History Extra podcast

The History Extra podcast brings you gripping stories from the past and fascinating historical conversations with the world's leading historical experts.


Produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine, History Extra is a free history podcast, with episodes released six times a week. Subscribe now for the real stories behind your favourite films, TV shows and period dramas, as well as compelling insights into lesser-known aspects of the past. 

 

We delve into global history stories spanning the ancient world right up to the modern day. You’ll hear deep dives into the lives of famous historical figures like Cleopatra, Anne Boleyn and Winston Churchill, and explorations of intriguing events from the past, such as the Salem witch trials, the battle of Waterloo and D-Day. 

 

Expect fresh takes on history, helping you get to grips with the latest research, as we explore everything from ancient Roman archaeology and Viking mythology to Renaissance royals and Tudor kings and queens. 

 

Our episodes touch on a wide range of historical eras – from the Normans and Saxons to the Stuarts, Victorians and the Regency period. We cover the most popular historical subjects, from the medieval world to the Second World War, but you’ll also hear conversations on lesser-known parts of our past, including black history and women’s history. 

 

Looking at the history behind today’s headlines, we consider the forces that have shaped today’s world, from the imposing empires that dominated continents, to the revolutions that brought them crashing down. We also examine the impact of conflict across the centuries, from the crusades of the Middle Ages and the battles of the ancient Egyptians to World War One, World War Two and the Cold War.  

 

Plus, we uncover the real history behind myths, legends and conspiracy theories, from the medieval murder mystery of the Princes in the Tower, to the assassination of JFK.  

 

Featuring interviews with notable historians including Mary Beard, Tracy Borman, James Holland and Dan Jones, we cover a range of social, political and military history, with the aim to start conversations about some of the most fascinating areas of the past. 

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History
1
International security & rough sleeping: histor...
Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter discuss the historical context behind recent news stories
34 min
2
Make Mercia Great Again
Max Adams explains why he wants us to rediscover the glory of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia
37 min
3
The Merovingians: everything you wanted to know
Professor James Palmer answers listener questions on the long-haired kings who ruled a proto-France in the wake of the western Roman empire's collapse
33 min
4
How the Allies won WW2
James Holland explores the final months of the greatest conflict in human history through the Axis surrenders that brought it to an end
30 min
5
Ancient tips for health and happiness
Claire Bubb examines Greek and Roman views on diet, exercise, and what it meant to live a healthy life in the ancient world
33 min
6
Thomas Aquinas: life of the week
Robert Pasnau explores the life of one of the most influential philosophers and theologians of medieval Europe
38 min
7
Barmier than Bond: Ian Fleming's extraordinary ...
Edward Abel Smith explains how Ian Fleming's real-life missions to bamboozle the Nazis inspired the plots of his world-famous spy novels
35 min
8
Fatherhood: a short history
Augustine Sedgwick considers how the concept of fatherhood has evolved over the centuries
34 min
9
CIA book smugglers of the Cold War
Charlie English explores how the CIA used literature as a secret weapon during the Cold War, by smuggling books into the Eastern Bloc
30 min
10
The Renaissance: not such a golden age?
Ada Palmer argues that viewing the Renaissance as a 'golden age' obscures its messy and violent reality
43 min
11
Archimedes: life of the week
Professor Michael Scott explores the life and legacy of Archimedes, one of antiquity’s most brilliant minds 
28 min
12
The Third Reich's first genocide
Dagmar Herzog explores how years of eugenic theorising and propaganda against people with disabilities culminated in mass murder in Nazi Germany
34 min
13
English folklore: everything you wanted to know
Francis Young takes us on a journey through England's folklore – from malicious mermaids on the moors to dangerous demon dogs that stalk the streets 
42 min
14
What happened in Shakespeare's "lost years"?
Daniel Swift discusses Shakespeare's arrival on the London theatre scene as a young man, and reconstructs the story of a long-lost Shoreditch playhouse
31 min
15
Plague, famine and chivalry: a human history of...
Helen Carr explores the tumultuous 14th century through the lives of three different kings
48 min
16
WW2 legacies and Magna Carta: history behind th...
Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter discuss the present-day parallels of the Second World War, 80 years on – and look at medieval manuscripts hitting the headlines
41 min
17
Drink, dance, death: wine in ancient Egypt
Islam Issa explores the cultural significance of this alcoholic beverage to the long-standing ancient superpower
31 min
18
The Scottish Enlightenment: everything you want...
Craig Smith outlines some of the key ideas, innovations and individuals of the Scottish Enlightenment
34 min
19
Deadly skies: the WW2 mission to fly over the H...
Caroline Alexander discusses the dramatic story of the young American pilots who braved the world’s most dangerous skies to keep China supplied during the Second World War
41 min
20
Royal sisters: the tragic lives of Queen Victor...
Frances Welch introduces four princesses of Hesse – granddaughters of Queen Victoria – whose lives and marriages changed the face of early 20th-century Europe
33 min
21
Calamity Jane: life of the week
Karen Jones takes a fresh look at the rootin’ tootin’ frontierswoman of the American West
40 min
22
Spiritual showmen: the 1920s occult
Raphael Cormack explores the lives of mystics Tahra Bey and Dr Dahesh, whose occult performances reflected the anxieties of the 1920s
30 min
23
Cheese history: everything you wanted to know
Ned Palmer answers listener questions on the history of cheese, from the origins of blue varieties to Wallace and Gromit's impact on sales of Wensleydale
34 min
24
Taking sides: how the Civil War turned friends ...
Minoo Dinshaw charts the story of Bulstrode Whitelock and Ned Hyde – two friends who found themselves on opposite sides of a growing conflict during the 1640s
25 min
25
Were Roman women done dirty by modern translati...
Joan Smith unpicks the reputations of the women in ancient Rome's Julio-Claudian dynasty, considering why so many of them have been branded villains, nags and nymphomaniacs
31 min