HistoryExtra podcast

The invisible tracks that have shaped the world

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Each ocean voyage through history has laid down a track that tells a story. These invisible pathways across the seas can reveal how the world has been...

Should we stop talking about the crusades?

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you think about 'the crusades', you probably think of a series of military campaigns in the Holy Land, representing a great battle between the fo...

Æthelred the Unready: life of the week

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

King Æthelred II ruled England from 978 to 1016 – with a little gap in 1014. Known to history as 'the Unready', he faced many challenges in his rei...

The golden age of the country house

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Britain’s country houses enjoyed something of a renaissance. No longer were stately homes only seen as th...

Victorian schools: everything you wanted to know

17 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The 19th century witnessed a revolution in Britain's schools, as compulsory mass education was rolled out, and thousands more children learnt how to r...

Gladiators: everything you wanted to know

16 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who became a gladiator? Were they really the superstars of their day? And was giving a thumbs down for a death sentence a real thing? As Gladiator II ...

Nelson: a life of heroism and scandal

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nelson is one of the most well-known historical figures from British history. His leadership of the British fleet to victory at the Battle of Trafalga...

Medieval make do and mend

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The medieval approach to sustainability was entirely different to ours today. In a world where the modern definition of 'waste' didn't even exist, the...

Thomas Cromwell: the triumph and tragedy of Henry VIII's right-hand man

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the spring of 1540 Thomas Cromwell was at the height of his power, but just a few months later he found himself at the scaffold on Tower Hill prepa...

Joseph McCarthy: life of the week

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Joseph McCarthy's infamous crusade in the 1950s whipped up a frenzy of anti-communist sentiment across America – and wrecked the reputations of scor...

Gladiator tales

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did gladiators supercharge the rise of Julius Caesar? What can we learn about arena fighters from the petrified remains at Pompeii? And why did gl...

The Brontës: everything you wanted to know

10 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From their remote Yorkshire parsonage, sisters Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë penned stories that would capture the imaginations of generations of ...

Lord Lucan: the vanishing earl

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 7 November, 1974, nanny Sandra Rivett was found murdered in the affluent London neighbourhood of Belgravia. The prime suspect? The father of her yo...

The Tyrant, the usurper and the hero | Henry V: hero

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Henry V only had a short reign, but his legacy looms large over the medieval landscape. Remembered as a heroic warrior king, who bested the French at ...

How Stalin won WW2

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In June 1944 Allied armies landed in force in northern France, and the liberation of western Europe began. But, the battle that really sealed Hitler's...

The Venerable Bede: life of the week

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Venerable Bede was a monk who lived in Northumbria 1300 years ago, but his influence reached far beyond the confines of his monastic home. In fact...

Decoding Mary, Queen of Scots

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How might cryptic messages written from within a political prison bring us closer to understanding a captive queen? Historian Jade Scott has studied t...

The Blitz: everything you wanted to know

03 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did British civilians respond when they found themselves under aerial bombardment during the Second World War? Was normal life put on hold during ...

The gunpowder plot: everything you wanted to know

02 Nov 2024

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...

Telling the story of modern Jerusalem

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

First published in 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore's book Jerusalem: The Biography charts life in the city across the course of centuries. Now he's retur...

The Tyrant, the usurper and the hero | Henry IV: usurper

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Henry Bolingbroke has gone down in history as the usurper that stole the English crown from the tyrant Richard II – and was later plagued by rebelli...

Satan & the sabbath: witchhunting in the Basque Country

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Satanic sabbaths, magic potions and demonic toads – in the early 17th century, the Basque Country was convulsed by strange accusations of supernatur...

Florence Nightingale: life of the week

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From her groundbreaking work in nursing and public health reform to her battles against societal expectations and love of animals, Melissa Pritchard e...

Introducing History's Greatest Conspiracy Theories

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Was the moon landing faked? Did Shakespeare actually pen the works he’s credited with? And were the pyramids really built by aliens? In History's Gr...

Cocaine: a Victorian sensation

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a much-publicised race in the 1870s, the most celebrated athlete of his day, the long-distance pedestrian Edward P Weston, admitted that he had che...

Medieval science: everything you wanted to know

26 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Was the medieval Church really anti-science? Why did one monk hurl himself from an the roof of his abbey tower in the name of experimentation? And wha...

