HistoryExtra Long Reads
Episodes
The 'Iron Curtain' speech: why Churchill poked the Russian bear
03 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s 80 years since the war victor and ex-prime minister Winston Churchill delivered his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, sounding the alarm for a perilou...
Anne Boleyn’s image problem
26 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Dark or brunette? Fair or swarthy? A paragon of beauty or a refined charmer? Our picture of Henry VIII’s ill-fated second queen has become distorted...
Mob rule: the rise of the mafia
19 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The 20th century was a golden age for organised crime groups. This Long Read written by Ryan Gingeras reveals how gangs from the Sicilian Mafia to Mex...
What Shakespearean food reveals about early modern England
12 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Bilton reveals how the delicious delicacies of Shakespeare's works offer us an insight into the early modern worldShakespeare and his peers served...
A Victorian murder mystery
05 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
By 1889, Jack the Ripper's grisly murders had sparked terror throughout London. So when the mutilated body of a woman was found beneath railway arches...
How empires end
29 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How do civilisations collapse? That was the question at the heart of Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Two hund...
Why Britain turned its back on the goose step
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Extremism was on the march across continental Europe in the 1920s and 1930s – yet Britons chose a different, more moderate path. This Long Read, wri...
1066: not just the Norman Conquest
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
1066 is synonymous with the battle of Hastings. Yet while Duke William of Normandy was launching his conquest of England, the rest of Europe had its o...
Medieval England’s terror of the living dead
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
At the turn of the 12th century, two men from a Staffordshire village died suddenly. Their lifeless bodies were taken to the local graveyard and solem...
How the SAS reinvented itself after WW2
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s War Office thanked the SAS for its remarkable efforts in WW2 by abolishing it – yet soon realised the error of its ways. This Long Read ...
How the Vikings menaced the Mediterranean
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Killing, burning, pillaging, enslaving. Even when heading to sunnier climes, Viking raiders deployed the same tactics that they had used along the sho...
Victorian murders most female
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Women accused of violent murders have often faced assumptions about their motives and disbelief that the ‘gentle sex’ could commit such bloody cri...
The bizarre beginnings of the Winter Olympics
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Boxing and football? In a Winter Olympics? In October? Held in 1908, the first ever Winter Games was an experimental affair – but, according to this...
Air raids and arias: Britain's WW2 operatic obsession
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As the conflict with Nazi Germany raged on, British tram drivers tuned in to Tchaikovsky and waitresses revelled in Wagner. But why? This Long Read wr...
How many Bayeux Tapestries were there?
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
David Musgrove investigates whether the iconic embroidery was simply one of many A new theory, put forward by Professor John Blair, questions wheth...
Julius Caesar: he came, he saw, he crucified pirates...?
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ancient accounts of Julius Caesar’s early life depict an all-action hero who outwitted tyrants and terrorised bandits. But can they be trusted? This...
Margaret Beaufort: schemer or opportunist?
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, is often characterised as a domineering woman who plotted her son’s rise to the throne. But how true is ...
How Spain became a democracy
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy in the late 1970s surely counts as one of modern Europe’s most remarkable stories. On the 50th ann...
Beyond Jane Austen
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Austen was a brilliant observer of Georgian Britain – but she couldn’t speak for everyone. The author’s books depict an evocative slice of ...
Santa Claus vs Father Christmas
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The true identity of the white-bearded, red-robed figure who fills children’s stockings at Christmas has long been debated. This Long Read written b...
WW2's U-boat war: a theatre of hate?
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did German U-boats conduct a ‘clean’ campaign during the Second World War? Or were they guilty of routinely murdering survivors in the water? In t...
Doctor, doctor: remarkable medieval medical cures
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What did medieval physicians prescribe for stomach ache? Could weasels’ testicles really help you conceive? In this Long Read. written by James Free...
Spectral beasts and hounds from hell
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From infernal black dogs attacking churches to ravening, red-eyed brutes on remote roads, Britain has long been haunted by fearsome canine phantoms. T...
The slippery truth of the Dreyfus Affair
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The wrongful conviction for treason of a Jewish army captain in France in the late 19th century exposed antisemitism and virulent nationalism – and...
1066: who was the rightful king?
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Which of four main contenders for the English throne in 1066 had the strongest claim? Was it the Anglo-Saxon strongman, the Norman duke, the ‘Thunde...
Carthage: the making of Rome's monster
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the second century BC, Roman troops razed the city of Carthage and obliterated its civilisation. So why, asks this Long Read written by Eve MacDona...
