HistoryExtra podcast
Episodes
England’s sporting obsession
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Colls, author of This Sporting Life: Sport and Liberty in England, 1760-1960, discusses the critical role that our love of sport has played in...
How did the Reformation impact Jews?
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kenneth Austin explores what impact the Reformation had on Europe’s Jewish communities. Historian Kenneth Austin explores what impact the Reformatio...
Ethiopia 1935: The real history behind The Shadow King
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author Maaza Mengiste discusses her Booker prize-nominated historical novel The Shadow King, set during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. She...
The ‘lost’ city of Atlantis
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Edith Hall explores Plato’s legend of Atlantis and considers why the tale continues to endure 2,500 years on Classicist Edith Hall, an expert on a...
Ancient Babylon: everything you wanted to know
29 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Zainab Bahrani tackles popular internet search queries, and questions submitted by listeners, about the Mesopotamian city, which was one of ...
Looking for Egypt’s lost tombs
28 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Are there any treasures left to be excavated in Egypt? Chris Naunton gives a lecture on some of the most fascinating ancient figures whose tombs are y...
Robert Harris on V2, historical fiction and WW2
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Harris discusses V2, his new Second World War thriller inspired by the German missile campaign in 1944 Best-selling historical novelist Robert...
2020: The historians’ verdict
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From debates about colonialism to lessons from previous pandemics, a panel of historians discuss how the past has shaped 2020 – and how the events o...
Women in Greek myths
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Natalie Haynes discusses the varied portrayals of women in Greek mythology, uncovering the multi-layered figures who emerge from different retellings ...
Germans who resisted the Nazis
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author and filmmaker Catrine Clay discusses her new book, The Good Germans, which explores German opposition to Nazism through the lives of six peopl...
Shakespeare: everything you wanted to know
22 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Edmondson, head of research and knowledge at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, responds to listener questions and popular search queries on the l...
A secret WW2 wargame
21 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a lecture he delivered at BBC History Magazine’s 2019 Winchester History Weekend, Simon Parkin discusses the extraordinary story that inspired hi...
Bernard Cornwell on The Last Kingdom’s finale and the next Sharpe
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bestselling historical novelist Bernard Cornwell discusses his new book War Lord, the final instalment in The Last Kingdom series. He speaks about ...
Oswald, the many-headed medieval saint
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Johanna Dale explores how the seventh-century Northumbrian king Oswald become an important and popular saint across medieval Europe, and explains w...
Has the EU been a success?
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kiran Klaus Patel, author of Project Europe: A History, tracks the development of the EU over the postwar decades, considering whether it really did...
An extraordinary Everest adventure
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1930s, eccentric aviator Maurice Wilson hatched a wild plan to fly from England to Everest in a Gypsy Moth plane, and then climb to the top of ...
The Wild West: everything you wanted to know
15 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian and author Karen Jones responds to listener questions and popular search queries about the mass movement of settlers into the American west,...
Viking warrior women & the ethics of excavating the dead
14 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a lecture he delivered at BBC History Magazine’s 2019 Chester History Weekend, archaeologist Howard Williams discusses some of the most intriguin...
War and society: a tangled relationship
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Margaret Macmillan discusses her new book War: How Conflict Shaped Us, which explores conflict’s changing yet intrinsic role in human his...
Ingenious medieval science
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Seb Falk discusses his new book, The Light Ages, which highlights the surprising sophistication of scientific research in the Middle Ages –...
Women in black: the surprising history of widows
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Maggie Andrews discusses her new book co-written with Janis Lomas, which looks at the complex and fascinating history of widows. Often hist...
Personal stories of the Second World War
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Victoria Panton Bacon shares remarkable first-hand testimonies from veterans of the Second World War Victoria Panton Bacon, author of the new book Re...
The Russian revolution: everything you wanted to know
08 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Service responds to listener questions and popular search enquiries about the Russian revolutions of 1917, which saw the beginnings of the Comm...