Halloween traditions: everything you wanted to know

25 Oct 2024

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...

Medieval women: friendship, wanderlust and the medieval hustle

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Marie de France, Julian of Norwich, Christine de Pizan and Margery Kempe: what can these four extraordinary female writers reveal about the everyday l...

The Tyrant, the usurper and the hero | Richard II: tyrant

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Richard II lacked all the qualities a medieval monarch needed, bar one: birthright. Born believing he was God's representative on Earth, the narcissis...

Chris Packham & Peter Frankopan: can history help tackle the climate crisis?

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Climate change is an issue that animates politicians, scientists and activists around the world – but could looking to history help shape our approa...

History Behind the Headlines: political memoirs, fuel and access to nature

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter explore the history of political memoir...

Tudor spymaster: the secret machinations of Robert Cecil

20 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Late Tudor England was a dangerous place, with plots both at home and abroad, and no certainty about who was going to succeed the ageing queen, Elizab...

The Korean War: everything you wanted to know

19 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On today's Everything You Wanted to Know episode, we're covering the Korean War, exploring how the nation came to be divided in two, what the impact o...

Roman slavery: a brutal life in the ancient empire

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How many slaves were there in the Roman empire? Were they cruelly treated, or could they sometimes go on to win fame, fortune and freedom? And how oft...

1066: the battle for England | 4. the long and violent Norman Conquest

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

William of Normandy’s victory at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066 was far from the end of the Norman Conquest of England. It took many years, ...

Imperial spectacle: inside Britain's 1924 'Empire Exhibition'

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A century ago, in 1924, the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley opened its doors, receiving as many as 27 million visits over two years. It was a gra...

John Milton: life of the week

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Across the 65 years of his life, writer John Milton packed a lot in: poet, polemicist, political operator – engaging with ideas that often challenge...

Why did people kill for Hitler?

13 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why were so many Germans prepared to participate in the crimes of the Third Reich? It's a question that has exercised historians and the wider public ...

The Cathars: everything you wanted to know

12 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Denounced as heretics by the Catholic church, the Cathars were a offshoot Christian movement which emerged in southern Europe during the 12th century....

Black British History: everything you wanted to know

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

October is Black History Month here in the UK. But how far back does the story of black people in Britain stretch - and what evidence do we have about...

Shopping and snacking: a social history of the high street

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Daring department store stunts. Warming cups of cocoa. Argumentative bartering with butchers. What can revisiting high streets gone by reveal about Br...

1066: the battle for England | 3. Three kings and three battles

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The year 1066 is the most famous in English history. It was marked by not just one, but three major battles, and saw three different men ruling as kin...

The race to identify all living creatures

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 18th century, two men – Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon – both independently took on a mammoth task. They set out to identify, de...

King John: life of the week

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

King John has a terrible reputation. He's best known as the monarch who broke the terms of Magna Carta, lost Normandy to the French and committed nume...

Ordinary Vikings: hidden histories of the Nordic world

06 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We know the Vikings best as brutal, seafaring, pagan raiders – and that’s an important part of their lives and histories. But it’s only one aspe...

Tea history: everything you wanted to know

05 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Chances are, like most of us, you probably enjoy a good cup of tea. But how did the world come to be so obsessed with this now-ubiquitous hot beverage...

Victorian women detectives

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Apprehending thieves in the street. Disguising as housemaids to spy on adulterous husbands. Investigating and exposing child abuse. The exploits of wo...

1066: the battle for England | 2. The power behind the Anglo-Saxon throne

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Harold II – best known as the defeated king who reportedly got an arrow through the eye at the Battle of Hastings – was part of the Godwin f...

A hidden history of black civil rights

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When we think of American civil rights, we tend to focus on the mid 20th-century and the likes of Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks, who fought for...

Eleanor Roosevelt: life of the week

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Historian and biographer Susan Ware joins Elinor Evans to discuss the life of Eleanor Roosevelt, from her transformative role as First Lady of the Uni...

How did the US get so many guns?

29 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today there are an estimated 450 million guns in civilian hands in the United States – ten times the number than at the end of the Second World War....