Treachery, deceit and the death of the Tudor dynasty
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did James I 'steal' Elizabeth I's crown? This Long Read, written by Tracy Borman, considers evidence that the transition from Tudor to Stuart dynastie...
The Assassins: a reign of terror
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the 12th century, a sect of killers spread fear across the Middle East, executing a series of high-profile political murders. This Long Read, writt...
Victoria's secret love affair
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There have long been whispers of a romance between Queen Victoria and her Scottish servant John Brown, but nothing concrete to support them. This Long...
Æthelstan: England's colossus
12 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The rise of Æthelstan was as important a moment in English history as 1066 and Magna Carta. On the 1,100th anniversary of his coronation, this Long R...
Hiroshima's atomic plague
05 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of the nuclear attacks on Japan, the official Allied line was that radiation sickness was not a danger. Yet, as this Long Read written by ...
The sinister secrets of Samuel Pepys
28 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
His diaries are revered for their kaleidoscopic evocation of Restoration England. Yet a fresh analysis of Pepys’ world-famous journals – carried o...
Horses: medieval war machines
21 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From William the Conqueror’s battle-winning cavalry to Richard III’s fatal final charge, this Long Read written by Oliver H Creighton and Robert L...
Victorian boxing sensations
14 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From unholy fights in the most sacred of spaces to downing glasses of sherry for breakfast, this Long Read written by Sarah Elizabeth Cox introduces t...
Mary of Modena: a queen in the eye of a storm
07 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
She was an Italian Catholic in a ferociously anti-papist English court. An aspiring nun in a hotbed of hedonism. In this Long Read written by historia...
Art deco: designs for life
31 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the interwar era, artists and designers embraced a sleek modern style that embodied the optimism and elegance of the age. On the centenary of the P...
Elizabeth I's forbidden love
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1579, Queen Elizabeth I embarked on a romance with a French duke she affectionately dubbed her “frog”. The pair seemed destined for marriage. Y...
Swings and roundabouts: a history of British playgrounds
17 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We all have childhood memories of playgrounds. But what can the evolution of outdoor play in Britain tell us about the experience of being young over ...
Julius Caesar's funeral drama
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC drove tensions sky-high in ancient Rome. As this Long Read written by historian Jessica Clarke reveals, pl...
Live Aid at 40
03 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Bob Geldof exhorted audiences to fill Wembley Stadium and empty their pockets for famine relief in Ethiopia, he changed the face of charity fundr...
Inside the Luftwaffe during the battle of Britain
27 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the Battle of Britain erupted, many Luftwaffe pilots anticipated a swift victory. Yet soon that confidence had been replaced by chronic fatigue a...
Spiked drinks, counterfeit coins and the lodgers from hell
20 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Drugging, fraud, even murder – women couldn’t really commit such heinous crimes, could they? Written by historian Rosalind Crone, this Long Read e...
The Ambassadors: painting on the precipice
13 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hans Holbein’s masterwork The Ambassadors is an exquisite portrait of two 16th-century diplomats. But, as well as being artistically impressive, the...
The women who shaped Malcolm X
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Malcolm X became one of the most influential leaders in the US civil rights movement – thanks largely, explains this Long Read written by historian ...
Spartacus: Rome's worst nightmare
29 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the Spartacus revolt erupted in 73 BC, it exposed a terrifying truth: that the cocksure Roman Republic was nowhere near as invincible as it liked...
Scotland's season of the witch
22 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 16th and 17th-century Scotland, many hundreds of ‘witches’ were put to death – 10 times the proportion executed in England. This Long Read wr...
Why the Great Famine devastated Ireland
15 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When blight began devastating potato crops across Ireland in 1845, British officials immediately recognised the dangers. And yet, within six years, th...
Why the ancient Egyptians worshipped wine
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the ancient Egyptians, wine played a pivotal part in mythology, ritual and the natural processes that enabled their survival. This Long Read writt...
Matchless monsters: female murderers in early modern Britain
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Men committed the majority of violent crimes in Tudor and Stuart England. But when women murdered, the press had a field day. This Long Read, written ...
Richard III's remains: how science identified the king in the car park
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the remains of Richard III were rediscovered under a car park, Turi King led the verification team that worked on the skeleton – proving with 9...
Josephine Baker: dancer, activist, spy
18 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today she’s widely remembered as a risqué entertainer – yet she was also involved in many of the earth-shaking events of her era. As 2025 sees th...
