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. 

Unlock full access to HistoryExtra.com for 6 months for just 99p https://www.historyextra.com/join/

History
1
Christopher Marlowe: life of the week
Stephen Greenblatt sheds light on the brief life of playwright Christopher Marlowe, one of the great rivals of William Shakespeare, whose death in a Deptford tavern in 1593 still leaves a great many unanswered questions
39 min
2
Uprising: the Civil Wars untangled
Rebecca Rideal and Jonathan Healey uncover the dramatic events that led to the execution of Charles I
33 min
3
The Nazis’ crimes laid bare
42 min
4
What does Hitler’s DNA really tell us?
44 min
5
Mutilated corpses and undead mothers-in-law: va...
John Blair charts how fears of the undead rising from their graves have recurred in societies around the globe throughout history
35 min
6
The problem with poo: a millennium of manure
Manure was a valuable product that underpinned the medieval economy, but why do we now see excrement as something to get rid of, rather than to make use of? Richard Jones explains...
31 min
7
James Garfield: life of the week
CW Goodyear introduces US president James Garfield, the 20th man to hold the office, who died after being shot in 1881
52 min
8
A new history of multicultural Britain
Kieran Connell offers a fresh look at Britain's multicultural history in the years after the Second World War – from Cardiff docks to Birmingham cafes
38 min
9
What should we do with the Nazis? The road to t...
37 min
10
Who stole the Tudor crown?
Tracy Borman shares explosive new research that challenges what we thought we knew about the end of Elizabeth I's reign
30 min
11
The librarian who stole KGB secrets
Gordon Corera introduces Vasili Mitrokhin, a Soviet archivist whose quiet rebellion exposed the deepest secrets of the KGB
28 min
12
Nellie Bly: life of the week
Trailblazing and fearless, Nellie Bly broke every rule in Victorian journalism. Bob Nicholson unpacks the life of a woman whose headline-grabbing exploits made her a household name
44 min
13
The improbable alliance that defeated Hitler
Tim Bouverie reveals how an unlikely yet decisive partnership between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin dealt a fatal blow to Nazism and paved the way for the Cold War
35 min
14
Remember, remember: The legacy of the Gunpowder...
Historian John Cooper discusses the cultural legacy of the Gunpowder Plot – from Bonfire Night to V for Vendetta
33 min
15
Five partitions that shaped South Asia
32 min
16
Crystal balls & contacting angels: predicting t...
27 min
17
Giuseppe Garibaldi: life of the week
David Laven delves into the escapades of the great hero of Italian unification
36 min
18
A day in the life of a gladiator
Harry Sidebottom shares what it was like to be a gladiator in ancient Rome, from brutal training to deadly fights in the amphitheatre
29 min
19
What if the Gunpowder Plot had succeeded?
Historian John Cooper ponders what might have happened had the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 succeeded
23 min
20
Bodies, bones & overflowing churchyards: a hist...
Roger Luckhurst takes listeners on a tour of some of history's most unusual and intriguing graveyards
28 min
21
Myspace and MTV: how will future historians stu...
Jane Winters and John Wills discuss how social media and digital records chart the story of recent decades – and how they pose a challenge for historians
40 min
22
Malcolm X: life of the week
40 min
23
Ghosts, grief and the paranormal
From Victorian mediums to modern-day psychic investigators, Alice Vernon explores our enduring attempts to communicate with the dead
36 min
24
How the Gunpowder Plot unravelled
Historian John Cooper explains how the Gunpowder Plot was exposed – and how the men behind it were hunted down and subjected to brutal punishment
27 min
25
Sex and sensationalism: a history of the tabloids
Terry Kirby investigates the 500-year history of tabloid journalism – from the first gossip rags to the muckraking exploits of the 20th-century popular press
40 min