HistoryExtra podcast

Richard II lacked all the qualities a medieval monarch needed, bar one: birthright. Born believing he was God's representative on Earth, the narcissistic tyrant seems to have done everything wrong. But did Richard just not understand what it meant to be king? In the first episode of this three-part HistoryExtra podcast series 'Tyrant, Usurper, Hero', Dan Jones and Helen Castor chart Richard’s ecce...

Climate change is an issue that animates politicians, scientists and activists around the world – but could looking to history help shape our approach to the climate crisis today? And what role do historians have to play in facing the issue? In this conversation with Matt Elton, best-selling author and historian Peter Frankopan and broadcaster and conservationist Chris Packham share their thoughts...

In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter explore the history of political memoirs, Britain's changing energy supplies across the centuries, and conflicts over access to the countryside. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic...

Late Tudor England was a dangerous place, with plots both at home and abroad, and no certainty about who was going to succeed the ageing queen, Elizabeth I. Into this perilous world stepped Robert Cecil, a brilliant but unglamorous statesman and spymaster who played a pivotal role in keeping the country together and ensuring a smooth transition to the Stuart monarchy. Professor Stephen Alford spea...

On today's Everything You Wanted to Know episode, we're covering the Korean War, exploring how the nation came to be divided in two, what the impact of fighting was on the peninsular's civilian population, and how close the clash came to going nuclear. In conversation with Spencer Mizen, Owen Miller of the Centre of Korean Studies at SOAS answers your questions on the Cold War conflict. Check out...

How many slaves were there in the Roman empire? Were they cruelly treated, or could they sometimes go on to win fame, fortune and freedom? And how often did they – like Spartacus –rebel? Here, in conversation with Spencer Mizen, Guy de la Bédoyère explores the remarkable, and often brutal, history of slavery in the ancient world's most powerful empire. (Ad) Guy de la Bédoyère is the author of Popu...

William of Normandy’s victory at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066 was far from the end of the Norman Conquest of England. It took many years, and putting down no small amount of rebellion, for William to fully establish control. In the final episode of our new series on 1066, Marc Morris discusses the long story of the Norman Conquest with David Musgrove. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced...

A century ago, in 1924, the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley opened its doors, receiving as many as 27 million visits over two years. It was a grand declaration of an empire at its territorial height. But behind the spectacle was a superpower grappling with its position on the world stage, seeking to recalibrate its own sense of influence and importance. Speaking to Elinor Evans, Matthew Parke...

Across the 65 years of his life, writer John Milton packed a lot in: poet, polemicist, political operator – engaging with ideas that often challenged the status quo. In today's Life of the Week episode, Professor Islam Issa speaks to Matt Elton about the life and legacy of this 17th-century polymath. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about you...

Why were so many Germans prepared to participate in the crimes of the Third Reich? It's a question that has exercised historians and the wider public for decades, and now, in his new book, Hitler's People, Professor Richard J Evans seeks to provide an answer. In this episode, he speaks to Rob Attar about what drove people – from lowly functionaries to Hitler himself – to engage in acts of mass mur...

Denounced as heretics by the Catholic church, the Cathars were a offshoot Christian movement which emerged in southern Europe during the 12th century. But what was it about their beliefs that was so outrageous to the orthodox medieval church? And why was their existence quickly snuffed out? Speaking to Emily Briffett, historian Claire Taylor reveals more about the Cathars' way of life and the effo...

October is Black History Month here in the UK. But how far back does the story of black people in Britain stretch - and what evidence do we have about their experiences? Speaking to Charlotte Hodgman in this episode from 2022, historian Hannah Cusworth answers your top questions about black British history. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more ab...

Daring department store stunts. Warming cups of cocoa. Argumentative bartering with butchers. What can revisiting high streets gone by reveal about British social history? Historian Annie Gray takes listeners on a shopping trip through the centuries, telling Ellie Cawthorne more about the goods, refreshments and entertainment on offer. (Ad) Annie Gray is the author of The Bookshop, The Draper, The...

The year 1066 is the most famous in English history. It was marked by not just one, but three major battles, and saw three different men ruling as king of England. Marc Morris, in conversation with David Musgrove, outlines how the tumultuous year played out and charts the fates of the key contenders in the fight for England's throne. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC Hist...

In the 18th century, two men – Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon – both independently took on a mammoth task. They set out to identify, describe and categorise all life on Earth. Speaking to Matt Elton, Jason Roberts charts the two naturalists' hugely different views and approaches – and how they shaped our view of the natural world for centuries. (Ad) Jason Roberts is the author of Every...

King John has a terrible reputation. He's best known as the monarch who broke the terms of Magna Carta, lost Normandy to the French and committed numerous acts of unspeakable cruelty. Here, in conversation with Spencer Mizen, Nicholas Vincent considers if John really was as bad as all that - or if, indeed, he was even worse. Hear Nicholas Vincent discuss the Second Barons' War here: https://link.c...

We know the Vikings best as brutal, seafaring, pagan raiders – and that’s an important part of their lives and histories. But it’s only one aspect: what about their love lives, experiences of travels, and attitudes to religion? Speaking with James Osborne, Eleanor Barraclough unpicks the day-to-day lives and culture of the Vikings across their vast – and complicated – geographic domain and timelin...

Chances are, like most of us, you probably enjoy a good cup of tea. But how did the world come to be so obsessed with this now-ubiquitous hot beverage? Where did it originate? How did trading it trigger wars? And when did people first experience the delights of an elegant afternoon tea? Elinor Evans puts your top questions on tea to historian, writer, and tea specialist Jane Pettigrew. Listen to J...

Apprehending thieves in the street. Disguising as housemaids to spy on adulterous husbands. Investigating and exposing child abuse. The exploits of women detectives in the Victorian era were dramatic, secretive, and often dangerous. Author and historian Sara Lodge tells Ellie Cawthorne more about these sleuths and the roles they played in 19th-century crime fighting. (Ad) Sara Lodge is the author...

Harold II – best known as the defeated king who reportedly got an arrow through the eye at the Battle of Hastings – was part of the Godwin family. In this episode, Marc Morris reveals how the Godwins were the power behind the throne through much of the reign of Harold’s predecessor, King Edward the Confessor. He explains to David Musgrove why the family came to prominence and how Harold managed to...

When we think of American civil rights, we tend to focus on the mid 20th-century and the likes of Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks, who fought for the rights of black people in an era of segregation. But, in his revelatory new book, Before the Movement, which has recently been shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize, Dylan Penningroth tells a much longer and broader story, beginning in the e...

Historian and biographer Susan Ware joins Elinor Evans to discuss the life of Eleanor Roosevelt, from her transformative role as First Lady of the United States during her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency, to her advocacy for human rights amid personal tumult. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast...

Today there are an estimated 450 million guns in civilian hands in the United States – ten times the number than at the end of the Second World War. But how did that conflict spark a weaponry boom? And what are the social and economic currents that have led the US to have more guns than people? Matt Elton speaks to Andrew C McKevitt, whose Cundill History Prize-shortlisted book Gun Country explore...

First published in 1848, the The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels presents communism as a 'spectre' haunting Europe. During the century that followed, this revolutionary ideology swept the world and left an indelible mark on the geopolitical dynamics of the modern age. Historian Maurice J Casey talks to Danny Bird about the history of communism – from Bolshevik emigrés and the...

When Allied forces arrived in Naples in October 1943, they found a city on its knees. Already ravaged by three years of war, Naples had been further decimated by German occupiers and now faced a desperate battle to get back on its feet as the Second World War continued to unfold around it. In this episode, the historian Keith Lowe joins Rob Attar to explore the story of the first major European ci...