Was Charles I a tyrant?
11 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The reviled king was condemned to death as a “Tyrant, Traitor, Murderer and Public Enemy”. But, as 2025 marks the 400th anniversary of his accessi...
VE Day: was it really one big party?
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been 80 years since Britons heard the news that the war in Europe was over. But how did those who lived through VE Day remember the moment? Wit...
Dangerous delights: Victorian Britain's cocaine habit
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the 19th century, a magic new drug took the medical community by storm, riding a wave of scientific endeavour. But, as this Long Read written by hi...
Mercia: the lost kingdom
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Battered by the Vikings, outshone by King Alfred, Mercia has long been painted as the also-ran of the Anglo-Saxon world. Yet, as this Long Read writte...
Did Ronald Reagan 'make America great again'?
13 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This year has seen Donald Trump retake the US presidency, repeating his vow to ‘make America great again’. But he’s not the first to wield such ...
Fingers, frogs and fairies: fortune telling in early modern Britain
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fortune telling was all the rage in the 16th and 17th centuries, and practitioners would stop at nothing to tap in to the supernatural. This Long Read...
WW2 evacuees: when Britain escaped to the country
30 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was a moment of possibilities, dislocation – and dread. This Long Read, written by Dan Todman, tells the story of the 1.5 million urban Britons e...
500,000 years of African history
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Slavery, exploitation and racism. These tragedies have long dominated histories of Africa. But there’s another way to tell this story. And, as this ...
Henry III and the Magna Carta that mattered
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
King John’s sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215 is one of the most feted moments of the Middle Ages. Yet, as this Long Read written by David...
Marco Polo's adventures: lands of make believe?
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Marco Polo’s adventures in Asia earned him lasting fame. But are his accounts of these travels essentially works of fiction? In this Long Read, hist...
The gunpowder plot: how to build a radical
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The experiences that radicalised Guy Fawkes and his gunpowder plot co-conspirators into violent extremists sound all too familiar today. This Long Rea...
The battle of Monte Cassino: a hill to die on
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In early 1944, the Allied advance in Italy was brought to a halt at a rocky outcrop called Monte Cassino. This Long Read, written by historian James H...
Why sex was a sin in the Middle Ages
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Celibacy barely merits a mention in the Bible. Yet, by the early Middle Ages, it was being celebrated as a shortcut to a seat next to God. In this Lon...
Ptolemy XII: Cleopatra's father from hell
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The tragic fate of Cleopatra has long overshadowed her predecessor, Ptolemy XII. But, as this Long Read written by Diana T Nikolova explains, it’s i...
Keep smiling: the history of happiness
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What can history teach us about how to find joy? In this Long Read written by Katie Barclay, we share five lessons from the past about the pursuit of ...
Winston Churchill: still the greatest?
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Of all the figures in the pantheon of British history, Winston Churchill is consistently ranked amongst the greatest. But how far does this legendary ...
Influencers of the medieval age
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Women in the Middle Ages rarely wielded political or economic power – yet, a little like the most persuasive doyennes of social media today, their w...
Thomas Cromwell: hero to zero
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas Cromwell’s final six months were a Greek tragedy of hubris and political venom – all presided over by a tyrannical king. This Long Read, wr...
Introducing History's Greatest Scandals | New Podcast
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Poisoned sweets. Criminal misdeeds. And a sex scandal involving… the prime-minister. Listen to HistoryExtra's new podcast History’s Greatest Scan...
Sarah Biffin: extraordinary artist
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most famous British painters of the first half of the 19th century was a woman born without arms or legs. This Long Read, written by Alice ...
Lord Lucan: what really happened to the missing earl?
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fifty years ago, the notorious peer Lord Lucan vanished following the murder of his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett. This Long Read, written by Laur...
Gladiators: tales from the Roman arena
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did gladiators supercharge the rise of Julius Caesar? And why were they seen as sex symbols? As the new film directed by Ridley Scott, Gladiator I...
Audacious lady swindlers, con-women and hustlers
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
New BBC series Lady Swindlers with Lucy Worsley tells the stories of female criminals from the 18th to 20th centuries. Their chicanery often earned th...
Edward of Warwick: the other prince in the tower
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 1499 execution of Edward of Warwick snuffed out the final embers of the Wars of the Roses. In this Long Read written by Sarah Norton, we introduce...
