HistoryExtra podcast
Episodes
Stealing the Mona Lisa
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In August 1911, an Italian handyman walked out of Paris' Louvre museum with the Mona Lisa tucked under his arm. It was an audacious theft that shocked...
The Great Exhibition: everything you wanted to know
03 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1851, a spectacular showcase of the world's best art, design and innovation opened in London. Housed in a magnificent 'Crystal Palace' constructed ...
Dismemberment & disgrace: the grisly fate of Simon de Montfort
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Simon de Montfort's body was horribly mutilated and dismembered after his defeat at 1265's fateful Battle of Evesham, during the Second Barons' War. T...
Toilets through time | 2. Medieval privies
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why were medieval monks so afraid of going to the loo? In the second episode of our mini-series Toilets Through Time, David Musgrove heads into the da...
Has imperial history become too politicised?
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Controversies surrounding the history of the British empire have become particularly intense in recent years, with academics, politicians and commenta...
Francis Drake: life of the week
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Elizabethan England's most famous sea captain, Francis Drake saw his fair share of sea-faring adventures – from scuffles with the Spanish Armada,...
Our long obsession with the end of the world
28 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From asteroids, bacteria and comets to growing fears about artificial intelligence and climate change, human history has long been stalked by a terror...
The Grand Tour: everything you wanted to know
27 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the 18th century, countless British travellers set off to continental Europe in search of art, architecture... and a good time. But what were the m...
Black Death: everything you wanted to know
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this week, new comedy drama The Decameron dropped on Netflix. Based on a set of 14th-century tales by Giovanni Boccaccio, it follows the rauco...
The Decameron: sex, plague, and a medieval Love Island
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would you do if your home town was ravaged by plague? Would you lock your doors and hide? Run for the hills? Or accept that the end was nigh and ...
Toilets through time | 1. Roman latrines
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What was it like to do your business in a Roman communal toilet? In the first episode of our new mini-series, Toilets Through Time, David Musgrove beg...
Assassinations that shaped US history
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump earlier in July, historian Adam Smith speak to Matt Elton about previous attempts to kill politi...
Is democracy doomed? History behind the headlines
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest episode of our monthly series exploring the past behind the present, Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter are joined by Professor Paul Cartledge...
Catherine of Braganza: the Merrie Monarch's forgotten queen
21 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Picture Charles II's court and you'll probably imagine a riot of excess, filled with drinking, games, and of course, mistresses. The queen by Charles'...
The Spanish Inquisition: everything you wanted to know
20 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The era of the Spanish Inquisition is most commonly remembered as a period of widespread fear and paranoia, where communities turned on each other and...
1217: the year that (almost) changed English history
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
1217 is not one of the most famous years in English history. But with a major French invasion looming and a brutal war that wracked both towns and the...
Deeds not words | 6. Mission accomplished?
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After an escalating campaign of bombing and arson attacks, the suffragette movement was brought to a sudden halt on the outbreak of war in 1914. In th...
Kindness & hostility: refugees in wartime Britain
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Before and during the Second World War, Britain provided a safe haven for thousands of people fleeing Nazi persecution. But, as the author Paul Dowswe...
Catherine de' Medici: life of the week
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Catherine de' Medici has gone down in history as the sinister 'serpent queen', who had a troop of female spies in her court and may have instigated th...
The suffragettes who fell in love
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Evelina Haverfield and Vera Holme, known as Jack, were in love. Not only were they in love, but they also worked together – as suffragette protestor...
Servants: everything you wanted to know
13 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What was it like to be a servant in one of Britain's grand stately homes? How much were domestic staff paid? And what made maids revolt against wearin...
Anxieties of the Edwardian age
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Edwardian era is sometimes regarded as an uneventful stopgap between the cultural and technological innovations of the Victorian period and the se...
Deeds not words | 5. Burning down the house
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Smashing windows, burning down politicians’ homes and planting bombs in public places. As the suffragette movement progressed, it turned to increasi...
How the Plantagenets forged the English state
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Between 1199 and 1399, English politics was packed full of high drama, as the Plantagenet monarchs reacted - and adapted - to plague, warfare, uprisin...
Justinian: life of the week
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Justinian stands tall among the Byzantine rulers, as the 'sleepless emperor' whose religious fervour and legislative zeal saw him rebuild the eastern ...
