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
1101
Christmas feasts: Georgian elegance
Annie Gray transports us back to the glamorous dinner parties, dangerous parlour games and decadent desserts of Georgian christmas.
23 min
1102
How US-Russian relations fractured in the 1990s
Mary Sarotte reveals how US and Russian leaders squandered the opportunity to forge a lasting partnership at the dawn of the 1990s.
36 min
1103
Pearl Harbor episode 2: America on the eve of war
In the latest episode in our new series on the raid on Pearl Harbor, Dayna Barnes speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about the United States in the years and months leading up to the attack. They discuss the American perspective on the disintegrating relationsh...
36 min
1104
Pearl Harbor episode 3: Countdown to the raid
In the latest episode in our new series on the raid on Pearl Harbor, Steve Twomey speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about the immediate run-up to the attack, revealing how inch-perfect Japanese planning and complacent oversights by American military figures co...
41 min
1105
Sex lives of medieval people
Katherine Harvey discusses whether attitudes to sex in the Middle Ages were really so different from our own.
24 min
1106
The Great Depression: everything you wanted to ...
David M Kennedy answers listener questions about the economic crash that devastated 1930s America.
50 min
1107
Searching for WW1’s fallen soldiers
Robert Sackville-West describes attempts to identify the bodies of the dead after the devastating battles of the First World War
41 min
1108
Christmas feasts: Medieval & Tudor revelry
From brawn to plum pottage, Annie Gray takes us back to the raucous world of festive feasting in the medieval and Tudor eras.
26 min
1109
Pearl Harbor episode 1: A gathering storm in Japan
In the first episode in our new series on the raid on Pearl Harbor, Chris Harding speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about Japan in the years running up to December 1941. They discuss the long-running historical factors that edged the country ever closer to war...
42 min
1110
Colour: a human history
James Fox speaks about the myriad meanings of colour through human history.
47 min
1111
Stranger danger? Xenophobia’s unexpected history
George Makari examines the history of xenophobia, and the surprising ways in which the term has evolved since the 19th century.
38 min
1112
The Irish famine: everything you wanted to know
Christine Kinealy answers listener questions on the devastating famine that struck Ireland in the mid-19th century
50 min
1113
How Shakespeare inspired terrorists
Islam Issa reveals how terrorists have twisted Shakespeare’s life and work to suit their own ends over the centuries
39 min
1114
How the Greeks changed the world
Roderick Beaton explores 4,000 years of Greek history, from the glories of Mycenae to the life of a modern European nation.
50 min
1115
What can churches tell us?
Peter Stanford charts the story of Christianity in Britain and Ireland through historic religious buildings.
49 min
1116
Sex work: a brief history
From the courtesans of Edo Japan to the mollyhouses of Regency London, Kate Lister discusses the long and varied history of sex work.
31 min
1117
The Ottoman “Age of Discovery”
Professor Marc David Baer discusses the Ottoman empire and its overlooked place in the “Age of Discovery”
29 min
1118
Anglo-Scottish border wars: everything you want...
Michael Brown responds to listener questions on the cross-border clashes that marred relations between England and Scotland in the late Middle Ages.
43 min
1119
A secret trial that transformed transgender rights
Zoe Playdon discusses a secret 1965 trial revolving around Ewan Forbes, a transgender man, and reveals how it affected trans rights.
33 min
1120
How to tell the story of WW2 in museums
Keith Lowe speaks to Imperial War Museum curators about creating their new galleries on the Holocaust and the Second World War.
26 min
1121
How slavery & empire shaped epidemiology
Jim Downs reveals how the conditions created by colonialism, war and slavery affected the study of disease and its spread.
36 min
1122
George V: not so dull after all
Jane Ridley discusses the life and reign of George V, who steered the monarchy through a tumultuous era of British history.
32 min
1123
The man who made King Alfred great
Robert Gallagher brings to light newly discovered evidence about Asser, the biographer of King Alfred.
41 min
1124
Espionage history: everything you wanted to know
Michael Goodman tackles listener questions and popular search queries on the history of spying and intelligence.
55 min
1125
The St Brice’s Day Massacre of 1002
Benjamin Savill discusses the St Brice’s Day Massacre of 1002, in which Danes living in England were killed, apparently on royal orders.
52 min