History between the Lines

Final episode of the mini-series on Fascist Italy. As Mussolini's dreams of empire crash and burn, the war threatens to come onto Italian soil itself. As German troops prepare to defend it and the Western Allies prepare to invade it, what will happen to Italy when it becomes one of the war's battlefields? Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of...

By the middle of the 1930s, Benito Mussolini and his fascist regime are ready to embark on their quest of imperial glory and are determined to rebuild the Roman Empire in a new fascist form, even if that means taking Italy into the abyss of the Second World War... Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lex...

Jonathan Brown and Matthew Vincent talk about the East India Company's opium trade and the corporation's eventual destruction in India in 1858. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.

Jonathan Brown and Matthew Vincent talk about the East India Company, the private British  corporation that ruled much of India during the 18th and 19th centuries. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.

Jonathan Brown and Robert Jones talk about the use of referendums and plebiscites across history. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.

Jonathan Brown and Robert Jones talk about the use of referendums and plebiscites across history. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.

Mussolini's regime tightens its grip on power through repression and surveillance and attempts to mobilize the entire Italian population in the service of the totalitarian state. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.

As Tricia and Edward prepare to marry in the summer of 1971, every top political American journalist scrambles to get an invite to their wedding. Because the father of the bride is US President Richard Nixon. Jonathan Brown and Dr Patrick Andelic talk about Tricia Nixon's White House wedding in June, 1971, the first episode in a mini-series about significant weddings in history. Cover artwork...

After the First World War, Italy is a divided country in turmoil. As many Italians turn their backs on the old liberal politics, space opens up for a new political force: the fascists. Jonathan Brown talks about the rise of fascism in Italy, the first episode in a mini-series about Fascist Italy. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn Hist...

Jonathan Brown is at the Combined Military Services Museum in Essex, where he talks about one of their military artefacts, a covert operations listening rig from the 1970s, used by British forces in Northern Ireland to listen in on conversations which could hold valuable military intelligence. Access to the listening rig, courtesy of the Combined Military Services Museum- link to them is below. ht...

Jonathan Brown and Dr Mark Lawrence talk about the Cristero War, which was fought in Mexico from 1926 until 1929. As Mexico stabilises after 10 years of war after the revolution of 1910, the Mexican government introduces secular, anti-clerical policies which eventually lead to a Catholic revolt against the Mexican state which became the Cristero War. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses&...

Jonathan Brown talks with Professor Michael Broers about the final volume of his biography of Napoleon Bonaparte. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.

Jonathan Brown talks with Professor Michael Broers about his final volume of his biography of Napoleon Bonaparte. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.

Jonathan Brown and Dr Mario Draper discuss the promotion of motorsport by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during the 1920s and 1930s. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music: Cinematic Dramatic Tense, by Lexin Music, from Pixabay.

Jonathan Brown talks about the use of torture by French forces during the Algerian War of the 1950s-1960s. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive. Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.

Jonathan Brown and Professor Mark Connelly talk about Whitechapel in 1888 and the Jack the Ripper murders that happened there. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Jonathan Brown and Professor Mark Connelly talk about Whitechapel in 1888 and the Jack the Ripper murders that happened there. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses", by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Jonathan Brown and Kyle Monk talk about the swords used by the Japanese military during the Second World War. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Jonathan Brown talks about the British transportation system to Australia. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Jonathan Brown talks about the British transportation system to Australia. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Jonathan Brown and Eleanor Brown talk about Guy Burgess and John Vassall, two British traitors during the Cold War. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses", by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Jonathan Brown and Eleanor Brown talk about Guy Burgess and John Vassall, two British traitors during the Cold War. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses", by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Jonathan Brown and Alex Pitts talk about the German Luger pistol, one of the most overrated hand guns history has ever produced. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Jonathan Brown talks about the battle that took place at Corunna in Spain in 1809 when the British Army was driven to the sea by the enemy and was forced to await evacuation by the Royal Navy whilst fighting a desperate rear guard action to hold the enemy at bay, over 100 years before the similar events at Dunkirk in May-June 1940. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses", by James Gil...

Jonathan Brown and Robert Jones discuss the Green militias, often a forgotten faction of the Russian Civil War (1917-1922) in the wider world. Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.