Communism: everything you wanted to know

28 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

First published in 1848, the The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels presents communism as a 'spectre' haunting Europe. During the c...

Liberating WW2 Naples: triumph and tragedy

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Allied forces arrived in Naples in October 1943, they found a city on its knees. Already ravaged by three years of war, Naples had been further d...

1066: the battle for England | 1. Vikings, Normans and rebellious Anglo-Saxons

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The roots of the Norman Conquest of 1066 can be traced all the way back to 1016 – when England was hit by an earlier foreign invasion. This tim...

Churchill's prewar crisis meetings

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the run-up to the Second World War, Winston Churchill's Kent home, Chartwell, was transformed from a cosy country pile to an informal Home Office, ...

Henry VII: life of the week

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Henry VII has gone down in history as the miserable miser who, rightly or wrongly, seized the English Crown from the hands of Richard III at the battl...

Tokyo 1946: the war crime trial that shaped Japan's future

22 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1946, as Japan stood in ruins at the end of the Second World War, an international trial was launched in Tokyo. It was a mammoth legal and politica...

The Stuarts: everything you wanted to know

21 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What do we know about James I's sexuality? How did Charles I squander his throne? How successful was the 'Glorious Revolution'? And why is the turbule...

Hidden environmental histories of the last 500 years

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From the Mongol expansion to the world wars, and from colonialism to the slave trade, the biggest historical events of the past 500 years have reshape...

Ancient Egypt | 5. a lost world?

18 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why are we still so obsessed with ancient Egypt? In this fifth episode of Ancient Egypt: the big questions, Emily Briffett is joined by curator and Eg...

Congo, Cold War & CIA plotting: the 1961 assassination that shook Africa

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Soon after gaining independence from Belgium in 1960, the new Republic of the Congo was rocked by the assassination of its young firebrand leader, Pat...

Viking trade, Titanic and Olympic rings: history behind the headlines

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter discuss the historical news stories that have made headlines this month In the latest episode of our monthly series chart...

How ancient India transformed the world

15 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From the Roman economy and Angkor Wat to the spread of Buddhism and the numerical system we use today, ancient India was one of the great seedbeds of ...

The Hittites: everything you wanted to know

14 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Hittites were one of the most powerful civilisations in the Near East, building a vast empire that encompassed much of modern-day Turkey. But asid...

The Iranian embassy siege: an SAS hostage drama in London

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In May 1980, TV coverage of the world snooker final was interrupted by live footage of men in black balaclavas abseiling down the walls of the Iranian...

Ancient Egypt | 4. religion and death

11 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nothing is more synonymous with ancient Egypt than mummification. But why was this postmortem practice actually performed? And what other rituals and ...

Native Americans: a history of power and survival

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The story of Native American societies decimated by European arrival is a familiar one. But, while undoubtedly important, that’s only one part of th...

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: life of the week

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From pioneering railways and awe-inspiring bridges to ocean-spanning passenger ships and flatpack hospitals, there was no engineering challenge too am...

The 1943 battle of Kursk – and its present-day echoes

08 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Recent developments in the Russia-Ukraine war have seen Kursk make headlines – provoking parallels with the Second World War battle that took place ...

Medieval torture: everything you wanted to know

07 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why were people tortured in the Middle Ages? Was it ever legal? Did the infliction of physical pain play as large a role in medieval prosecutions as w...

Medieval documents in danger

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Just how far does our understanding of the medieval past rely upon written sources? And what happens when these precious fragments of knowledge are de...

Ancient Egypt | 3. culture

04 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What would an average ancient Egyptian citizen's relationship have been with the pyramids? Why did they wear gooey wax cones on their heads? And what ...

Our 10,000-year quest for equality

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Were hunter-gatherer societies among the most equal in history? What impact did the French and American Revolutions have on the concept of equality? A...

Michelangelo: life of the week

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From his famed statue of David to the extraordinary paintings that adorn the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo’s work still inspires awe. ...

The Battle of Megiddo: ancient Egypt's greatest victory?

01 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The battle of Megiddo is one of the most important battles you've (probably) never heard of. When an army led by Pharaoh Thutmosis III clashed with a ...

Prehistoric stone circles: everything you want to know

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you've ever visited one of the many prehistoric stone circles that dot the landscape of Britain and Ireland, you've probably come away with lots of...