The story of the Dambusters
07 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a lecture from our 2019 History Weekend in Winchester, Max Hastings tells the dramatic story of the 1943 Dambusters raid. In a lecture he delive...
Inside the Viking mind
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Neil Price takes us inside the Viking mind to explain how the Norse raiders viewed the world and what drove them to expand across the seas Professor N...
Escaping Nazi-occupied Europe
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Fry discusses the top-secret work of MI9, which helped Allied prisoners of war escape during WW2 Historian Helen Fry discusses her new book MI9...
The White Ship: a medieval royal tragedy
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Spencer speaks to Dan Jones about the White Ship disaster, which plunged the English monarchy into chaos 900 years ago Bestselling author Char...
An ‘ordinary’ Nazi
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Lee discusses the life of an ‘ordinary’ member of the SS Historian Daniel Lee describes how the chance discovery of a cache of documents wi...
Medical history: everything you wanted to know
01 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Mary Fissell responds to listener questions and popular search enquiries about the history of medicine, from pandemics of the past to grisl...
Poland 1939: The invasion that sparked WW2
31 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Roger Moorhouse delivers a lecture on the German invasion of Poland in 1939 In a lecture he delivered at BBC History Magazine’s 2019 Winchester ...
The Falklands War in the air
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Aviation historian Rowland White explores the events of the 1982 Falklands War through the story of Britain’s Sea Harrier jump jet. Hosted on Acast....
Unexpected Irish tales
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author Turtle Bunbury shares stories from his book Ireland’s Forgotten Past – a collection of overlooked and ‘disremembered’ moments in the ...
Black Britons in WW2
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Bourne discusses the experiences of Britain’s black community during the Second World War Historian Stephen Bourne, author of Under Fire: B...
At sea with the Vikings
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jan Bill gives us the lowdown on Viking ships, and offers updates on the Gjellestad Ship excavation, currently underway in Norway Jan Bill gives us th...
Adventure & opportunity: female transatlantic travellers
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Siân Evans explores the lives and voyages of women in the golden age of transatlantic travel, which saw some enjoying luxurious journeys ab...
The Regency era: everything you wanted to know
25 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Emily Brand responds to listener queries and popular search enquiries about the Regency era Historian and author Emily Brand responds to listener quer...
Tudor queens on screen
24 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Elena Woodacre delivers a lecture on the portrayal of historical queens in cinema and television, from Mary Queen of Scots to The Spanish Princess ...
Moving, medieval-style
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jim Leary explains how people in prehistory and the Middle Ages moved around the world Can we follow in the footsteps of our prehistoric and medieva...
Enslaved women & resistance
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stella Dadzie uncovers the experiences and resistance activities of enslaved women in the West Indies Historian and activist Stella Dadzie talks ab...
Aztecs in their own words
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Camilla Townsend discusses her new book Fifth Sun: A New History of Aztecs, which overturns existing narratives about the ancient civilisat...
A new take on India’s history
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Richard M Eaton discusses his book, India in the Persianate Age, 1000–1765, which explores the nation’s rich history across eight centu...
The French Revolution: Everything you need to know
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian Marisa Linton responds to listener queries and popular ...
A Triple Bond Broken: The Destruction of the House of York
17 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a lecture he delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, historian and author Thomas Penn explores the turbulent rela...
An Atlantic slave war
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Vincent Brown discusses his recent book, Tacky’s Revolt, which describes an uprising in Jamaica that was the largest slave revolt in the ...
An Anglo-Saxon warlord
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Archaeologist Gabor Thomas, who directed the excavation, discusses the discovery of the ‘Marlow Warlord’ – a 6th-century burial near the Thames....
Ancient wisdom with Neil Oliver
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Archaeologist and broadcaster Neil Oliver discusses some of the most striking finds in the history of archaeology and talks about his new book Wisdom...
