Back When | History Podcast

It's the height of summer in 1858 and something rotten is lurking in the river Thames.     Historian James Grasby unravels the smelliest side of our recent history as we step back into Victorian London to discover the Great Stink. Hear how politicians scrambled to keep the stench out of parliament and find out what the smell meant for the working classes.   [Ad] This podcast is sponsored by CEWE,...

Britain’s space race efforts were bold but short-lived.     Join historian Helen Antrobus for the tale of Britain’s space race. It’s the mid 1950’s and the height of the Cold War era. British engineers are working in secret at The Needles on the Isle of Wight, testing a nuclear deterrent, the Black Knight Rocket. But by the end of the 1960s the British rocket programme is under threat. Engineers h...

Introducing Back When, a new history podcast taking you inside the stories of the people, places and moments that made us. Launching 2 April. Join historians Helen Antrobus and James Grasby for a fly on the wall view of our past. Discover the forgotten story of Britain's space race. Uncover the unsettling history of witches' familiars. And hear the origin story of sci-fi author HG Wells. Our histo...