The plague that brought the Roman empire to its knees

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In AD 165, the Roman empire was enjoying a period of seemingly unprecedented prosperity and stability. Then, the Antonine Plague arrived, bringing wit...

Ancient Egypt | 2. everyday life

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ever wondered where an ancient Egyptian did their food shop? Or how crocodile dung could cure your ailments? In this second episode of our series Anci...

False rumps & rotten teeth: 400 years of bizarre beauty practices

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From false rumps and fake teeth to toxic skincare and insect-laden wigs, over the past 400 years, British women have resorted to extraordinary lengths...

Emperor Vespasian: life of the week

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The year AD 69 found the Roman empire in a state of chaos. Three emperors had come and gone. Civil war reigned supreme. Rome's enemies smelled blood. ...

An audacious escape from slavery

25 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 20 December 1848, Ellen Craft placed a top hat on her head, slipped her arm into a sling, and perched dark green glasses on her nose. Once her disg...

The Abbasid caliphate: everything you wanted to know

24 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Abbasid caliphs sat at the head of a vast Islamic empire that stretched from Tunisia to the frontiers of India, which they ruled over for several ...

Crusader criminals: how the Holy Land became a hotbed of lawlessness

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The medieval crusades are remembered for their sweeping military campaigns. But they also engendered a brutality that went beyond the battlefield – ...

Ancient Egypt | 1. civilisation

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You’re probably familiar with the idea of godly pharaohs, menacing mummies and their deadly curses. But how much do you actually know about the fund...

Ancient Egypt: the big questions | Trailer

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From the secrets of the pyramids to the mysteries of mummification, ancient Egypt has captivated the popular imagination for centuries. In HistoryExt...

Gulag doctors: saving lives in Stalin's prison camps

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Soviet gulag was a place of brutality, exploitation and death. But it was also home to tens of thousands of medical personnel who had to overcome ...

The far right in Britain: history behind the headlines

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter are joined by historian Nigel Copsey to...

Practical magic: curses, spells & cunning folk

18 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From love spells to enthral the object of your desires, to charms to influence the outcome of a trial, people turned to cunning folk for all kinds of ...

The history of migration: everything you wanted to know

17 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since the dawn of humanity, people have been on the move. Our ancestors' ability to travel across vast distances and adapt to different environments h...

Eighteen-year-olds who changed history

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 21st-century Britain, the age of 18 marks the legal transition from childhood to adulthood. But how has this boundary shifted over time? Alice Loxt...

Toilets through time | 4. Victorian lavatories

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the final episode of Toilets Through Time, we’ve finally reached the age of avant-garde sewerage systems and shining porcelain cisterns: the Vict...

How games changed history

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From Chess and Go, to Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly and the ancient Egyptian game of Senet, people have long had a fascination with games. But accordin...

George Orwell: life of the week

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From doublethink and thoughtcrime to coming face-to-face with our worst nightmares inside Room 101, few writers have had as much impact on the popular...

Lines on a map: borders that shaped world history

11 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

People have been drawing lines on maps as long as there have been maps to draw on – whether for political, geographical or sometimes completely arbi...

Tartan: everything you wanted to know

10 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We're all familiar with the checks and stripes of tartan. But, how much do you know about the colourful history of the textile famously sported by the...

Olympic History: everything you wanted to know

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past two weeks, we've witnessed spectacular sporting achievements in Paris. And for anyone who doesn't feel quite ready for the Olympics to b...

Hidden labs, sex gardens & torture attics: secrets of British royal palaces

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If walls could talk, what secrets would those of a British royal palace whisper? Murder, debauchery, treason and more, says Professor Kate Williams. S...

Toilets through time | 3. Tudor garderobes

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Did constipation turn Henry VIII into a tyrant? For the third episode of our mini-series Toilets Through Time, David Musgrove revisits the luxurious s...

Gulbadan Begum: princess, explorer, author

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gulbadan Begum was meant to live a quiet life in a Mughal harem. Instead she set off on a daring pilgrimage to Islam's holy cities and, on her return,...

Anne Frank: life of the week

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Frank was one of six million Jews to be murdered by the Nazis. A number of these victims' lives were lost to history. But Anne had left behind a ...