Black radical: William Monroe Trotter
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Kerri K Greenidge discusses her book Black Radical, which explores the life and career of the pioneering black newspaperman William Monroe...
The dispossession of Native Americans
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Claudio Saunt discusses his recent book Unworthy Republic, which tells the story of the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of Native Am...
Everything you ever wanted to know about medieval daily life, but were afraid to ask
11 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian Chris Dyer responds to listener queries and popular s...
Should I stay or I should go? The problem with historical monuments in 2020
10 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a BBC History Magazine virtual lecture, Keith Lowe discusses why statues relating to empire and the Second World War have become contested ground...
Sparta
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ancient historian Andrew Bayliss discusses the Greek city-state of Sparta. The conversation ranges from the Spartans’ military prowess and the legen...
Medieval turning points
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are the key turning points in the history of early medieval Europe? Historian Dr Charles West offers his thoughts on some important moments. Hist...
The rise and fall of the Sikh empire
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Priya Atwal, whose written a new history of the Sikh empire that flourished in the early 19th century, discusses how It rose to prominence ...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the history of Japan, but were afraid to ask
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian Christopher Harding responds to listener queries and pop...
Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944
03 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk that he delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, bestselling military historian Antony Beevor tells the sto...
A 1930s ghost hunt
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Summerscale, bestselling author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, discusses her new book, The Haunting of Alma Fielding, which delves into a tal...
Medieval eels and Englishness
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Eels were a mainstay of the economy in the Middle Ages, and also a part of the developing English identity. Dr John Wyatt Greenlee explains why the fi...
Ken Follett’s Anglo-Saxon adventure
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bestselling historical novelist Ken Follett chats about how he recreated late Anglo-Saxon England for his new book, The Evening and the Morning, whic...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Neanderthals, but were afraid to ask
27 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In an episode produced in collaboration with our colleagues at BBC Science Focus Magazine, archaeologist Rebecca Wragg Sykes tackles some of the big q...
Simon de Montfort and England’s First Revolution
26 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk that she delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, historian Sophie Ambler tells the story of Simon de Montf...
Toussaint Louverture’s revolutionary life
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Sudhir Hazareesingh talks to us about Black Spartacus, his acclaimed new biography of the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture who ba...
The Mayflower
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s momentous voyage to North America, historian and author James Evans reflects on the Pilgrim Fathers an...
JFK: the path to power
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Fredrik Logevall discusses the first volume of his major new biography of John F Kennedy, exploring the US president’s upbringing and rise...
Viking genes unravelled
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A new study of Viking DNA provides many new insights about the lives of Vikings. Dr Cat Jarman explains what it tells us, and what questions remain un...
Hitler’s vengeance
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author Catherine Bailey discusses her recent book Fey’s War, which tells the story of a family caught up in the aftermath of the failed plot to kil...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the East India Company, but were afraid to ask
20 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian Jon Wilson responds to listener queries and popular sear...
Ghosts of Viking London
19 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk he delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, historian, archaeologist and author Thomas Williams discusses...
Ben Macintyre on Agent Sonya – the greatest female spy in history
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist and bestselling author Ben Macintyre talks to us about his latest book, Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy, which tells the incredib...
Prisoners of the Japanese
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Sarah Kovner talks to us about her new book, Prisoners of the Empire, which challenges longstanding beliefs about why Allied prisoners were...
Medieval rebellions
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Ryan Lavelle explores revolts against authority in the 11th century, including against the rule of William the Conqueror in England. Histor...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Suffragettes, but were afraid to ask
13 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian and author Diane Atkinson responds to listener queries a...
Scythians: Warrior Nomads of the Steppe
12 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk from our 2019 History Weekend in Winchester, Barry Cunliffe shares his knowledge of the skilled horsemen who rampaged across the steppe in t...
A Cold War killing?
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist and author Ravi Somaiya discusses his new book, Operation Morthor, which investigates the mysterious 1961 death of UN Secretary-General D...
