reveals some of the challen...

Rivalries and romances: couples that shook up history

23 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to making a mark in the history books, sometimes two heads are better than one. Broadcaster and author Cathy Newman talks about her late...

The Vikings’ global connections

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Cat Jarman explores the far-reaching trading networks of the Vikings, from the Baltic sea to Asia   Dr Cat Jarman discusses her new book River Ki...

The space race: everything you wanted to know

21 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Ellis responds to listener questions on the great Cold War rivalry that saw the US and the Soviet Union battle for dominance in space   In the la...

Sathnam Sanghera on how modern Britain is shaped by empire

20 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sathnam Sanghera discusses where we can see the legacy of imperialism in Britain today – from politics and education to museums and multiculturalis...

The big questions of LGBTQ history

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We mark LGBT+ History Month with a panel discussion tackling some of the biggest themes in LGBTQ history   February is LGBT+ History Month. We mark i...

Chaos & communism: China’s 1949 revolution

18 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian and journalist Graham Hutchings discusses his new book China 1949, which explores the events of a tumultuous year that saw communist victor...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: poet, activist, trailblazer, runaway

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Fiona Sampson, author of a new biography, Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, discusses the life and work of the Victorian poet...

Is “Blitz Spirit” a myth?

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ahead of their new BBC One documentary, Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley, historian and broadcaster Lucy Worsley, historical consultant Joshua Levine...

Fatal accidents and violent injuries in the Middle Ages

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Jenna Dittmar, who has been studying medieval skeletons, reveals what her findings can tell us about injuries and violence in the era   Dr Jenna D...

The Dissolution: everything you wanted to know

14 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Hugh Willmott responds to listener questions on Henry VIII’s suppression of the monasteries in the 16th century   In this special live edition ...

The forgotten mothers of civil rights leaders

13 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and James Baldwin are often remembered as change-makers who came into the world with their political ideas fully-form...

Sex, romance and rights: women's lives since 1950

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Carol Dyhouse talks about her new book, Love Lives: From Cinderella to Frozen, which explores how women's lives, dreams and loves have bee...

Victorian pet cemeteries: animals in the afterlife

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the 19th century, devoted pet-owners established Britain’s first pet cemeteries. Dr Eric Tourigny explains what they tell us about Victorian atti...

How slavery fuelled the British empire

10 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Padraic X Scanlan discusses his book Slave Empire: How Slavery Built modern Britain, which examines how slavery fuelled the British empire and explor...

17th-century London: a city shaped by catastrophe

09 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Author Margarette Lincoln talks about her latest book, London and the 17th Century, which describes how a period blighted by plague, fire, revolution...

Medieval forgeries

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Forgery was the dirty little secret of the Middle Ages. Levi Roach explains who counterfeited medieval manuscripts and why   Forgery was the dirty li...

Daily life in ancient Egypt: everything you wanted to know

07 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the latest in our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley responds to listener questions about d...

Novelist Kate Mosse on The City of Tears

06 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Author Kate Mosse talks about her historical novel The City of Tears, which transports readers back to the Wars of Religion in 16th-century France  ...

The Dark Ages: a ‘black hole’ in Britain’s history

05 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Max Adams discusses his book The First Kingdom, Britain in the Age of Arthur, which pieces together the evidence to uncover what happened after the f...

1962: London’s big freeze

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Author Juliet Nicolson talks about her latest book, Frostquake, which tells the story of the frozen winter of 1962. As Britain shivered under a blan...

Edward I’s letters

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Kathleen Neal explains what we can learn about Edward I, the famously militaristic “Hammer of the Scots”, from his letters   Dr Kathleen Neal ...

Cary Grant: from humble beginnings to Hollywood icon

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Author Mark Glancy tells us about his latest book, Cary Grant: The Making of a Hollywood Legend, which chronicles the remarkable story of how Archiba...

Blitz spirit or broken morale?

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Crang investigates reports on British morale made during the Second World War and considers what they can tell us about the ‘Blitz spirit’...

The Black Death: everything you wanted to know

31 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Professor John Hatcher answers listener questions about the medieval pandemic, and reflects on how the Covid-19 crisis might shape our understanding o...

Why do we fight wars?

30 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Margaret MacMillan gives a lecture on her book War: How Conflict Shaped Us, which explores the recurring reasons for conflict throughout history and ...

A guide to the Norse gods

29 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From Thor to Odin, Carolyne Larrington discusses the legendary figures of Viking mythology   Professor Carolyne Larrington discusses her book The Nor...

The hunt for Caesar’s killers

28 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Author and journalist Sir Peter Stothard discusses his latest book, The Last Assassin, which chronicles the hunt for Julius Caesar’s murderers, a m...

Werewolves of the ancient world

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Daniel Ogden, author of new book The Werewolf in the Ancient World, explores the origins of the werewolf legend in stories from classical G...

Rich vs poor in Regency Britain

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Ian Mortimer discusses how a vast chasm between rich and poor marked society in the early 19th century Historian Ian Mortimer discusses the ...

Spectacular discoveries at Sutton Hoo

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ahead of the release of the new film The Dig, Professor Martin Carver discusses the real story of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo Ahead of the rel...

The Persian empire: everything you wanted to know

24 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the latest in our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, an expert in ancient history, re...

The shipwreck that sank a royal dynasty

23 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In a talk from our virtual lecture series, author Charles Spencer discusses his book The White Ship, which explores the story of England’s early No...

The NHS: a brief history

22 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Susan Cohen discusses how Britain’s National Health Service has changed over the decades since its landmark creation in 1948. She explore...

Rebuilding Europe after WW2

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Paul Betts discusses his book Ruin and Renewal, which explores how postwar regeneration after 1945 was inspired by the contested concept of...

How oceans shaped human civilisation

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Physicist and oceanographer Helen Czerski discusses the impact of oceans on human civilisations through history, from providing food to connecting tra...

Searching for freedom after the Holocaust

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Rosie Whitehouse tells the story of a group of Holocaust survivors who sailed to Palestine in 1946, in defiance of the Royal Navy   Author and journa...

The race for vaccines: lessons from history

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the campaign to vaccinate the population against Covid-19 picks up pace, Gareth Williams explores previous efforts to combat lethal diseases, from ...

Britain’s Swinging Sixties: everything you wanted to know

17 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dominic Sandbrook answers popular search queries and listener questions about Britain in the 1960s   Did the Sixties really swing? Why did the decad...

MI9’s secret escape missions

16 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Helen Fry, author of MI9, gives a lecture on the secret service for escape and evasion, who led missions to help allied prisoners of war ma...

Hitler and Stalin: tyrants at war

15 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Laurence Rees compares the actions of the two dictators over the course of the Second World War   Historian, author and broadcaster Laurence Rees dis...

How historians helped build the British empire

14 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Priya Satia explores how historians helped advance the British empire, only to later become critics of imperialism   Professor Priya Satia discusses ...

When British pop invaded America

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

David Hepworth tells the story of the British rock bands – from the Beatles and Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin – who took the United States by sto...

The collapse of the Third Reich

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Frank McDonough discusses the second volume in his history of the Third Reich, The Hitler Years, which details how Nazi Germany fell from the peak of...

Domesday Book: medieval big data

11 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Baxter discusses the latest insights revealed by a new study of the 11th-century survey of England    Professor Stephen Baxter discusses the...

The Renaissance: everything you wanted to know

10 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jerry Brotton, professor of Renaissance studies at Queen Mary University of London, responds to listener questions and popular internet search queries...