The woman who saved the children
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eglantyne Jebb was a woman who had no real love of children – but nevertheless worked tirelessly to campaign for their rights. Clare Mulley joins us...
Victorian crime and punishment: everything you wanted to know
06 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Could children be hanged in Victorian Britain? Were the streets of Dickensian London haunted by organised gangs, or opportunistic pickpockets? What tr...
How the Dreyfus Affair tore France apart
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1894, French artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of passing military secrets to Germany. These swirling accusations and the subseq...
Deeds not words | 4. Cat and mouse
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The suffragettes’ relationship with the British establishment was fractious to say the least. As well as experiencing police brutality on the street...
The surprising lives of ancient women
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that while Mark Antony was having an affair with Cleopatra, his wife, Fulvia, was fighting a battle on his behalf in Rome? Or that the fi...
Boudica: life of the week
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How much do we really know about the Iceni warrior leader who rose up against Rome? How close did she come to success? And can we know what she looked...
How Stalin ran rings round the west
30 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The wartime alliance between Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt was arguably the most important of the 20th century – and amon...
British general elections: everything you wanted to know
29 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While it might seem unimaginable today, there was a time when who you voted for in a general election was a matter of public record - and if you were ...
Medieval keep fit
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You might think that people in the Middle Ages did not exercise for fun. But that's not so, according to Professor Carole Rawcliffe of the University ...
Deeds not words | 3. Making a statement
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From eye-catching merchandise and punchy logos to memorable colour-schemes and trouble-making stunts, the suffragettes mastered the art of making a st...
A 21st-century Holocaust trial
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In October 2019 Bruno Dey went on trial in Hamburg for his involvement in a horrific crime – 75 years after that crime had been committed. Dey was n...
Catherine Parr: life of the week
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
She was the most-married wife of England's most-married king, but there was so much more to Catherine Parr. Speaking to Kev Lochun, Tudor historian El...
Invisible ink & toad poison: tools of Elizabethan spycraft
23 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did spies plot and plant information in Elizabethan England? How easy was it to break open a confidential sealed letter and, if necessary, forge i...
Chocolate history: everything you wanted to know
22 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's one of the world's most popular treats and a significant part of the global economy, but how much do you really know about the history of chocola...
Work-life balance: how our ancestors fought for free time
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Work-life balance might seem like a thoroughly modern concern, as many people today struggle to maintain boundaries between our jobs and out home life...
Deeds not words | 2. Pankhurst family portrait
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One family – the Pankhursts – stood at the centre of the suffragette movement. They set the agenda and inspired their followers into action, but t...
Anne Boleyn: a modern woman?
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Boleyn is one the most famous queens in history, but what do we get wrong about Henry VIII's tragic second wife? Speaking to Lauren Good, histori...
Historical apologies & female leaders: History behind the headlines
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter look back at historical examples of lea...
Has WW2 become a national religion?
16 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The way in which we commemorate D-Day, and other pivotal moments of the Second World War, has been making headlines in recent weeks. Alec Ryrie, profe...
Beowulf: everything you wanted to know
15 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Beowulf is the most famous Old English epic poem, relating the adventures of the eponymous hero as he battles beasts and dragons in a pre-Viking Scand...
Inside Bridgerton's ballrooms
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the second half of Bridgerton series three landing on Netflix yesterday, fans have been drawn back into the romantic world of Regency ballrooms. ...
Deeds not words | 1. Battlelines are drawn
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the opening episode of our new series on the suffragettes, Ellie Cawthorne charts how calls of “votes for women” reached boiling point in Edwar...
Deeds not words | Trailer
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Introducing our series on the suffragettes where Ellie Cawthorne and expert historians chart how calls of “votes for women” reached boiling point ...
War, peace & cherry trees: finding hope after WW2
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A Polish priest who was murdered in Auschwitz. A survivor of the Nagasaki atom bomb who campaigned against nuclear war. And a Japanese school teacher ...
Dwight D Eisenhower: life of the week
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Few men did more to shape the course of the 20th century than Dwight D Eisenhower. Not only did 'Ike' mastermind the Allied invasion of western Europe...
Forging first editions: a 1930s crime caper
09 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas James Wise was well-respected among the rare book fanatics of 1930s London as a consummate collector. But when he began to uncover a surprising...