Mysterious mummification myths
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Booby-trapped tombs, eviscerated corpses and terrifying curses – countless ‘facts’ swirl around the burial practices of ancient Egyptians. But w...
Henry V's brutal youth
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Jones reveals how Henry V's youth helped shape him into the pious warrior king we know today Held hostage at 12, deciding the fate of captives at...
Pigs in the medieval city
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dolly Jørgensen considers why the pig was so vital to urban life in the Middle Ages They killed children, exhumed dead bodies and caused an almighty...
How we found our bearings: the origins of the four compass points
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jerry Brotton explores the origins of the four points of the compass Why did the ancient Chinese associate north with power? And what led early Musli...
Reading the runes: uncovering the everyday lives of the Vikings
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eleanor Barraclough reads the runes to find out more about day-to-day life during the age of the Vikings Mysterious characters inscribed on stone, wo...
Tales from history's toilets
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Musgrove takes a tour of the historic water closet to uncover how our toilets habits have changed over the centuries From Roman latrines and me...
Medieval England's political miracle
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From Magna Carta to Parliament, taxation to the law courts, the 13th and 14th centuries laid the foundations for the modern British state. In this Lon...
Dudley Clarke: the spy who hoodwinked Hitler
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dummy tanks at El Alamein, bogus generals in Algiers, sham armies on D-Day – all were ruses masterminded by World War II's master of deception Dudle...
Henry VII: the king they couldn't kill
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why is Henry VII remembered as an intensely suspicious king, wracked by paranoia? According to Nathen Amin, the answer lies in his death-defying rise ...
The suffragettes: masters of PR
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The suffragettes crafted a brilliant PR campaign, driven by everything from marching bands to branded marmalade. But did their quest for publicity eve...
Robert the Bruce: the man, the myth, the murderer
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Robert the Bruce is famed as a national hero, and lauded for his military exploits against the old enemy of England. But how true is this perception? ...
Oliver Cromwell's postal spies
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you place a letter in the hands of your local postal worker, you have faith that they won't take a sneak peek at your messages – but what if th...
Dark knights and crusading criminals
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The crusades sparked centuries of violence and chaos, and not just on the battlefield. This Long Read, written by Steve Tibble, examines the surge in ...
Women of the Greco-Persian Wars
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For so long, women have been excluded from ancient tales of extraordinary world-changing events. Writing them back into the narrative, this Long Read,...
Oradour-sur-Glane: one of WW2's most infamous massacres
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the morning of the 10 June 1944, the residents of Oradour-sur-Glane were going about their lives as normally as was possible in occupied France. Co...
From Tudor to Stuart: a brand new era?
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The passing of the English crown from Elizabeth I to James VI and I was welcomed by a nation hungry for change. But, as historian Susan Doran argues i...
The madcap Paris Olympics: how chaos nearly derailed the 1900 Games
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the 2024 Summer Olympics taking place in Paris, this Long Read, written by David Goldblatt, describes how the 1900 Games, the first held in the F...
The West Africa Squadron: Britain's war on slave ships
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the early 19th century, a Royal Navy squadron was sent to West Africa to hunt down ships carrying enslaved people to the Americas. The operation wa...
Club AD 130: a Roman holiday
28 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From cruising down the Nile to carving names into historical monuments, ancient leisure habits don't seem too far from our own. This Long Read, writte...
Airborne assault: the spearhead of the D-Day invasion
21 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hours before the assault on Normandy’s beaches got under way on 6 June 1944, British airborne troops launched an attack on targets in the French cou...
The women behind Henry VIII's queens
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Banished. Exiled. Died. Widowed. Berated. Survived. The ladies-in-waiting to Henry VIII’s wives were serious political operators with unparalleled a...
The Normandy campaign's forgotten naval heroes
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ferrying troops to the beaches wasn’t the only contribution sailors made during the Allied invasion of Normandy. In this special Long Read written b...
Victorian scandals: sex, sadism & sugared death
30 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Breaking news coverage of outrageous, taboo-busting or immoral behaviour has horrified - and captivated - societies for centuries. And the Victorians ...
Roman slaves: the hidden lives of the empire's invisible labour force
23 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rome’s slaves were brutalised, mocked, exploited – or simply ignored. Yet, writes Guy de la Bédoyère in this Long Read, the Roman empire could h...
Cumbria: the forgotten Anglo-Saxon kingdom
16 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
William of Normandy sailed across the Channel and swiftly conquered England in 1066 – or at least that’s how the story goes. But, in this Long Rea...