Simon Schama on the Romantics
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of his new BBC Two series The Romantics and Us, the renowned art historian and broadcaster Simon Schama explores the legacy of the 18th and 19...
Isabel Wilkerson on caste in America
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson discusses her new book, Caste: The Lies That Divide Us, which argues that the divisions...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the legends of King Arthur, but were afraid to ask
06 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, experts Ron Hutton and Ad Putter respond to listener queries and p...
The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj
05 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk she delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, author and BBC broadcaster Anita Anand tells the dramatic stor...
Britain goes to war, part 2
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Alan Allport discusses his new book, Britain at Bay, which explores the years 1938–41 as the country transitioned from an uneasy peace to...
Britain goes to war, part 1
03 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Alan Allport discusses his new book, Britain at Bay, which explores the years 1938–41 as the country transitioned from an uneasy peace to...
Ernest Bevin: working-class warrior
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author and former cabinet minister Andrew Adonis discusses his new biography of Ernest Bevin, exploring how the Labour politician played a crucial rol...
The uncommon lives of common sailors
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author and journalist Stephen Taylor describes the experiences of ordinary British seamen who took to the waves during the age of sail in the 18th an...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Hundred Years’ War, but were afraid to ask
30 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian Anne Curry responds to listener queries and popular sea...
Crusaders: An Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands
29 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk he delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, historian, author and broadcaster Dan Jones introduces a vivid ...
The extraordinary life of Sultan Selim I
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Alan Mikhail, author of a new biography of the Ottoman Sultan Selim I, explains how he transformed the empire in the early 16thcentury – w...
Edward the Confessor
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Medieval historian Professor Tom Licence, author of a new biography of King Edward the Confessor, discusses the life and times of the pre-conquest rul...
Revisiting the Kindertransport
24 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Playwright Jonathan Lichtenstein talks to us about his new book, The Berlin Shadow, which describes how he accompanied his father on a journey back t...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Aztecs, but were afraid to ask
23 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian Caroline Dodds Pennock responds to listener queries and...
Who Dares Wins: Britain in the Age of the Falklands
22 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk he delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, historian, author and broadcaster Dominic Sandbrook explores th...
The story of the Freemasons
21 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian John Dickie, author of the new book The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World, sifts fact from fiction in the history of a much m...
Africa’s cultural liberation
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author and broadcaster Afua Hirsch, who is presenting the new BBC Four series African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power, discusses the histories of E...
The history of seduction
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clement Knox, author of the recent book Strange Antics: A History of Seduction, explores ideas of sex, courtship and power from the 18th century un...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Spanish Civil War, but were afraid to ask
16 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian Paul Preston responds to listener queries and popular se...
Could D-Day Have Failed?
15 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk he delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, military historian and author Peter Caddick-Adams reflects on t...
Victory in the east
14 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As we approach the 75th anniversary of VJ Day, historian Jonathan Fennell describes how the British and Commonwealth forces turned the tide against J...
What’s in a medieval name?
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Medieval historian James Chetwood explores the origins of people’s names in the Middle Ages and how trends in naming changed dramatically over the c...
Authors in the Boer War
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author and biographer Sarah LeFanu discusses her recent book, Something of Themselves, which examines the involvement of three British writers – Ru...
Everything you ever wanted to know about the American Civil War, but were afraid to ask
09 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, historian Adam IP Smith responds to listener queries and popular ...
Medieval Wonder Women
08 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk she delivered at our 2019 BBC History Magazine History Weekend in Winchester, historian, author and broadcaster Janina Ramirez brings to lif...
Documents that changed the world
07 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The distinguished journalists and broadcasters Peter Snow and Ann MacMillan talk about their new book, The Treasures of World History, which compiles...
Peter Frankopan on global history in 2020
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Five years after the publication of his landmark book The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, historian Peter Frankopan explores some of the majo...