The pilgrim fathers: everything you wanted to know
08 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How bad were conditions aboard the Mayflower? How did the colonists survive that first harsh winter? And why have they attained such an iconic status ...
Beastly Victorians: preventing animal cruelty in the 19th century
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The first piece of legislation preventing animal cruelty was passed in Britain during the 1820s – but that's not to say the British have always live...
D-Day: was Churchill really against the operation?
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, 6 June, marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, one of the key episodes in the Second World War. But what did Winston Churchill make of the plans ...
D-Day: Land
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Allied invasion of Normandy saw troops coming ashore across five landing beaches and dropping behind enemy lines by parachute and glider. But what...
A 17th-century scandal & a writer's secret life
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To poet, playwright and writer Aphra Behn, the tale of a runaway aristocrat's daughter Lady Henrietta Berkeley, her scandalous affair and equally dram...
Plato: life of the week
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ancient Greece produced some of the most celebrated philosophers in history. Yet in terms of fame and enduring influence, none rival Plato. This Athen...
Breastfeeding in the Middle Ages
02 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Breastfeeding has been part of raising children since the dawn of time. However, studying its history also highlights stories of grief, community supp...
Death and mourning in Britain: everything you wanted to know
01 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why did people start cremating bodies? When did black become the colour of mourning? And who are the 'invisible dead'? Speaking to Charlotte Hodgman, ...
Julian: the Roman emperor who (almost) changed the world
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's one of the great what-ifs of ancient history. After Constantine the Great had converted Rome to Christianity it seemed that the faith's progress ...
D-Day: Sea
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
During the early hours of 6 June 1944, a huge armada of Allied ships crossed the Channel, poised to deliver the largest seaborne invasion the world ha...
A Soviet road trip through 1930s America
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After years of suspicion and hostility, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States had improved by the 1930s. In this episode, Lisa Kirs...
Galileo: life of the week
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Galileo Galilei stands as one of the most significant figures in the history of science and thought. But how did he gain this illustrious reputation? ...
What was life like as a peasant?
26 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Europe's peasants have all but disappeared since the end of the Second World War. Patrick Joyce has studied the past 200 years of the peasant experien...
The history of museums: everything you wanted to know
25 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Millions of people flock to museums each year, eager to learn about the past and be inspired by the artefacts on display. But how old is the concept o...
Forgotten women writers of the Renaissance
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You've heard of Shakespeare, but have you heard of his contemporary Mary Sidney, the first person to translate the Book of Psalms into English poetry?...
D-Day: Air
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On 6 June 1944, the Allies began their long-awaited invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. By the end of the day, more than 150,000 men had landed in north...
Cat crazy: the Victorian mania for moggies
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of the 19th century, Britain and America entered the grip of a cat craze that saw the humble moggy catapulted from urban nuisance to belove...
Maria Theresa: life of the week
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Maria Theresa defied expectations of what a female ruler could achieve in the 18th century. When she ascended the throne of the Habsburg empire in 174...
Agent Zo: spying against the Nazis
19 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Operating under the codename Agent Zo, Polish resistance fighter Elżbieta Zawacka was one of the most courageous intelligence agents of the Second Wo...
The Terror: everything you wanted to know
18 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why did the French Revolution descend into a spiral of paranoia, finger-pointing and state violence? Were fears of treachery and counter-revolution ju...
The real Lady Whistledown & the golden age of gossip
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Smash-hit historical romance Bridgerton returns this week. One of the series' key characters is the elusive Lady Whistledown – a savvy wordsmith wit...
WW2's greatest battles | 5. Guadalcanal
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why did a remote Pacific island become one of the most fiercely fought-over locations in the Second World War? In the fifth and final episode of our s...
A surprising history of sex between men
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Until recently, the history of sex between men was a taboo topic. But by delving into the historical archive, historian Sir Noel Malcolm has uncovered...
History Behind the Headlines: student protests down the centuries
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter chronicle the history of student protes...
Tudor ladies-in-waiting: the women who served Henry VIII's queens
12 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Every queen had ladies in waiting, but few of those royal companions witnessed such tumult as the women who served the six queens of Henry VIII. Speak...
Ancient Greek theatre: everything you wanted to know
11 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Was tragedy or comedy the crowd favourite of the ancient Greek stage? Were audiences raucous and rowdy, or quiet and civilised? And how much do modern...
The Tattooist of Auschwitz: is it ok to fictionalise the Holocaust?
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is it ever appropriate to fictionalise the Holocaust? That's a question highlighted by the controversies surrounding The Tattooist of Auschwitz, a 201...
WW2's greatest battles | 4. El Alamein
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In October 1942, Axis and Allied forces went head-to-head in the North African desert. Fighting over access to the Suez Canal and crucial oil fields, ...
Shardlake: bringing the Tudor murder mystery to the screen
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Based on the bestselling novels of CJ Sansom, Disney+'s new Tudor drama Shardlake is a 16th-century whodunnit that takes place during the tumult of t...
Kublai Khan: life of the week
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kublai Khan will go down in history as the man who cemented the Mongol empire's status as the one of the mightiest powers in the world – and changed...
Inside a Jim Crow asylum
05 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In March 1911, twelve Black men were brought to a forest in Maryland. Under supervision, they cleared land and laid foundations for what would become ...
The Spartans: Everything You Wanted to Know
04 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How remarkable was the Spartans' yesstalwart resistance against the Persians at Thermopylae? Was their military training as tough as historians would ...
Death by nostalgia: the curious history of a dangerous emotion
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of the 17th century, a Swiss physician diagnosed a deadly new disease - nostalgia. Agnes Arnold-Forster explores the surprising cultural hi...
WW2's greatest battles | 3. Battle of the Atlantic
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As the Second World War raged on, Atlantic sea-routes became a crucial lifeline for Britain as merchant ships kept them supplied with critical equipme...
Smash hits: 17th-century style
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The music of the past can tell us a great deal about the time in which it was created - from societal trends to political affiliations. As part of the...
Benjamin Franklin: life of the week
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of the founding fathers of the United States of America, Benjamin Franklin is a towering figure in 18th-century history. Although he is widely rem...
OJ Simpson: the trial that gripped the world
28 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When former American football player and actor OJ Simpson was arrested in 1994 for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, ...
Greg Jenner and Campbell Price delve into the curious and fascinating world of ancient Egyptian mummification
27 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What was the 'black goo' that coated ancient Egyptian mummies? Could ancient Egyptians take a sick day to bury their loved ones? And were ancient cat ...
The Magus: enlightened magician or Renaissance charlatan?
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An unlikely mix of scientist, scholar, engineer and magician, the 'Magus' sat at the heart of the transformative Renaissance period. These mysterious ...
WW2's greatest battles | 2. Stalingrad
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1942, the forces of Nazi Germany and its allies came head-to-head with those of the Soviet Union at a city on the Volga. The battle of Stalingrad w...
Aztec myths
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Were the Aztecs really obsessed with death and sacrifice? Did they have a pantheon of deities similar to the ancient Greeks or Romans? And how did a m...
David Lloyd George: life of the week
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Lloyd George regularly features in lists of Britain’s greatest prime ministers. Born in Manchester and raised in rural Wales, the Liberal lumi...
Graffiti's golden age: radicalism & romance in the 18th century
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From etchings scratched into the earliest monuments, to the spray can designs that appear on structures today, the urge to leave our mark is universal...
Highwaymen: everything you wanted to know
20 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Were highwaymen really as dashing and gentlemanly as the stories would have us believe? How did these bandits pick the best locations to rob from the ...
An African perspective on the history of Africa
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Africa's story has long been presented in western narratives as one that only 'began' with the arrival of non-Africans – yet modern science has reve...
WW2's greatest battles | 1. Battle of Britain
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the summer of 1940, the skies over Britain filled with the sounds as of engines and gunfire, as the battle of Britain saw the RAF and Luftwaffe go ...
WW2's greatest battles | Trailer
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did Allied victory in the Second World War really hinge on the battle of the Atlantic? What made Stalingrad such a pivotal victory for the Soviet Unio...
How Kissinger transformed the Cold War
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Henry Kissinger, who died in November 2023 at the age of 100, was one of the most significant, and controversial, figures of the 20th century. Matt El...
Lord Byron: life of the week
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Famously branded "mad, bad and dangerous to know", Lord Byron captured the imagination – and attention – of early 19th-century Britain with his so...